Westview Ratepayers Society made requests to City of Powell River councillors regarding the recent BC Housing proposal for a new supportive housing centre in the community.
At the October 8 committee of the whole meeting, Westview Ratepayers Society president Rick Craig appeared as a delegation to outline his society’s recommendations, which, he said, were also endorsed by Townsite Ratepayers Society and Wildwood Ratepayers Association.
“The requests we make today have been shared with our members and were discussed with the 192 people who attended our recent town hall,” said Craig. “We conducted a vote at the town hall, and we asked people if they supported our nine-point proposal, and it was almost unanimous in support for what I am talking to you about today.”
Craig said society members were polled to find out how they felt about the BC Housing proposal. Over a two-week period, 319 people responded, and of these, 295, or 93 per cent, were not in support of the BC Housing proposal, according to Craig.
“We have requests that we are asking of council,” said Craig. “There are things I would like you to take action on.”
Craig said the first request is that the city postpone any decision at this time until all the other requests are dealt with.
“Our feeling is that we should postpone any action on the proposal for the new housing and move to support the other things we are asking,” said Craig.
The second request was that the city go on record indicating to BC Housing that a proper results-based management framework needs to be developed for supportive housing and complex care cases.
“As we have said before, it is astonishing to us that BC Housing gives out millions of dollars of public funds and doesn’t have a robust management framework,” said Craig. “A robust management framework needs to be developed and it needs to deal with both client services and how to monitor impacts on communities.
“We have been discussing this with BC Housing, thanks to Lift (Community Services). Lift brought us together with BC Housing and they say they are working on this. I applaud them for that. We believe it would generate more public support if a management framework could be completed and then discussed with our community before any new building is created. We also think this is needed for the current building.”
The third request is that the city indicate to BC Housing that it feels a community impact management plan should be developed for both the current housing project and any new project, said Craig.
The fourth request is that the city needs to commit to creating a task force to look at the problem of the unhoused in Powell River and it needs to commission this group with developing a vision and plan for addressing this need and the support services required over the next five years, according to Craig.
He said the fifth request is that the city convene a meeting with residents from the communities to the north and south of the new proposed building in order to discuss with them how the current site was chosen, what other sites were considered, and the city’s vision in deciding to locate all facilities in the same area.
“Is the plan to congregate all the buildings in one area and create our own version of the Downtown Eastside?” asked Craig. “If so, has council analyzed the potential impact of the strategy on the surrounding neighbourhood? If the goal is to concentrate everything in one area, we need to know what impact that may have on those communities around that area. We need to know how we are going to address those impacts.
“We are asking council to postpone a decision until it has talked to the community.”
Craig said the requests outlined were matters the society believes council can act upon and hopes council will consider doing.
Councillor George Doubt said he is interested in all kinds of different supportive housing. He said that includes the supportive housing currently situated on Joyce Avenue, and the new proposed supportive housing BC Housing is proposing, plus transitional housing, and long-term affordable housing that people can actually pay for if they have a job.
Councillor Jim Palm asked if staff could share how the current location for the new supportive housing was arrived at. Director of planning services Jason Gow said Palm was referencing a conversation that happened at an in-camera meeting and he couldn’t speak to it.
Palm then said he had read all the correspondence he and council had received regarding supportive housing and it is a very important topic. He said he had reached out to mayor Ron Woznow, who has received 342 responses on this subject, and his tally revealed that 94 per cent of the responses he received were opposed to another building.
Councillor and committee chair Rob Southcott said this process has gone on for two and a half years.
“We elect a council to do work that is necessarily kept out of the public domain and there needs to be trust,” said Southcott. “In two years, you get an opportunity to elect a new council.”
Craig said he didn’t think it was good enough to say that if people don’t like what council is doing, don’t elect them next time.
“It’s important to listen to the community now,” said Craig. “There are things council can do.”
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