FEDS PUMP MORE MONEY INTO DRUG COURT

The federal government is providing an additional $200,000 in funding
to Vancouver's pilot drug treatment court so support workers can
continue to help homeless offenders find somewhere to live. The drug
court is an alternative to criminal courts for people who support
their drug addictions with crime. It currently has a staff member who
helps clients from the streets find supported housing, so they can
have some stability while attending drug treatment.

The additional federal money, announced Monday, will allow the staff
person to continue that work, said Gavin Wilson, a Vancouver Coastal
Health Authority spokesman. It will also provide extra cash to top up
the money welfare recipients have to pay for rent, especially if they
are put in a home that charges more than the income-assistance rental
allowance of $375 a month.

So far this month, 100 homeless people passing through the drug court
have been helped by the program: 32 were put in market housing, 20 in
SRO hotels, nine in supported housing, 18 in recovery facilities, and
one in a shelter. Because of the low vacancy rate in supported
housing, SROs and low-rent apartments in Vancouver, the staff find
whatever rooms are available to get homeless people through the drug
court off the street.

Clients can stay up to two years in the places found by the court
staff, and then are offered help to get in more long-term housing,
Wilson said. The $200,000 funding will expire in 2009, a federal
government news release said, and it was not clear whether it will be
continued after that. Federal drug courts now operate in six Canadian
cities. Their goal is to reduce the crime associated with drug
dependency through treatment, drug-testing and support services.

Vancouver also has a two-month-old community court in the Downtown
Eastside, another alternative to finding help for drug users instead
of sending them to jail.