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Cranbrook, BC (November 4, 2024) – Homelessness is not new, but visible homelessness has grown significantly in the past few years in Cranbrook, across BC, nationally and all over the world. Communities everywhere are struggling to find solutions, and there is no single jurisdiction responsible. 

The Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness, Community Safety & Wellbeing was created to bring together the various government agencies, non-profit groups, and others from health care to enforcement to social services to housing, to work together to find some possible methods to trial for improving the situation in Cranbrook. The Task Force presented its final report to Council on Monday night. The full report is available to read online at https://cranbrook.ca/our-city/mayor-and-council/committees/mayors-task-force-on-homelessness/.

The report also recognized the additional financial costs associated with addressing social issues in Cranbrook and placed high value on accessing external and provincial sources of funding to support the recommendations of the Task Force. The City has spent $3500 supporting this particular program, the member organizations of the Task Force have secured over $150,000 of grant and external organization funding to support this initiative. 

The final report also shares details on how and why the Task Force On Homelessness was formed and highlights the many challenges many sectors of Cranbrook are facing in relation to social issues. It also speaks to the efforts being made to help manage these issues and keep Cranbrook doing well when compared to many other cities across the country.

“I want to thank representatives of the many organizations that volunteered to join this Task Force and recognize their ongoing commitment to our community’s well-being,” says Mayor Wayne Price. “I understand the frustrations within our community, but ignoring the problems, or playing the blame game is not a solution. This is a problem that will take time and a community effort by many organizations and people in Cranbrook working together to improve, or it will continue to get worse.”

A sense of safety, wellbeing, and the opportunity to thrive are the cornerstone of every great community, and a rise in the number of visibly unhoused in Cranbrook has been a shock. Visible homelessness has increased significantly in cities everywhere since COVID. Factors contributing to homelessness are complicated and complex, but the report states it is not a new issue, is not a simple issue, and no ‘one-size-fits all’ solution has been found.

The voluntary Task Force formed by the request of the Mayor in early 2024, the members have recommitted to another 12-month term to work on implementing recommendations from the report and continue its work with every sector of the community on these local social challenges.