MAYOR CALLS FOR SOCIAL PLAN

This city needs a social services plan to deal with substance abuse
and homelessness, according to the mayor.

The exact details are as yet unclear, but the fact Doug McCallum is
now asking for the document is a breakthrough for at least two
councillors.

The initiative comes five years after Coun. Judy Villeneuve began
regularly asking her colleagues for such a plan.

She's been repeatedly turned down by council members, including
McCallum, who have been reluctant to pick up related costs and
responsibilities from senior levels of government.

"We still believe that," McCallum said Thursday. The difference now is
Victoria and Ottawa appear more willing to provide funding for social
services.

"We're already seeing them loosening (the purse strings) in these
programs."

Villeneuve has been chair of the city's social planning committee
since the early 1990s.

"We had a meeting yesterday (and) to my understanding they want to put
together a social plan," Villeneuve said Thursday.

"In the past that's been rejected ... the rationale is that it was not
on the agenda, it was other levels of governments'
responsibility."

She noted that the plans are important in securing funding from senior
levels of government for homeless shelters, detox facilities,
treatment centres and other social services.

McCallum also cited Surrey's fast growth as one of the main reasons
the city needs a social plan now. He said with the arrival of more
people comes associated problems including drug use and
homelessness.

Recent figures put Surrey's population at 390,000, and it is expected
the city's population will surpass Vancouver's in the next 10 to 15
years.

Despite having questions about the timing of the mayor's announcement,
Villeneuve is pleased a social plan is finally coming. "I'm very happy
they're seeing it as a priority," Villeneuve said.

Coun. Dianne Watts, chair of the city's drug-crime task force, is also
delighted the mayor has pushed the social plan forward on his agenda.
The work she has done on a drug plan will also be folded into the
city's social services document.

"I think this is a tremendous breakthrough," said Watts, who has been
working on the city's addictions issues for the past eight years.

She points out Villeneuve has pushed for such a plan for a long time
and "there's been typically minimal response to a number of these issues."

McCallum said both the drug-crime task force and social planning
committee will be "playing a big role" in developing the plan.

A public process will begin soon.