BC Housing for Homeless for Kelowna okay'ed! Did you agree?

[dogspoiler]

The rats want us to build them free homes, and then not impose any rules on them. I hope they are still willing to accept free food, dental and health care, legal representation, and have everyone else clean up their garbage and crap.

[the truth]

it will be no different here in kelowna

[WalterWhite]

Certainly appear to at least be trying to make this work. I can’t speak as a business owner in this particular area so I’m sure there is a whole other perspective on this, and rightfully so. However this iteration seems to be at first glance a considerable improvement on the original proposal. Some of the comments made will make cause for some to have concern:

There’s always going to be concerns around concentrations of folks, but we’ll alleviate those concerns as we go along,” she added. “There’s going to be lots we can control, and some things we can’t control, but we’ll do everything we can to be good neighbors, as we are in our other condensed residential environments. I expect that our track record will continue in that vein.”

However, I think this is even more concerning:

Askeland points out that there are approximately 1,200 people in Kelowna on a waiting list for supportive housing, so these 46 units are badly needed.

That to me’s a significant amount of people, as I’m sure there are a large number also not counted in this number.

https://okanaganedge.net/2018/03/26/mod ... g-returns/

[artistwithaflare]

I used to live next door to a low income apt. building.
Social services sent the residents cheques directly to the landlord to cover their rent.
Volunteers took them to the food bank each week.
Most of them struggled with addiction and most of their visitors did too!
Drug dealers were their best friends!
I lived in fear and anyone trying to stay clean(or, get clean) must have also lived in fear.
I was forced to move so I could sleep at night and to protect myself but some are stuck living next to this type of situation.
I have no solution but this is the reality.
On a good note, Security jobs are on the rise!!!!

[OldBlindDog]

As for avoiding future events such as you have described, try a relationship with your creator. there is great protection in doing so.

Religion isn't a magical shield that protects a person from being a victim of crime. Get real.

[the truth]

I used to live next door to a low income apt. building.
Social services sent the residents cheques directly to the landlord to cover their rent.
Volunteers took them to the food bank each week.
Most of them struggled with addiction and most of their visitors did too!
Drug dealers were their best friends!
I lived in fear and anyone trying to stay clean(or, get clean) must have also lived in fear.
I was forced to move so I could sleep at night and to protect myself but some are stuck living next to this type of situation.
I have no solution but this is the reality.
On a good note, Security jobs are on the rise!!!!

and that's a fact, to bad the people in charge have no clue of what really is going on, hard for them to know the truth behind there desk inside a nice warm building

[Because_They_Lie]

As for avoiding future events such as you have described, try a relationship with your creator. there is great protection in doing so.

Religion isn't a magical shield that protects a person from being a victim of crime. Get real.

I was not referring to religion.

If you doubt what your creator can do, so be it.

[Because_They_Lie]

The rats want us to build them free homes, and then not impose any rules on them. I hope they are still willing to accept free food, dental and health care, legal representation, and have everyone else clean up their garbage and crap.

I think If you were actually conscious, you would realize that NONE of the homeless demand ANY change to their situation.

The people who call for something to be done are the business owners, city counsel and the housed who see a need for the non housed.

I have NEVER heard one single homeless person, nor a group of homeless people shouting out about having housing built for them.

They steal, sure....but they certainly are not being given media coverage for their demands, because they don't have demands.

They accept their lot, that they are addicted or mentally ill or their life fell apart, lost their job, their wife - child was murdered etc. cant run the rat race anymore, fall into hell and live on the street.

No homeless are calling for rich people to DO something. The ONLY people calling for something to be done are the profiteers and the fearful.

[artistwithaflare]

I used to live next door to a low income apt. building.
Social services sent the residents cheques directly to the landlord to cover their rent.
Volunteers took them to the food bank each week.
Most of them struggled with addiction and most of their visitors did too!
Drug dealers were their best friends!
I lived in fear and anyone trying to stay clean(or, get clean) must have also lived in fear.
I was forced to move so I could sleep at night and to protect myself but some are stuck living next to this type of situation.
I have no solution but this is the reality.
On a good note, Security jobs are on the rise!!!!

and that's a fact, to bad the people in charge have no clue of what really is going on, hard for them to know the truth behind there desk inside a nice warm building

In response: I know for a fact that many non profit housing leaders are aware of what is going on. The thing is...they are allowed to keep their doors open becasue they can collect grants & residents welfare cheques! Not to mention all the donations(food, clothing, money) Yes, they also offer help by informing them of resources for addiction(etc.) but, residents are not forced to comply.

[dogspoiler]

I think If you were actually conscious, you would realize that NONE of the homeless demand ANY change to their situation.

.

Try watching the news sometime.

[the truth]

that would involve stepping outside

[ShannonG]

A program similar to this was implemented in the Netherlands with great success. The key is not just to provide housing, but supportive services to assist people to learn basic life skills, get job training, overcome addiction, etc. They won't just dump 46 people into a modular apartment block and walk away (I hope).
The 46 people who qualify for these units will be the most promising applicants out of who knows how many. Not all will succeed, but I sure hope some do. For the sake of the surrounding businesses I hope the place is closely monitored and has some sort of Code of Conduct for residents.

[Queen K]

EVERY supportive housing, the one in Rutland, the two near Orchard Park and Willow Bridge has:

Codes of Conduct.
Electronic monitoring at the front door.
24 hr cameras.
Receptionists.
Visitor sign in/out sheets, even for healthcare professionals and paraprofessionals.

[WalterWhite]

This is no surprise. Just another stop-gap measure implemented by the city so as to avoid actually dealing with the issue.

https://okanaganedge.net/2018/03/29/cha ... d-shelter/

Maybe nearby property owners should start billing the city for theft, vandalism and clean up costs resulting from this extended temporary situation.

Interesting that another news outlet has a story outlining a former local homeless man's view that resources need to be spread outside of the downtown core as it would greatly benefit those trying to get away from substance abuse issues:

Pierce thinks having resources near Rutland is a good idea because it helps people stay away from the temptation of drugs and alcohol, which he said is more easily accessible downtown.

“A lot of people want to stay away from the downtown core… everything’s down here and they want to stay away from here. Some go to Winfield, some go to Westbank.”

[Terris]

This whole fiasco is like the other side of a carpet, whereby social and education funding programs, having been swept under this carpet years ago already, by the pseudo Socred/Liberal party, are now starting to reappear as even greater and costlier social problems.

Who in BC society has been profiting while the population and plight of the poor and disenfranchised has increased?

Now that these problems have been downloaded onto municipalities, we can see here in Kelowna, new anti homeless bylaws demonstrating the rise of mayoral fascism, as dictated to by the local social elite$, all under the guise of "public order".

I support this expedient solution but, IMHO, we could have done better as a society overall, under different leadership...