First let me make it clear we do need a recovery house policy that makes sure any place called a “recovery house” provides an environment that helps, not hinders or endangers, the recovery of its residents – in the same manner that homes for mental health provide an mentally healthy environment for residents mental health recovery. I have seen the damage that going to a bad recovery house can cause someone seeking actual recovery, putting them right back into their addiction.

Second remember that recovery houses as they exist now are as much about the market response to the demand for affordable (within welfare housing allowances) housing as they are to the demand for “recovery” spaces. Thus it is that you have many houses that are full of people still in their addictions – the “bad” recovery houses.

Finally understand that based on conversation, observation and experience I believe that if we really want to be effective in “recovery” from addiction we need to view addiction recovery much more along the lines of recovery from mental illness – a much longer term (years) process requiring more support and programs. Economics means that recovery houses do not have the cash flow to provide these supports and services. Psalm 23 is along those lines but it survives only through fund raising and if you had all the recovery houses fund raising ….. We need to seriously overhaul the system we currently use to deliver “recovery” in the addiction field.

So I do think we need a policy so a “recovery house” is just that, it also needs to be formulated on sound economics and reality.

In fact the type of system I envision would need “recovery houses” as part of the delivery system of recovery.

However from the beginning I have stated that we need to face reality – many if not most recovery beds are flop house beds. Clean up those beds/houses and shut them down and you put the people on the streets – do it quickly and you flood the streets.

Currently we have new faces hitting the streets every day, and old faces are not disappearing fast enough – in fact many old faces keep returning again and again even through/after treatment. So it looks like it is going to be a miserable winter with demand far exceeding resources or available spaces. Dump all those in closed recovery houses on the street and you go from very bad to ?? – I do not know what you would call it chaos, disaster?

So ever since this question was first addressed I have stated fine close them down – but be sensible/face reality and figure out where you will put them once you close them or all you are really doing is making a very bad situation worse.

I would say the first thing council needs to do is take its head out of the sand (or where ever they have stuck it) and see/face reality. Mr. Smith and council have been told from the first that they need to have in place a plan AND A PLACE for handling/putting those they displace from the closed houses. I remember writing this same comment about the closure of the Fraser Inn, to the same deaf ears – and many if not most of the residents of the Inn are still on the streets – in Abbotsford. The streets of Abbotsford are much more crowded these days and Mr Smith and council seem happy just to toss more people onto the streets.

Council has to accept that this is not a nice neat situation (after all it is a people problem and involves people) with no fast, neat, easy solutions. There is no easy, nobody screaming at you magic solution for them to use. The Provincial and Federal government need to get real about this as well. Or you end up with “hide the problem and pretend to be doing something” polices such as the recent shelter open 24 hour policy announcement. All that does is have man homeless stay inside all day, out of sight out of mind – until the growing ranks of homeless numbers increase so that even if everyone with a bed stays in – you cannot tell because so many homeless are on the streets.

We have to reduce the numbers which means new ideas, new approaches, using the knowledge out there – and we have the know how to do a much better/successful job of getting people off the street, into recovery and back onto their feet, it means accepting that it is not going to be nice neat and tidy or painless.

The biggest lack at any level of government on homelessness is leadership. But no politician wants to deal with such a complex messy problem – could cause re-election problems and re-election is what it is all about – not solving anything. If you just do the same you can always blame the party in power before you – if you take the needed new actions and approaches, you take ownership of the situation – and what politician wants to do that, no badly how needed. Talk is far cheaper and easier and you do not have to have any faith in your ability to handle complex, chaotic situations.

The city profligate spending has left them little money for even such a pressing problem. Unfortunately they seem as lacking in leadership as they are in funds.

The city needs to show leadership. Take the lead. Say to the province and federal governments “this is what we need, this is what we are going to do – show us the money. And go after politicians at the higher levels to put in place and develop the needed programs and resources. And it needs to make some unpopular decisions such as where and what building (school? old hospital?) to use for sheltering the homeless and those still their addiction. That way you have the recovery houses for those seeking/in recovery

I have a lot of experience with programs/resources in Abbotsford and I think with leadership and innovation we have great and solid base to begin to address this/these issues. Triangle resources, Communitas, Fraser Mental Health, church and charity programs, people. We can accomplish a lot – we just have to start. And government has to get out of denial, out of the way, become part of the solution instead of worsening the situation and senior levels need to provide funding, resources and the political will to put a ten year plan to end homelessness into action. Ten years form now we can have a solution (very little homelessness) or a bigger problem.