Pubdate: Fri, 17 Dec 2004
Source: Kelowna Capital News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004, West Partners Publishing Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.kelownacapnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1294
Author: John McDonald, staff reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

CITY MUST PUT MONEY BEHIND FOUR PILLARS STRATEGY

Active Voice

It wasn't even four years ago that the expressed policy of the City of 
Kelowna was that it had no mandate to deal with homelessness or drug addiction.

That is a provincial or federal responsibility was the stock answer to any 
question of why the city didn't do something more for the people living 
under bridges and behind dumpsters.

Their response, at the time, was to come down hard using police and bylaw 
officers on any homeless person who dared to make themselves too visible to 
the taxpaying public.

My first taste of that was an early morning call I got from a guy who was 
living in Camp Freedom, an impromptu collection of tents a group of 
homeless people had set up on city land in the North End.

"It's happening," was all the guy had to say.

I rushed down there with my camera in time to snap photos of burly police 
officers carting away the tents and any of the Camp Freedom denizens who 
said the wrong thing. Camp Freedom only lasted about five days but I think 
it was the first public indication anyone in the city had about the growing 
problem of homelessness, which really isn't a problem at all but a symptom 
of drug addiction and mental illness.

What a difference four years makes.

Since then, the problems that were always there have increased to the point 
that we can no longer avoid them.

It's now possible during a stroll through downtown to have to step over 
someone sleeping in a doorway, and see a discarded syringe a few steps 
later while winding your way through street people conducting open drug deals.

Along with the rise of the problem, the city has seen some attempts at 
solutions, including the rise (and fall) of the Kelowna Homelessness 
Steering Committee, the beginning of the Out of the Cold emergency shelter 
and the beginnings of the Central Okanagan Four Pillars Coalition. It's the 
last one that has really highlighted the change in the city's attitude.

Social issues such as homelessness and drug addiction may be the 
responsibility of the province or the feds but the problem is sleeping in 
our doorways and shooting up in our public washrooms.

The Four Pillars Coalition is the closest the city has come to actually 
coordinating a sensible response to the problem.

But so far, it's just talk and we still await the final report from the 
coalition.

And it won't be worth the paper it's written on if the city doesn't get 
behind it with more than just kind words.

Yes, the province and federal government still have responsibility for 
social issues but the city is going to have to grease the wheels with cash 
and any political arm-twisting it can muster.

Financial support for the Four Pillars Coalition is noticeably absent from 
next year's interim city budget.

To be fair, the coalition has yet to submit its final report. But when the 
interim budget is complete in May, the city will have a chance to finally 
put its money where its mouth is. Don't blow it. 
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