Pubdate: Mon, 13 Dec 2004 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Allen Garr Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) BUMBLING COSTS REHAB BEDS There is no doubt council will recommend the controversial housing project for drug addicted mentally ill people at 39th and Fraser should go ahead. That will happen on Tuesday. But what was also clear from speakers addressing council on the issue last week was how poorly handled the whole process has been. There was little of the explosive rhetoric that was everywhere during two massive public meetings in October. But there was still a sense the development will be approved without paying much attention to folks in the neighbourhood who complain the project will aggravate an already high crime rate. Even neighbours who support the project, like Louise Seto, said they were "appalled" by the lack of information provided to the community and the apparent lack of respect for neighbourhood concerns. If council concludes from this exercise that, as Mayor Larry Campbell says repeatedly, the resistance to the project is a severe case of a Not-In-My-Backyard syndrome, they have missed the point. Vancouver's crime rate is not as severe as the opponents make out and there is ample evidence that, in the long run, this development will have little negative impact, if any, on the neighbourhood. But the lack of planning by both the city and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which is funding the project along with the federal government, was apparent from the outset. If this project is an important treatment model of the city's Four Pillars drug policy, the mayor was mute on the issue for far too long. It was only when the neighbourhood erupted that the city and the health authority finally reacted by providing more information. When that didn't seem to cool things down enough, the health authority decided to cut the number of units from 39 to 30. It was a gesture that angered all sides of the debate. Mark Smith, the executive director of Triage, the organization that will operate the project, says he prefers 39 units. He believes the health authority was just throwing the community a bone because of the heat. Christopher McHardy, an opponent of the project, agreed. He said dropping nine units was just a PR move, one that wouldn't satisfy him or other opponents. If you doubt that decent, secure housing is an essential part of any recovery program from mentally ill addicts, you only had to listen to the eloquent and moving presentations by two young women Wednesday night. Donna Christensen is diagnosed with addiction and mental illness and is now working on her masters degree in criminology at SFU. She also owns her own home on the East Side. She made two points: people like her are falsely portrayed as violent; and no one can succeed at recovery without support. "Projects like this can save lives," she said. Lesley (who prefers her last name not be used) met Donna in a recovery program. She suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, Type 2 bipolar disorder and is addicted to codeine and morphine. She pointed out that people with problems like hers already live in the neighbourhood. "But right now they are suffering in isolation and silence, trapped in the horror of illness and addiction, untreated and unable to access resources," she said. She sees recovery as an opportunity, one that would be provided by the new housing development. Council and the health authority can learn from this exercise about what not to do in the future and how to involve neighbourhoods in these projects. Council should also realize that it would be unfortunate if, because of the bumbling approach taken this time, nine housing units are lost. The funding is there for 39, the need is obvious and getting rid of them satisfies no one. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek