Residents at an encampment on school property in Princeton have been contacted by the school district and town staff.
The incident occurred on Nov. 25.
Ed Atkinson, manager of protective services for Princeton, said the Nicola Similkameen School District contacted the town for assistance in removing the camp.
He said there were a few people present there when the meeting took place. However, the population of this camp had fluctuated in the past.
Courtney Lawrance, superintendent of schools with the Nicola Similkameen School District, said there was initially a question of whether the encampment was on school district property or municipal property.
Once it was identified as being on school district property, the school district and the Princeton town staff met with those at the encampment. The encampment was near the river and less than one kilometre from a daycare facility.
Lawrance said the school district wanted to ensure those at the camp knew there were other services they could access.
Two people were remaining at the camp at that time.
“The group was very compliant and understanding,” she said. “They were very receptive to what we had to say.”
She added that Princeton has a significant unhoused population, and said she hopes the municipality is able to get a shelter with assistance from the province.
A similar shelter was set up in Merritt last year, with the help of BC Housing.
Atkinson added that there is a high proportion of unhoused people in Princeton.
Princeton mayor Spencer Coyne has also raised concerns about the community’s unhoused population.
“I have almost 1.2 per cent of my population living on the street, that you can see,” he said at a recent meeting of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen. He added that this figure does not include those living in Area H, which is the rural area near Princeton.
“There’s probably close to 100 people living rough in our collective area, which is massive for a population our size,” he said.
Lawrance added that unhoused people in remote and rural areas have less access to services and support than those living in urban centres.