{"id":446151,"date":"2026-01-31T23:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/446151\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T23:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T23:57:14","slug":"b-c-rcmp-help-71-year-old-find-shelter-after-14-years-unhoused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/446151\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. RCMP help 71-year-old find shelter after 14 years unhoused"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tDescrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tIncrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>Burnaby <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/rcmp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">RCMP<\/a>, working with the City of Burnaby, have helped a 71-year-old man who had been homeless for more than a decade move into temporary housing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In a release Friday, police said officers with the RCMP\u2019s Police Mental Health and Outreach Team first learned of the man in December after Metro Vancouver park rangers reported someone living in an encampment near Kensington Avenue.<\/p>\n<p>Officers visited the site on Dec. 9 and found the man living alone in a heavily overgrown area that was difficult to access.<\/p>\n<p>Police said he was receptive to offers of help and asked for time to organize his belongings before leaving the encampment.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\" alt=\"Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n<p>Get the day&#8217;s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.<\/p>\n<p>Following the visit, RCMP engaged the City of Burnaby\u2019s Intervention Support Team to help find housing.<\/p>\n<p>Officers returned to the site in early January, providing the man with a warming kit that included cold-weather supplies and blankets to help him while arrangements for his move were being finalized.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>On Jan. 19, the man moved into temporary housing, with longer-term housing plans now being explored.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are so happy this senior is no longer out in the cold,\u201d said Insp. Amanda Harnett, a community programs officer with Burnaby RCMP.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11645353\/catherine-o-hara-death-reports\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769903833_618_9a8f30ed30397fd79edd0e960933eff9c0164282d2884d4a9a20e1d71b9d680a.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tCatherine O\u2019Hara, Canadian actor and \u2018Schitt\u2019s Creek\u2019 star, dead at 71\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11643711\/lottery-winner-jailed-john-eric-spiby-counterfeit-drugs\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769903834_989_Untitled-design-3.png\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tU.K. lottery winner, 80, jailed in $424-million counterfeit drugs bust\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>City officials say collaboration between police and outreach workers is key to supporting unhoused residents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur strong relationship with Burnaby RCMP is an incredibly important part of the work we do,\u201d said Graham de la Gorgendiere, Burnaby\u2019s general manager of community safety.<\/p>\n<p>He said the city\u2019s Intervention Support Team worked with more than 200 people last year and provided dozens of referrals to shelters and housing.<\/p>\n<p>Burnaby RCMP say their outreach team conducted 197 visits in 2025 to support vulnerable and unhoused residents, working alongside community partners to connect people with housing, health care and other supports.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size Burnaby RCMP, working with the City of Burnaby, have helped&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[184058,129130,49,48,184059,44],"class_list":["post-446151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-bc-homeless","tag-burnaby-rcmp","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-homeless-senior","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}