April 22, 2011
The hard-working community members who created the Kamloops Homelessness Action Plan must have mixed emotions about the results of two recent public hearings to set aside municipal lands for much-needed affordable housing.
A third of the properties — two out of six — originally identified for such housing were removed based on protests by nearby residents.
While public input is essential, and the impact on neighbourhoods of such projects must be carefully considered, the rationale used by some council members for saying no to affordable housing is questionable.
At Tuesday night’s public hearing, every single member of council emphasized how strongly he or she was in favour of affordable housing. Yet seven of the eight decided against designating a River Street property for the “hard to house” after neighbours strongly objected. (Only Coun. Nancy Bepple voted on the side of putting housing on the property.)
Coun. Denis Walsh, for example, argued that green space should not be removed until completion of the City’s new parks master plan, the same reasoning he uses to object to the Riverside Park parkade.
Yet, he and the rest of council approved four of the six properties, all of which are undeveloped and are, therefore, green space.
The difference is that those four weren’t the subject of concerted public opposition.
Coun. Pat Wallace’s reasoning was that the River Street property simply isn’t a good location for such housing. “I feel this location is absolutely wrong,” she said, adding that it is too isolated from services.
Certainly, there are some shortcomings to the location, but social-housing advocates expressed no concerns about it. They should probably know better than council whether a property is appropriate for affordable housing.
Coun. John DeCicco voted to leave the property alone because “I think we should step back and slow down a bit.”
HAP will no doubt be interested to know, based on what Coun. DeCicco says, that Kamloops has enough housing for its homeless population. His comment, of course, conflicts mightily with what the HAP has concluded, which is that there are still a large number of homeless who need shelter, and will be for several years to come.
Coun. Tina Lange sent an interesting message on homelessness when she pointed out that, “You could put million-dollar homes there” and that tourists are uncomfortable around affordable-housing projects.
In other words, we should reserve only low-value properties for our homeless.
As a whole, the reasons provided by mayor and council for rejecting the River Street plan sound very much like excuses. Housing for the less fortunate is going to be controversial in almost any neighbourhood — it’s a situation in which everybody is right, and everybody is wrong.
If the council bailed on its original intentions for the land because of public pressure, maybe it should have just said that. There’s nothing particularly egregious about listening to the wishes of those who will be affected by change.
We Say editorials represent the position of The Daily News and are unsigned. The editorial board of the newspaper includes publisher Tim Shoults, editor Mel Rothenburger, news editor Mike Cornell, sports editor Gregg Drinnan, and associate news editors Mark Rogers, Stewart Duncan, Catherine Litt and Dan Spark.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Kamloops Daily News, April 7th, Mel Rothenburger's Armchair Mayor Column
HAP — the Homelessness Action Plan — held a forum at Kamloops Alliance Church, a sort of status report on where we’re at on this most fundamental of social issues.
HAP has the ambitious goal of ending homelessness by 2015, which coincidentally would be 120 years since the city’s first social-housing project. Two years after Kamloops incorporated as a city in 1893, the Provincial Home for Old Men was built.
Unfortunately, what began with the best of intentions and widespread community support deteriorated over time into a place avoided by “regular” people.
City council was involved in the issue early on. Elisabeth Duckworth at the museum tells me the story of a mother thrown out of her home by her son early in the 1900s. Council created a pension for her.
In 1922, a homeless man named Thomas Hornby left a note, then drowned himself in the Thompson River. He wouldn’t be the last to die.
Jump ahead roughly a century to the past dozen years, when we started talking seriously about the issue of homelessness in a context that was broader than just finding a place to store people.
We started forming committees and community coalitions like Kamloops Active Support Against Poverty, Kamloops Steering Committee on Homelessness, Kamloops Community Action Team, and, more recently, The Changing Face of Poverty and HAP.
As we turned the corner on Y2K, Victory Inn taught us that social housing has to fit with the aspirations of neighbourhoods to be successful — a lesson repeated on Cowan Street just last week.
Then the Liberals came into power and it was an era of cutbacks. Street services weren’t exempt. Nor was welfare. “We have to focus on the core things — health and education,” said MLA Kevin Krueger. So homelessness became a municipal issue as well as a provincial and federal one. Somebody, after all, had to fill the gap.
In the spring of 2005, a makeshift shelter down at the river caught fire and a homeless man died.
Tent cities on the river shore became a regular part of summers in Kamloops. Sometimes, for “fun,” teens would get together and go down to the river to “beat up a bum.”
So we put up fences — literally — and in 2006 City council started tearing down the tent cities. Businesses built barricades to stop the homeless from sleeping in their doorways. As always, shoppers complained about panhandlers.
In January 2008, Henry Leland — known as “a good guy” — froze to death in a snowbank. The former Whistler Inn is now a social-housing apartment named after him.
Politicians began talking about “social issues such as homelessness, drug addiction, prostitution, panhandling, mental health and crime.”
Was this a recognition that there are sometimes connections, or a suspicion that homeless people are all drug-addicted, crazy criminals?
Persuaded by the B.C. Supreme Court, we allowed the homeless to pitch their tents in parks between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. As long as they didn’t try to use the public washrooms.
At 7 each morning they were rousted out of bed by police and bylaws officers.
Slowly, we’ve made progress, a lot of it. We’ve had failures like Blueberry Lodge, but many more successes. Services are much better. The community and government are, at last, edging toward the effective partnership that has proved so elusive.
Some day, maybe by that targeted year of 2015, somebody will stand at a forum and mention that we once had homelessness in Kamloops.
HAP has the ambitious goal of ending homelessness by 2015, which coincidentally would be 120 years since the city’s first social-housing project. Two years after Kamloops incorporated as a city in 1893, the Provincial Home for Old Men was built.
Unfortunately, what began with the best of intentions and widespread community support deteriorated over time into a place avoided by “regular” people.
City council was involved in the issue early on. Elisabeth Duckworth at the museum tells me the story of a mother thrown out of her home by her son early in the 1900s. Council created a pension for her.
In 1922, a homeless man named Thomas Hornby left a note, then drowned himself in the Thompson River. He wouldn’t be the last to die.
Jump ahead roughly a century to the past dozen years, when we started talking seriously about the issue of homelessness in a context that was broader than just finding a place to store people.
We started forming committees and community coalitions like Kamloops Active Support Against Poverty, Kamloops Steering Committee on Homelessness, Kamloops Community Action Team, and, more recently, The Changing Face of Poverty and HAP.
As we turned the corner on Y2K, Victory Inn taught us that social housing has to fit with the aspirations of neighbourhoods to be successful — a lesson repeated on Cowan Street just last week.
Then the Liberals came into power and it was an era of cutbacks. Street services weren’t exempt. Nor was welfare. “We have to focus on the core things — health and education,” said MLA Kevin Krueger. So homelessness became a municipal issue as well as a provincial and federal one. Somebody, after all, had to fill the gap.
In the spring of 2005, a makeshift shelter down at the river caught fire and a homeless man died.
Tent cities on the river shore became a regular part of summers in Kamloops. Sometimes, for “fun,” teens would get together and go down to the river to “beat up a bum.”
So we put up fences — literally — and in 2006 City council started tearing down the tent cities. Businesses built barricades to stop the homeless from sleeping in their doorways. As always, shoppers complained about panhandlers.
In January 2008, Henry Leland — known as “a good guy” — froze to death in a snowbank. The former Whistler Inn is now a social-housing apartment named after him.
Politicians began talking about “social issues such as homelessness, drug addiction, prostitution, panhandling, mental health and crime.”
Was this a recognition that there are sometimes connections, or a suspicion that homeless people are all drug-addicted, crazy criminals?
Persuaded by the B.C. Supreme Court, we allowed the homeless to pitch their tents in parks between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. As long as they didn’t try to use the public washrooms.
At 7 each morning they were rousted out of bed by police and bylaws officers.
Slowly, we’ve made progress, a lot of it. We’ve had failures like Blueberry Lodge, but many more successes. Services are much better. The community and government are, at last, edging toward the effective partnership that has proved so elusive.
Some day, maybe by that targeted year of 2015, somebody will stand at a forum and mention that we once had homelessness in Kamloops.
(Based on the speach written by Mel Rothenburger for the HAP Forum April 6th 2011)
Kamloops Daily News - April 7th 2011
HAP — the Homelessness Action Plan — held a forum at Kamloops Alliance Church, a sort of status report on where we’re at on this most fundamental of social issues.
HAP has the ambitious goal of ending homelessness by 2015, which coincidentally would be 120 years since the city’s first social-housing project. Two years after Kamloops incorporated as a city in 1893, the Provincial Home for Old Men was built.
Unfortunately, what began with the best of intentions and widespread community support deteriorated over time into a place avoided by “regular” people.
City council was involved in the issue early on. Elisabeth Duckworth at the museum tells me the story of a mother thrown out of her home by her son early in the 1900s. Council created a pension for her.
In 1922, a homeless man named Thomas Hornby left a note, then drowned himself in the Thompson River. He wouldn’t be the last to die.
Jump ahead roughly a century to the past dozen years, when we started talking seriously about the issue of homelessness in a context that was broader than just finding a place to store people.
We started forming committees and community coalitions like Kamloops Active Support Against Poverty, Kamloops Steering Committee on Homelessness, Kamloops Community Action Team, and, more recently, The Changing Face of Poverty and HAP.
As we turned the corner on Y2K, Victory Inn taught us that social housing has to fit with the aspirations of neighbourhoods to be successful — a lesson repeated on Cowan Street just last week.
Then the Liberals came into power and it was an era of cutbacks. Street services weren’t exempt. Nor was welfare.
“We have to focus on the core things — health and education,” said MLA Kevin Krueger. So homelessness became a municipal issue as well as a provincial and federal one. Somebody, after all, had to fill the gap.
In the spring of 2005, a makeshift shelter down at the river caught fire and a homeless man died.
Tent cities on the river shore became a regular part of summers in Kamloops. Sometimes, for “fun,” teens would get together and go down to the river to “beat up a bum.”
So we put up fences — literally — and in 2006 City council started tearing down the tent cities. Businesses built barricades to stop the homeless from sleeping in their doorways. As always, shoppers complained about panhandlers.
In January 2008, Henry Leland — known as “a good guy” — froze to death in a snowbank. The former Whistler Inn is now a social-housing apartment named after him.
Politicians began talking about “social issues such as homelessness, drug addiction, prostitution, panhandling, mental health and crime.”
Was this a recognition that there are sometimes connections, or a suspicion that homeless people are all drug-addicted, crazy criminals?
Persuaded by the B.C. Supreme Court, we allowed the homeless to pitch their tents in parks between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. As long as they didn’t try to use the public washrooms.
At 7 each morning they were rousted out of bed by police and bylaws officers.
Slowly, we’ve made progress, a lot of it. We’ve had failures like Blueberry Lodge, but many more successes. Services are much better. The community and government are, at last, edging toward the effective partnership that has proved so elusive.
Some day, maybe by that targeted year of 2015, somebody will stand at a forum and mention that we once had homelessness in Kamloops.
HAP has the ambitious goal of ending homelessness by 2015, which coincidentally would be 120 years since the city’s first social-housing project. Two years after Kamloops incorporated as a city in 1893, the Provincial Home for Old Men was built.
Unfortunately, what began with the best of intentions and widespread community support deteriorated over time into a place avoided by “regular” people.
City council was involved in the issue early on. Elisabeth Duckworth at the museum tells me the story of a mother thrown out of her home by her son early in the 1900s. Council created a pension for her.
In 1922, a homeless man named Thomas Hornby left a note, then drowned himself in the Thompson River. He wouldn’t be the last to die.
Jump ahead roughly a century to the past dozen years, when we started talking seriously about the issue of homelessness in a context that was broader than just finding a place to store people.
We started forming committees and community coalitions like Kamloops Active Support Against Poverty, Kamloops Steering Committee on Homelessness, Kamloops Community Action Team, and, more recently, The Changing Face of Poverty and HAP.
As we turned the corner on Y2K, Victory Inn taught us that social housing has to fit with the aspirations of neighbourhoods to be successful — a lesson repeated on Cowan Street just last week.
Then the Liberals came into power and it was an era of cutbacks. Street services weren’t exempt. Nor was welfare.
“We have to focus on the core things — health and education,” said MLA Kevin Krueger. So homelessness became a municipal issue as well as a provincial and federal one. Somebody, after all, had to fill the gap.
In the spring of 2005, a makeshift shelter down at the river caught fire and a homeless man died.
Tent cities on the river shore became a regular part of summers in Kamloops. Sometimes, for “fun,” teens would get together and go down to the river to “beat up a bum.”
So we put up fences — literally — and in 2006 City council started tearing down the tent cities. Businesses built barricades to stop the homeless from sleeping in their doorways. As always, shoppers complained about panhandlers.
In January 2008, Henry Leland — known as “a good guy” — froze to death in a snowbank. The former Whistler Inn is now a social-housing apartment named after him.
Politicians began talking about “social issues such as homelessness, drug addiction, prostitution, panhandling, mental health and crime.”
Was this a recognition that there are sometimes connections, or a suspicion that homeless people are all drug-addicted, crazy criminals?
Persuaded by the B.C. Supreme Court, we allowed the homeless to pitch their tents in parks between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. As long as they didn’t try to use the public washrooms.
At 7 each morning they were rousted out of bed by police and bylaws officers.
Slowly, we’ve made progress, a lot of it. We’ve had failures like Blueberry Lodge, but many more successes. Services are much better. The community and government are, at last, edging toward the effective partnership that has proved so elusive.
Some day, maybe by that targeted year of 2015, somebody will stand at a forum and mention that we once had homelessness in Kamloops.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Affordable Housing First
I wrote this article for Kamloops This Week on the heals of the discussion of the 6 sites in Kamloops that are being considered for rezoning and use for affordable housing:
BC Housing works with Non-Profit Agencies who can own and/or operate housing by partnering through funding and Housing Agreements. BC Housing is aware of the growing need for affordable housing and is partnering with municipalities to ensure that adequate housing is developed. The City of Kamloops has been working hard to ensure that they are doing their part to ensure that affordable housing is available for everyone. The planning department has been weighing options and identifying opportunities for cost-effective and well-suited housing developments. Creative ideas from municipalities about reducing Land Acquisition Costs, foregoing Development Cost Charges, and expediting Development Applications all help BC Housing and Non-Profit Housing Providers reduce their start-up costs.
Start-up costs are just the beginning when it comes to affordable housing. The new Housing First Model requires that people live in permanent housing rather than shelters, and this permanent housing requires on-going supports. 24 hour, live-in care is the new norm for housing people of specific needs like mental health and addictions. The costs of providing supports outweighs the capital costs of building housing, and is just as important as the construction of the building itself. It is ongoing support that ensures the success of new housing projects; it is the contact with empathetic, skilled workers that ensures people continue on their chosen path to self-sufficiency.
It is not just people with Mental Health or Addiction issues who require Affordable Housing. Senior Citizens and Youth are two of the fastest growing demographics of homelessness; Families and Single Parents are more and more often faced with losing their homes as well. Diverse solutions must address the needs of a variety of people, and the best way to ensure this is possible is by allocating varied housing sites that have good access to amenities like transit. Weaving small housing sites into successful neighbourhoods ensures that no area of our community becomes stigmatized, and helps the people who live in the new housing integrate into the community.
Permanent supported housing is the best decision for all members of the community, not just the people who will live in the new housing. Permanent housing costs 5 times less than people cycling through the shelter system. Infilling the existing urban area reduces the need for new infrastructure, it promotes a healthy walking lifestyle for everyone, and costs our whole community less. Densifying neighbourhoods makes infrastructure like transit more feasible for everyone. When we find stable supported housing for those who need it, there can be more affordable market rental housing available for people like students who may not need supported housing or treatment programs, but who are often in danger of becoming homeless as well. When we help people who are cycling in and out of shelters become more stable we help the whole community become more stable. The Kamloops Homelessness Action Plan is proud to be able to work with the City of Kamloops to continue to develop innovative solutions to affordable housing.
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