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Kelowna City Councillor Loyal Wooldridge is a big supporter of the strategy behind the construction of supportive housing projects in Kelowna, but like many of those involved in the process, he has questions about whether the supports are in place to help them succeed. Supports like addiction treatment.
"When we talk about housing first, it doesn't mean housing only," said Wooldridge. "It's housing with supports."
It's upsetting for Wooldridge because he finds himself supporting the projects, but knows the pieces aren't all there.
He says that, for example, it can take up to six months for someone to get into a treatment bed.
Alberta consultant Dr. Alina Turner, who helped get the Journey Home Plan into place, said these deficits were there from the outset.
"The Journey Home Plan clearly identifies the lack of supports," she said.
In Alberta, they have something called Integrated Capital and Programming Planning.
"If you're putting a supportive housing project up, the ministry responsible for the construction has to negotiate ahead of time to ensure the supports are in place," said Turner. "From what I saw in Kelowna, that doesn't happen."
"The capital units seem to be materializing," she added.
But as for the additional treatment and supports called for in the strategy? "I'm not sure that has occurred," she said.
Still, Wooldridge is optimistic about the catch-up that's required. It just might take some pressure to get there.
"We really need to be working with the ministry of health and the ministry of mental health and addictions to look at how we're going to re-enforce the Housing-First Strategy, because it's not just housing only."
For their part, Interior Health has told KelownaNow that there are supports in place that people may not be taking into account in these discussions. They have agreed to come in for an interview to address all these questions in the weeks ahead.
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