RECOVERY FARM DESERVES SUPPORT

We've been wringing our hands so long over homelessness and street
problems that we should grasp imaginative ideas when they come along.
Richard LeBlanc has such an idea. He wants to buy 78 hectares of
farmland at Woodwynn Farm on West Saanich Road and turn it into a
place where street people can get back to the land and turn their
lives around.

It's an ambitious project, not least because the property would cost
$5.9 million. Yet that might prove to be among the smallest obstacles.
The provincial government, Royal Roads University and The Land
Conservancy are all interested helping with the purchase. It is a
beautiful piece of property that would be a valuable public asset
regardless of its use.

LeBlanc envisions restoring the property to its former glory as a
working farm. Those living and working there would be former street
people. They would have a stable home and receive counselling, medical
care and life-skills and vocational-skills training. The idea of a
recovery community, where people are removed from their environment
and given responsibility and support, makes excellent sense.

Neighbours are naturally concerned. The plan could eventually see 90
people living and working on the farm as part of the community.

The plan to start small, with a dozen residents, offers the
opportunity to prove that the newcomers don't represent a threat.
Neighbours' concerns need to be heard and addressed. But they should
not stop the project going ahead.

Tackling homelessness and addiction isn't easy. LeBlanc has no
illusions and anticipates a lot of work ahead.

But he's no stranger to the challenges and has proven his ability to
run pragmatic programs that make a difference. LeBlanc ran the Youth
Employment Project in Victoria until 2002, a program that involved
hundreds of street kids. It provided the street kids with housing,
food and a stable environment, taught them janitorial skills and
helped them find jobs. Three-quarters were still employed years later.
(The program's funding, foolishly, was eliminated in 2002.)

The Woodwynn programs would last three to five years. LeBlanc predicts
a 70- to 80-per-cent recovery rate, compared with five to 10 per cent
for 28-day addiction programs.

It would be patterned on San Patrignano, a drug-recovery community in
Italy that Liberal MLA Lorne Mayencourt has praised in the
legislature. Mayencourt is spearheading the New Hope Recovery
Society's effort to launch a San Patrignano-based program on a
65-hectare former army base outside of Prince George. It opened Jan.
14 with eight clients.

"In B.C. there's an 85-per cent relapse rate for the 28-day detox
programs," Mayencourt said last year. "That is a paltry 15 per cent of
substance abusers in B.C. that are able to beat their addictions. Many
users go through our program many, many times. By comparison, 72 per
cent of the graduates from San Patrignano remain drug-free three years
after completing their treatment."

Certainly, the Woodwynn project would be much smaller than San
Patrignano, which has 2,200 residents living in a community setting.
And certainly this kind of approach is just one component of what
needs to be a whole range of programs aimed at the problems of
homelessness, addiction, mental illness and urban disorder.

But this idea has great promise. Every effort should be made to help
it go ahead.