PROVINCE RESCINDS RULE THAT CLOSED RECOVERY HOUSES

The provincial Liberal government has quietly rescinded a rule that caused
the closing of supportive recovery houses across British Columbia.

Minister of Health Services Colin Hansen made the announcement yesterday
that beginning immediately, small supportive recovery houses would no
longer have to meet standards set out in the Community Care Facility Act.

It required those types of facilities to adhere to strict regulations on
accommodation, meal service and administration.

The 1998 decision by the NDP government to force unfunded supportive
recovery houses to comply with the act was an effort to weed out
unscrupulous operators who were taking advantage of their drug- and
alcohol-addicted clients.

But it also had the effect of forcing many legitimate operators out of
business when they could not afford to pay for expensive upgrades to their
operations.

Typically, clients of an unfunded supportive recovery house would turn over
their welfare cheques to the non-profit society or individual running the
house.

In return, the client would receive room and board plus informal addiction
recovery programming and support.

Locally, at least five of these types of operations shut their doors not
long after the regulation came into effect.

New Attitudes Recovery and Prevention Society, which began operation in
1995, was one of them.

At one point, executive director Russ Cunnington had four houses in
operation, housing at least 24 clients.

Cunnington said he had been working to secure annual government funding for
his houses when the new regulation was announced.

The final straw, Cunnington said, was when the government awarded
Crossroads Treatment Centre Society funding for a 24-bed supportive
recovery facility at the same time it was awarded funding for a
detoxification centre, shutting out the smaller operators in the Central
Okanagan.

"At a cost of $7,000 per house, considering they were all rental
facilities, it was absolutely ludicrous to think we would be able to do
that without any form of funding," he said.

At the time, Cunnington said he and the directors of two other houses,
Belaire House for women and Decisions Recovery House, forwarded suggestions
to the government about how to regulate the smaller operators without
shutting them down but they fell on deaf ears.

Of the three, only Belaire House continues to operate. In addition, Argyle
House and Jericho House have ceased to function.

Cunnington said Thursday he doubts the relaxing of the standards will
prompt him to start another recovery house.

In the absence of Community Care Licensing standards, the government has
said concerns about room-and-board businesses such as supportive recovery
houses would have to be dealt with in the future at a municipal level,
through zoning and community plans.

Medical health officers will also still have the authority to inspect a
facility to determine if it provides a level of care that requires
licensing under the Community Care Facility Act.