Pubdate: Thu, 09 May 2002
Source: Kamloops Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 Kamloops Daily News
Contact:  http://www.southam.com/kamloopsdailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/679
Author: Michele Young
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

COUNCIL'S DELAY PUTS SHELTER AT RISK

City council has jeopardized the future of a women's emergency shelter by 
delaying a decision by a week on whether to grant rezoning on a prospective 
property, the proponent charged Tuesday.

Coun. John O'Fee was alone in opposing the motion to defer the decision to 
Tuesday, one day after the offer to purchase expires on the project. 
Councillors Brian Husband and Dave Gracey were absent from the public 
hearing on the issue Tuesday night, which drew more than 20 people - about 
half in favour, half against.

Kiwanis House, backed by the city social planning council and committee on 
homelessness, is eligible for $250,000 in funding to buy and renovate the 
house at 467 St. Paul St. to be used as an emergency shelter for women.

Kiwanis executive director Marg Marshall said council's deferral puts a 
question mark on the project.

"It could possibly cancel the entire project," she said.

The project involves a five-bed shelter staffed 24 hours a day. Women who 
have nowhere else to go - sober or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, 
suffering from mental illness or other problems - would be able to stay at 
the house on a short-term basis while staff try to find help and programs 
for them.

"These kinds of issues can stimulate the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) 
syndrome," she said.

"It can only get better with the services we're providing."

One resident from the area and a man who owns a business property on 
400-block St. Paul Street spoke against the shelter being located downtown, 
where crime problems are rife.

Gloria Fraser said she represented residents from the area and those who 
would like to move into apartments or condominiums downtown.

"This is a bad idea," she said, suggesting the shelter would be better 
situated in an urban area with trees and gardens.

"They do not need to be in the mess the downtown is in."

She said the drug dealers and pimps will hang around the shelter, waiting 
to prey on the vulnerable women inside.

Robert Daniele, who owns a business property across the street from the 
proposed shelter, said he cleans up needles, garbage, condoms and other 
trash left by drug dealers and pimps frequenting the area.

"Unless you live there, you'll never believe what goes on," he said.

O'Fee asked him if he had problems from the nightclub behind his business 
and from the house with its current tenants. Daniele said yes to both 
questions. But he felt the shelter staff would be dealing with the women 
inside, and not with the associated problems outside the building.

Marshall said a security company will be called upon when needed, as well 
as the police.

In her 20 years with the Phoenix Centre, a detox program, and her three 
years with Kiwanis, security has not been a problem, she said. There will 
be strict rules, she added.

"This isn't a hotel where you can come and go."

Gwenn Cutler, who filled in for Marshall when she was off the last few 
months, attended a meeting of the Downtown Residents Association to talk 
about the project. There is also a rezoning application sign on the 
property. But some council members felt more effort should have been made 
to contact people living in the area.

Mayor Mel Rothenburger said there was a lack of explanation to the 
neighbours on what the shelter would entail.

Coun. Peter Sharp said while many seniors live in the downtown, often 
they're reluctant to come out to a public hearing or any meeting.

Coun. Pat Wallace said she was torn. She understood the worries of those in 
the area, but as she herself lives in the downtown, she has seen the crime 
and the women being kicked around.

"It's the human suffering that concerns me the most."

O'Fee didn't understand why it should be put off. Kiwanis House has a good 
reputation, and there are detox programs in Kamloops situated right beside 
elementary schools (Phoenix Centre and House of Ruth).

"If this thing falls apart, we've lost a quarter of a million dollars in 
federal funding and these people (the homeless women) are still in the 
community."
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MAP posted-by: Ariel