HOMELESS HOTEL DRAWS CRITICISM

Drop-in Centre for Street People Is Part of Plan for Mental Health Facility

The proposal for a mental health resource centre at the old Balmoral
Hotel could provide housing and programs for the mentally ill, much
to the dismay of south-end residents who do not want a homeless
drop-in centre in the middle of their neighbourhood.

The Canadian Mental Health Association could have possession of the
$925,000 Haliburton Street site later this month if building
inspections, mortgages and program funding come through as planned.

The project calls for the renovation of 20 existing social housing
units for people with mental illness and a new location for the
Living Room daytime homeless shelter, which has to leave its current
home in the Salvation Army's New Hope Centre because the religious
group does not support handing out needles to addicts.

South-end residents support the $400,000 revitalization of the
run-down building, but they disagree with setting up a homeless
drop-in centre because of the high volume of drug users it will
attract to an already troubled neighbourhood. After a public hearing
Wednesday, the South End Community Association will not support the
plan for a drop-in centre, said chairman Douglas Hardie.

CMHA staff do not have to go to city council for approval of its
plan, but Christina Martens, executive director of the CMHA
mid-Island branch, wants to work with residents and move in as a good
neighbour.

"We don't want to go in and impose something on the neighbours, we
want to work with them," Martens said.

"It's an area under stress. I don't understand why they wouldn't want
programming in the area to address some of the issues that they have."

More than 120 people packed the room and withstood the evening heat
as representatives from VIHA, city council and police took questions
from a fiery audience dead set against a drop-in centre in their neighbourhood.

While VIHA's plan calls for security within the building, nearly
every resident at the meeting wanted a guarantee that the
neighbourhood would be safe from the increased traffic around the
drop-in centre.

"How can you operate it without impacting the neighbourhood?" asked
Barbara Dunsmore, who lives on Irwin Street near the hotel. "You can
tell us you're going to make it work, but you're going to have to
prove that to us first."

Balmoral Hotel residents found notices shoved under their doors
yesterday about the meeting. The lack of answers only created
skepticism for George Simich, who has lived there for four years.
"This is my home. This is not a crack shack," he said to the eruption
of applause and foot stomping from the crowd behind him.

After the meeting he talked about his recovering addict neighbours
who do not want to be around drug users loitering outside the building.

"They're in there trying to clean up their lives and the last thing
they need is to be around that sort of temptation," he said. "There's
so much room for conflict with this plan."

VIHA plans to renovate the hotel's bar and lounge space to house the
drop-in program that could operate from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. The design
will offer services to those looking to get out of the weather or
access the downtown crisis team. The program will connect clients to
mental health and addictions treatment, according to an outline
provided to residents.

The Living Room has had trouble finding a permanent home for several
years. Now workers are preparing for a possible second move in just
over a year. Residents and business owners in the area criticized the
program for violence and drug activity outside the 55 Nichol Street
building before VIHA made the long-awaited move to the New Hope Centre in 2007.

But the Vancouver Island Health Authority recently butted heads with
Salvation Army management who said they will not support VIHA staff
handing out needles and condoms, according to Marg Fraser, director
of mental health.

"We declined the Salvation Army's request to remove the
harm-reduction language from the contract which was negotiated with
the previous management," she said in an e-mail. "We are continuing
to look for solutions, which . . . may include another location."

New Hope Centre management are a "little more protective" of the
Army's standards and policies, said Major Brian Venables, director of
public relations in Vancouver. "They're just pulling up their socks a
bit from our side. Although we tried to offer an all-encompassing
facility, it just wasn't a good fit. The Salvation Army thinks that
abstinence is the only way to beat an addiction so the distribution
of needles just would not fit."

Differing philosophies played a role, but a lack of space for such
programs also gave VIHA incentive to find a new location, Fraser
explained at the meeting.