SUBSTANCE ABUSERS TO GET FED HOUSING

OTTAWA -- The federal government is looking for new types of subsidized
housing for drug users and alcoholics -- housing that could include
safe-injection sites.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the government's housing agency, is
launching a study to look at alternative residential programs for substance
users who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

"We want to look at that population and how people are already helping them,
or the kinds of cutting-edge ideas on how we can best create long-term
housing for this group," said Jim Zamprelli, a senior policy researcher at
CMHC.

While there are already many shelters and other facilities for the homeless
across the country, most will only admit people who are not drunk or high on
drugs.

The federal initiative, which focuses on the concept of harm reduction, is
aimed at helping addicts get a place to stay without having to quit
immediately.

The housing could include rooms where junkies could inject drugs in a
supervised environment -- similar to the safe-injection site that opened
last month in Vancouver which helps prevent overdoses and the transmission
of disease that can occur when needles are shared.