RECOVERY HOUSE POLICY 'A SUCCESS'

Packed into overcrowded rooms, recovering addicts in Abbotsford were
living in houses which offered little incentive to keep them off
their drug of choice.

At best, these homes provided shelter and nothing else. At their
worst, a lack of supervision and services meant drugs would enter the
properties and tempt these men and women back into their old habits.

Armed with this knowledge, the City of Abbotsford took a
controversial step in June 2008 to regulate recovery houses.

The plan was to allow the homes which offered genuine programs and
services to remain open.Glorified flop houses - describing themselves
as recovery houses but offering nothing to aid the recovery process -
would be shut down. At the time, it was estimated that more than 30
of these facilities were operating throughout the city.

By definition, recovery houses are aimed at people who have gone
through drug detox and treatment. They are supposed to offer programs
and accommodation that are substance-free, safe and affordable.

In 2007, the city told all recovery house operators - good and bad -
that they would have to apply to the city for a licence. That licence
had a number of conditions attached.

The others, the city maintained, would be expected to close or be
shut down by bylaw officers. While the city reports that some of
these houses are no longer open, it says others have downsized to
comply with city bylaws which allow up to five unrelated people to
live in any Abbotsford house.

The city issued licences to 11 recovery houses, in June 2008, while
refusing seven others.

A little more than 12 months later, and the city is reporting good results.

Last week, the city said other B.C. municipalities are looking at the
Abbotsford recovery house program for help in resolving their own issues.

City-regulated recovery houses have also been able to tap into new
Ministry of Housing and Social Development funding announced early this year.

That funding is approximately three times more, on a per resident
basis, than the cash received by non-licensed homes through welfare cheques.

Coun. John Smith was at the forefront of the push for the new
recovery house rules, as chairman of the Abbotsford Social
Development Advisory Committee.

"I think it has been a success, and I base that on many of the people
that have been helped, and on the operators and neighbours," he said.

"We are not getting the complaints we were, from people upset in
their neighbourhoods. I think they recognize this has been a great
improvement."

Others in the community have also been receptive to the changes.

Marvin Declare, the president of the Psalm 23 Society which runs
three of the legal recovery houses, said the situation is far better
than 12 months ago.

"This was all city staff and councillors, and some of them put their
political careers on the line," he said.

Abbotsford Mayor George Peary now says the city may look at
regulating more recovery houses in the future.

"If we find good operators, then I think we are willing to run the
risk of seeing a few more of these houses in our neighbourhoods," he said.

The city is considering lifting a one-year moratorium implemented in June 2008.