The next crucial step in continuing the march toward ending homelessness in Kamloops is to partner up with the right service providers for four sites identified for affordable housing, says an advocate for a similar program in Vancouver.

Dick Vollet, president and CEO of Streetohome, told about 30 community leaders Tuesday that Kamloops is ahead of many cities on the homelessness issue and “the next step is to find the right partners for those four sites.”

City council approved the sites earlier this year to develop affordable housing options.

The Kamloops Homelessness Action Plan hosted Tuesday’s luncheon to kick off Homelessness Action Week.

Vollet, whose group is working on eight affordable-housing projects in Vancouver, said, “One group you really need to involve in the decisions is the service providers, the people who are going to operate the facilities day in and day out.”

He said an essential ingredient in such housing is inclusion of meal service in each facility to avoid an increase in theft or panhandling in the immediate neighbourhood.

“Nutrition is key.”

Vollett also stressed the importance of research in order to illustrate the issue for the community, and to avoid “data denial” and exclude politics from the discussion.

Otherwise, he said, the process becomes dominated by “all those naysayers who say, ‘We’ll never solve homelessness, it’ll always be with us.’”

In Vancouver, 2,600 people have been identified as homeless, and 80 per cent of them have a mental illness. Youth are the hardest demographic to count, he said.

“The biggest thing is just identifying the problem,” Vollett said.