Re: BC Housing’s termination of existing Extreme Weather services in Abbotsford
Whether that termination was deliberate malice aforethought or the lack of critical thinking ability doesn’t matter. In enabling the Salvation Army Centre of Hope to avoid the inconveniences and work required to provide extreme weather services BC Housing chose to eliminate the extreme weather services available in prior years without replacing those services.
By not revealing the changes being made until they took effect September 1, 2019 BC Housing has compounded the risk to the lives of the homeless in Abbotsford from extreme winter weather during the winter of 2019/20.
This behaviour is consistent with BC Housing’s invincible ignorance in its endless recycling of the homeless through shelters into housing/treatment before returning them to addiction and homelessness a few months later.
I have also enclosed a review of BC Housing’s modular housing policy because it also demonstrates a lack of critical thinking capacity.
By focusing solely on modular housing BC Housing is ignoring the housing needs of those who are not dealing with an addiction.
In addition BC Housing is ignoring the evidence of the results from Abbotsford Community Services Hearthstone Residence and the Salvation Army’s SIL [supportive independent living] showing the difference between the outcomes of these programs and shelter programs is simply the recycling period – 2 years versus 2 – 3 months.
Earlier today an acquaintance of more than a decade spoke to me about the need to write an article about the fact that with the expiry of his two year term for Hearthstone residency he was again homeless. Two days prior I watched the Abbotsford Police Department place a person whose two year residency at the Salvation Army SIL had expired and resulted in his return to addiction and homelessness. These outcomes are business as usual.
If the BC Auditor General performed a quality control audit and evaluation of the effectiveness of BC Housings programs it would be found that the effectiveness of BC Housing in addressing homnelessness and addiction issues approaches zero.
Unless the government and citizens of BC want the issues of homelessness and addiction on the streets of BC to continue to worsen BC Housing must adopt the goal of providing the services needed to enable people to achieve stability in housing and sobriety, employ critical thinking to provide evidence-based care and quality control to achieve effectiveness in addressing these issues.
With respect to BC Housing’s choice eliminating the extreme weather services available in prior years BC Housing clearly needs its ass kicked and to deal with the consequences of its actions before any lives are lost.
Post Scriptum
With respect to BC Housing’s recycling of the homeless I have provided links to three reports:
Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide [Third Edition]