Rural Homelessness and COVID-19: Assessing Needs, Mobilizing Resources, and Facilitating Collaboration
People experiencing homelessness are disproportionately affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic. Impacts stem
from the vulnerability of this population to the novel coronavirus-as crowded living conditions and underlying
health issues increase the risk of both contracting the virus and suffering complications-but also from the effect
of health agency directives on the availability of services related to housing, food, health, finances, and
emotional/social needs. Social service organizations in the rural West Kootenay region of British Columbia
have expressed a need for Selkirk College to assist in developing a detailed understanding of service gaps
affecting people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic, as well as help to design and deliver
programs or policies that respond to those gaps. Our region which, like many rural areas, is characterized by
low-capacity organizations and fragmented geographies, also needs help to coordinate responses across
organizational and community lines, thereby facilitating peer learning, reducing duplication, and improving the
overall impact of local efforts. Our project responds to these needs by rapidly mobilizing College-based
capacity to 1) assess the state of well-being among the target population and identify critical service or
information gaps, 2) conduct research on best, promising, and emergent practices to identify innovative
solutions to these gaps, 3) expand street outreach services offered by the College’s Bachelor of Science in
Nursing program, adapt these services to the evolving landscape of the pandemic, and use them to assist with
delivery of new information or programs, and 4) building a regional network of stakeholders to facilitate peer
learning and coordinate a regional response. We will work alongside our partners to undertake this work with
the overall goal of improving the well-being of West Kootenay residents experiencing homelessness during the
COVID‑19 pandemic.
