Parry Dickie and his girlfriend found themselves homeless after a wildfire tore through the community of Loon Lake, B.C., where they were staying in July 2017.

“We never even went back to see it,” Dickie said. “We were told there was nothing there.”

Soon after, a car accident and trouble with their replacement vehicle rendered them homeless.

When the temporary shelter opened at the Stuart Wood building in Kamloops, Dickie and his girlfriend hauled their belongings to the shelter, where