ST. PAUL GROUP ALL WET ON 'WET FACILITY' CONCEPT

Right up to Thursday at 3 p.m., there was a steady stream of possible
sites for a transitional housing complex coming in.

The public has been invited to make suggestions for a 30-unit
apartment complex for those with addictions or mental illness trying
to get off the streets.

By Monday, there were already more than 90 submissions and they kept
coming all week.

The city had originally picked a site on St. Paul Street downtown, but
with much resistance to that location, city council opened the door
for other possibilities.

Some of the downtown business owners opposed to the site formed a
group and brought their submission in on deadline.

Businessman Jim Carta said their contribution went beyond just picking
a site because of the concern that the task force was too limited in
its scope.

Community planning manager Theresa Eichler said the task force will
meet March 22, after city staff have gone through all the
submissions.

The task force members will not know the exact address of the sites,
but will use a blind scoring system designed to bring a non-biased
result.

There are 14 weighted critieria that must be examined for each site as
well as four mandatory requirements.

All sites forwarded to the task force will have met the four mandatory
requirements first.

For its part, the St. Paul Business Association committee submitted a
report Thursday calling on the city to call off the so-called "wet
facility" project.

In a statement released to the media Thursday, the St. Paul group said
they recommend city council table the transition house concept until
it has first drawn up a comprehensive plan for dealing with
homelessness.

The transition house complex, announced under the Provincial
Homelessness Initiative, would provide supportive housing to tenants
with drug and alcohol abuse issues.

But the St. Paul group says the Interior Health Authority has not
publicly stated what health outcome objective they are aiming for.

"Is it maintaining people in their addiction, or is it
rehabilitation?" the committee is asking.

The St. Paul group will host a public forum at The Grand Hotel on
Tuesday, March 14, 7 p.m.

In attendance at this forum will be guest speakers who are experienced
in working with drug addicition programs and treatment.

"We have looked at research at all levels and we've learned a great
deal about the philosophy of harm reduction," said Carta, coordinator
for the group.

Carta said the consensus of their committee is that Interior Health,
as representative for the "partners in this project" could have more
fully disclosed important information on the "very complex and broad
definition" of harm reduction.

There is so much more the public needs to know about this issue, Carta
said, noting that harm reducation is a very controversial and
relatively new initiative, even in Europe.

"From a business perspective, we understand one shouldn't subsidize
poor choices and bad behaviour. This facility runs the risk of doing
just that," said his news release.

"Our committee is against the idea of a 'wet facility' in principle,
and the Task Force Review looking into the location for the wet
facility hasn't even been asked to take into account the impact the
facility will have on the neighbourhood.

"Interior Health knows that many drug users turn to crime to buy their
drugs -where is the harm reduction for the rest of us?"

The committee points out that the city does not have an official
homelessness plan.

The Kelowna Steering Committee on Homelessness, plus the local Four
Pillars Coalition, have extensively studied the problem of
homelessness, mental illness and drug abuse in Kelowna.

"But their top recommendations do not include building a 'wet'
facility," Carta says.

"The city shouldn't be planning facilities like this on a piecemeal,
ad hoc basis."

In conclusion, Carta says they believe the "process" was flawed from
the beginning; that communication of the St. Paul Street Supportive
Housing Initiative was conducted in haste and with little opportunity
for dialogue.

The St. Paul Business Community recommends that the city first
establish where the Gospel Mission will be re-located as part of an
overall homelessness strategy.