NEW ARMY PLAN IN WORKS TO HELP ADDICTS

Abbotsford city councillor Mark Warawa promises a "ground-breaking" policy
on bridge houses for recovering addicts and emergency shelters that other
communities will want to emulate, he said Monday.

"I'm very pleased with the way it's going. I think the community in general
will be pleased. I think the policies will be adopted by other communities.
I think it's groundbreaking," he said, adding a presentation may be tabled
at a public meeting in early April. The work is about four weeks behind the
expected end date, he said.

Warawa is the chairman of a committee looking for a suitable location for
the Salvation Army's planned bridge house for about 10 people, a transition
type of facility for stable, recovering alcohol and drug addicts working to
re-integrate themselves into the community. The Army also wanted to replace
an aging, inadequate emergency shelter to better accommodate men and women,
although the main focus of the committee's work has been the bridge house.

In the two years the Salvation Army has run into strong opposition from some
city councillors and the Abbotsford Downtown Business Association, which is
opposed to the Christian agency establishing a bridge house downtown on
Cyril Street.

The reasons opponents give is that the bridge house would attract drug
traffickers. They add there are enough social services in the core area
already dealing with undesirables, at a time when the ADBA is trying to
create a more business and consumer-friendly area.

Warawa said that while the Lower Mainland Municipal Association members are
being "pressured to support the four pillar approach," Abbotsford has
declared itself opposed to the fourth pillar, harm reduction, because the
city council members don't believe it works.

They'd rather press for treatment and detoxification facilities and it will
be necessary to have bridge houses in place, to help stable, recovering
alcohol and drug addicts integrate back into their communities, he said.

"The [bridge house] criteria will be strict yet practical. The key is
criteria to make sure it will be successful," Warawa said.