Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jan 2014
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Authors: Kelly Sinoski and Kim Pemberton
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

MUNICIPALITIES TARGET UNREGULATED RECOVERY HOMES

Officials Aim to Clamp Down on Drug Dealing and Other Crimes Often 
Associated With It

Surrey city officials have shut down 16 unregulated addiction 
recovery houses in the past eight months and are "actively searching 
for more," as concerns heighten over the proliferation of such sites 
following the Dec. 29 fatal beating of hockey mom Julie Paskall in Newton.

For decades, municipalities in the Fraser Valley have struggled to 
clamp down on the proliferation of illicit drug and alcohol recovery 
homes - as well as the drug dealing and crime often associated with 
them. But as fast as municipalities and police use bylaw enforcement 
and the criminal code to shut them down, they pop up again.

Surrey's bylaw enforcement manager estimates there are at least 67 
unregulated recovery homes within the city, and says he is seeing 
facilities reopen as fast as they are closed.

"There are a few we're watching closely," said Jas Rehal, manager of 
bylaw enforcement. "We know of a few problem ones specifically 
operating in the city and we're quick to shut them down."

Ministry of Health statistics show there are 55 registered recovery 
homes in British Columbia, of which 30 are in Surrey. There are 
another 45 recovery houses that have applied to be registered. But 
Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts believes there are far more recovery homes 
in Surrey not registered with the ministry, and the province needs to 
stop the practice of allowing owners of these unregistered homes to 
collect welfare cheques on behalf of their clients.

Instead, Watts said, the cost of the recovering addict's stay and 
treatment should simply be the $ 30 per diem that is paid by the 
Ministry of Health; in that situation, the incentive of collecting a 
client's welfare cheque by dishonest recovery home operators wouldn't exist.

"Recovery homes need to be regulated," Watts said. "There are some 
recovery houses that are good and some just turn into drug houses.

"There are things we can do but the jurisdiction lies with the 
province. Why the province won't regulate them is beyond me ... The 
issue is they ( an operator) set up as a recovery house and then get 
people who stay there to sign over their welfare cheques. That's when 
the province should step in and say no."

Recovery homes had been regulated in B. C. under the previous NDP 
government from 1998 to 2002, when the new Liberal government decided 
the regulations were too onerous. The recovery homes were licensed 
the same way as care homes for seniors, which continue to operate 
under stringent guidelines.

But since the regulations were rescinded, city officials say 
unregulated homes are often plunked in the middle of residential 
areas with disreputable operators cramming people into houses, 
pocketing rent and not providing services.

Surrey and the Fraser Valley tend to be a hotbed for the recovery 
homes, likely because many of the houses are larger and cheaper to rent.

The situation was so bad in Abbotsford that the city in 2007 decided 
to beef up its bylaws to require recovery houses to be occupied by a 
maximum of 10 residents, be located more than 200 metres from a 
school and another recovery house, have a valid business licence and 
enter into a housing agreement with the city.

There are now 10 approved recovery homes in Abbotsford, although the 
city recently lifted a 2008 moratorium on recovery homes, and is now 
evaluating applications on a case-by-case basis.

Surrey, which had previously attempted to deal with the problem by 
amending its zoning bylaws to define a recovery home as a "care 
facility," with a maximum of six addicts and four caretakers to a 
home, is planning to strengthen its bylaw and may consider one 
similar to Abbotsford's, Rehal said.

"We're reviewing the process to come up with something like that," he 
said. "The biggest kick here is a building operator is funded by the 
province or federal agencies for recovery homes, but then we get a 
complaint and find out it is operating in a manner that's not appropriate."

About 67 recovery homes in Surrey are also in the process of 
registering with the Ministry of Health, he said, but noted the city 
often doesn't know when the recovery homes pop up.

The Ministry of Health began registering supportive recovery houses 
in the spring of 2013 after examples of abuse were noticed by both 
the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Development and 
Social Innovation, said health ministry media relations manager 
Kristy Anderson.

The Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation issues 
welfare cheques.

"There are unregistered homes in B. C. that may call themselves 
supportive recovery, but they are different from registered houses, 
and would not provide the same level of services. For example, 
unregistered supportive recovery homes should not offer the level of 
medical or counselling support offered at registered houses. 
Unregistered houses that are providing fewer services are still bound 
by municipal and criminal laws and regulations," Anderson said.

"People who receive income assistance benefits from the Ministry of 
Social Development and Social Innovation have the right to choose 
where they live and the supports they receive, including registered 
homes or unregistered homes."

She added while the province now registers recovery homes, it does 
not license them as they would a residential care facility for seniors.

"The licensing rules for these facilities in the 1990s were too 
restrictive; it was almost impossible for operators to comply. We 
learned that it was not appropriate to regulate these operations to 
the same standard as a residential care facility. A one-size-fits- 
all approach didn't work."

The government has a 67- page guideline for operators of recovery 
homes called the Mental Health and Substance Use Assisted Living 
Registrant Handbook, created in November 2012 before the new 
registration requirement came into effect the following spring. The 
guidelines set out health and safety standards and under the 
Community Care and Assisted Living Act, authorize the registrar to 
cancel a registration if a home is not in compliance and impose a 
fine on unregistered residences.

Bill Koonar, director of the Welcome Home Society, said he expects 
the new B. C. requirements to have recovery homes register with the 
Ministry of Health will weed out the unscrupulous operators, since 
the municipalities can now shut them down more easily by refusing to 
issue a business license to those that are unregistered.

The Welcome Home Society is a two-year residential recovery program 
that has been running in Surrey for six years with very strict 
guidelines for the 30 clients in the program. The cost is a $ 4,000 
admittance fee, but afterwards the program is free, paid for by the 
John Volken Foundation.

Usually by the time an addict comes to the program, he or she has 
gone through five or six short-term recovery programs, said Koonar.

"A lot of programs are just come and go as you please with no 
ramifications and not much programming. For our people, when they 
come in they have to make a two-year commitment, not have visitors 
for the first 30 to 60 days, can't be collecting welfare, which is a 
source of money and a reason for some to leave and go do drugs," said Koonar.

Clients of Welcome Home Society must attend a morning motivational 
meeting, then go to the life skills training centre to learn job 
skills and routine.

The society runs Price Pro, which is open to the public and offers 
work experience to clients. He said clients must also be involved 
with sports and are kept busy because "an addict's worst enemy is spare time."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom