Housing not only answer

A group of protesters are asking for the public's assistance to establish a location for their drive-thru petition against supportive housing.

The petition is calling for development to stop on the supporting housing facility at 130 McCurdy Rd., mostly due to its proximity to elementary, middle and high schools. 

It states: "This community within Kelowna, Rutland, already has a disproportionate amount of similar housing when compared to the rest of the city, and can handle no more, as has been well-evidenced by many recent news stories of needles in our parks, vandalism, petty theft, human waste and open drug use."

The group hosted the drive-thru petition in the Orchard Park parking lot on Sept. 23, but were removed from the premises after a security guard asked whether they had been granted permission to use the space.

Orchard Park allows registered non-profits to use its space for promotional purposes, but other groups who wish to use the space must pay a fee and have insurance. 

Co-organizers Tania Gustafson and Christopher Bocskei say they are not a stand-alone group, but represent a community that wants the root causes of the problem to be dealt with. 

"This isn’t just a couple of crazy people thinking this housing is a bad idea," says Bocskei. "The public is behind this, they’re not signing this blindly, they've heard this, they’ve seen it in the news and they know what they're doing. 

"One issue is drugs – but not every homeless person is on drugs. The other issue is that too many things in Canada end up making people homeless. If subsidized housing is going to help, they need subsidized electricity, subsidized utilities... the truth is that building beds isn’t the solution. Stopping people from becoming homeless, that’s the solution. We need to put in place stuff that can catch people before they fall through the cracks, and pick those kids up off the street. Anyone under 16, they shouldn't be out on the streets. They should be in a program or in foster care."

Gustafson, who has lived in Rutland for the last 46 years, says Alberta is doing well by acknowledging the system they have in place isn't working and opening up more treatment beds.

"In B.C., they're trying to reduce the deaths, which is great, but in and of itself that is not enough because the deaths have come down but the overdoses have gone up, which means all we’re doing is reviving the same people. We’re keeping them from dying, but are we helping them live? Not at all.

"I've seen reports that show 12-step programs have about a 92 per cent success rate. Supportive housing only has a 30 per cent success rate, so why are we doing what has been proven to be ineffective? We need to start focusing on the whole person and all of their needs, not just giving them a place to stay for a night." 

The group wants to host the drive-thru petition as soon as possible, and at the latest, by the end of October. If you know of or would like to offer a location, contact [email protected].