SUPPORTIVE HOUSING PROPOSAL COULD BE A GOOD IDEA

The proposed supportive housing at the Jamboree Motel site is a good
idea, if it is successful.

People in Williams Lake are hurting, whether they are unemployed,
underemployed, or nervously employed.

Thirty-three units of housing for those trying to get their lives
back on track is a good start in helping residents. It's obviously
not a cure-all, and it's obviously a small step in addressing
Williams Lake's homelessness problem.

If, that is, the project is what it is intended to be.

Williams Lake does not need another crime hotspot, where drugs,
alcohol, and violence are commonplace.

We don't need another place to tell newcomers to town to avoid
because it's a "bad area."

We hope that this project will indeed be a launching pad for those
who need it to continue to be productive and healthy members of
society, and that the negative elements - drug dealers and users,
alcoholics, and criminals - are kept out.

Placing supportive housing in that location may well be a step
backwards in terms of how zoning is usually done, but the property
had been for sale for two years before BC Housing announced its project.

Surely in that time, interested buyers would have come forward. They
haven't, and now BC Housing and the City intend to do something
positive with the space.

We hope the results are as positive as the proposal.