GROUP HOME FORCED OUT BY LOCALS

A Suburban Home For People Battling Drug Problems Is Closing After Fury
From Neighbours

A group home for recovering drug addicts set up in middle of a quiet east
Vancouver suburb is to shut down -- and not a moment too soon, say
neighbours who expressed their concerns to the city.

The nondescript brown stucco house in the tree-lined 5400-block of
Inverness Street became the focus of residents' ire in the summer when they
found out that the Mending Spirits Society, a non-profit organization that
provides housing for men and women on methadone maintenance, was using the
house to accommodate eight women, most of whom are former prostitutes
battling drug addiction.

Within days of finding out about the home, the residents collected 196
signatures on a petition they sent to the city.

The recovery home, which was set up in May 2004, is a few blocks from a
proposed housing facility on Fraser Street for people suffering from both
mental-health and substance-abuse problems. That proposal has also angered
nearby residents, who cited safety and security fears at a heated public
meeting Monday.

The Mending Spirits home, however, was set up before any public
consultation and without a city development permit.

After pressure from the city, the society applied for a permit on Aug. 17,
but when officials of the city's development services department told the
society about the public outcry, it withdrew its application to change the
use of the building from a one-family dwelling to a special-needs
residential facility.

"They were facing an uphill battle," said Bill Boons, processing centre
manager responsible for development permits with the city. He said the
application would likely have been refused because of the failure to
consult with neighbours.

Some of the home's four staff and eight residents broke down and cried
Tuesday when they learned they would have to vacate by Dec. 31.

The notice, sent by their sponsor and landlord, Thomas & Yee Holdings Ltd.,
arrived by fax Tuesday as staff and residents of the home were holding an
"open house" to allow neighbours to view the premises.

Across the street, neighbour Mankin Ladd said it was "totally unacceptable"
for the recovery home to be situated in the neighbourhood. "First of all,
they did not go through the right process. And this type of facility is
very disturbing."

Ladd, who bought her home 15 years ago, said: "We don't want them here.
According to city bylaws, it should be operating in a commercial or
semi-industrial zone. Why are they here in a nice family zone is what I
don't understand."

She also does not believe the those in the home are recovering from their
addictions: "They are not drug-free, they are still on methadone and who
knows what they can do. They could be high."

Ladd showed The Vancouver Sun letters of complaint from residents,
complaining about used syringes and "suspicious vehicles" outside the
recovery home.

Lisa Lin, who lives next door to the home, said it bothered her that the
women there often sat outside smoking cigarettes and the smoke got into her
house.

While neighbours are upset, the home's residents are devastated. "Where are
we going to go? For most of us it will be back on the streets," said
Catherine Sowden, 24, who moved into the house in September after years of
battling drug addiction.

Sowden, who said she was once a sex worker, said she quit using drugs after
the birth of her daughter three months ago.

Michelle Tully, 36, who moved in in August, said the home means "everything
to me" and it is "horrible" that it will close.

"I think that the neighbours are being ridiculously ill-informed. There's
no basis in reality for their fears. Anybody who has been watching us can
see we have been leading a more spiritual life than the average person."

The home's coordinator, Shannon Murray, who said she was also a one-time
drug-addict, said the home serves a critical role in helping women get
their lives back in order. "We have filled up enough jails, institutions
and cemeteries from people who were out there. It's time to fill up houses
like this with love."

Murray said the home was started "very quietly" because the society knew it
would never get off the ground if neighbours knew what was planned. Given
the public opposition, she said, it is little wonder that many recovery
homes operate underground.

Asked why the facility was put in a residential area, Murray said: "It is
to show the women how society lives. If we are going to hide them in a
bush, what are they going to learn? They mow the lawn just like the
neighbours."

Murray said neighbours are ill-informed, and alleged they were involved in
a Thanksgiving Day incident in which someone tried to set fire to the front
fence and lit a can of gasoline next to the house. There were no injuries
or damage.

"I can understand their fear of the unknown. All they know is what they see
on TV of the drug addicts downtown."

William Yee, a partner in the company that owns the house as well as four
Lower Mainland medical clinics, said Tuesday he had no option but to give
an eviction notice after the city asked the company not to rent it out to
Mending Spirits "to appease neighbourhood concerns."

The society runs a "clean and sober" home, Yee said.

He confirmed that a company subsidiary, East Broadway Pharmacy, provided a
donation of about $250,000 to the society, but rejected claims from area
residents that his company supplies methadone to the home. "They may get it
through prescriptions from our doctors but we don't supply methadone
directly," he said.

Meanwhile, the plan for a 39-unit housing unit on Fraser Street for people
with mental health problems and addictions erupted in Victoria Tuesday when
New Democrat MLA Joy MacPhail demanded Multiculturalism Minister Patrick
Wong stop criticizing the project.

"It is shameful what Patrick Wong is doing in his own community by leading
the troops in opposition to the . . . facility," MacPhail told reporters.

"This is the kind of home that would provide a home for people who may
otherwise be on the street panhandling or squeegeeing," MacPhail said.