{"id":484,"date":"2007-11-12T00:45:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-12T07:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/breckenridge\/?p=484"},"modified":"2008-10-25T22:31:14","modified_gmt":"2008-10-26T05:31:14","slug":"484","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=484","title":{"rendered":"Victoria&#8217;s Homeless Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/tskfrc_brcycl.shtml\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: arial;\"> T<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The City of Victoria released its homelessness report  on October 19. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/tskfrc_brcycl.shtml\"><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/tskfrc_brcycl.shtml<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-family: arial;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">High Cost of Inaction<\/span><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/pdfs\/tskfrc_brcycl_inactn.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/pdfs\/tskfrc_brcycl_inactn.pdf<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial;\">From the report. Reference citations are provided for these figures. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">It costs taxpayers more than $50,000 per year to support each homeless resident in British Columbia. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">With a homeless population growth factor estimated at 30 per cent, compounded for each year of inadequate housing stock and supports, Victoria\u2019s homeless population could double by 2010. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The Victoria Police Department has identified a group of 324 homeless residents\u2014many of whom are mentally ill and suffer from substance use problems or a dual diagnosis\u2014who are responsible for 23,033 police encounters over a period of 40 months, at a cost of $9.2 million to the City of Victoria. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The City of Victoria has spent over $1.4 million already this year in expenditures associated with homelessness; including clean-up costs, needle pick-up, damages to sensitive ecosystems, security and responses to complaints. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Without proper access to health services, homeless residents rely on emergency and acute care health services\u201466 per cent of all homeless residents admitted to hospital by Vancouver Island Health Authority have a mental health or substance use related condition. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The Task Force found that there are over 200 organizations in the Greater Victoria area currently engaged in addressing the needs of homeless, addicted and\/or mentally ill people in our community. Over 20 funding agencies already spend an estimated $76 million annually on housing, mental health and addiction services. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">By not addressing the needs of the homeless population in Greater Victoria, we are spending at least $62 million in other services, such as policing, prisons, hospital services, emergency shelter, clean up, etc. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">A study conducted by the province of B.C. in 2001 showed that the cost of service use under the status quo was 33 per cent higher than the cost of housing and supporting individuals. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Help for the homeless <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial;\">$7.6 million pledged to help deal with homelessness, mental illness, addictions <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Carolyn Heiman<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Victoria Times Colonist <\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Saturday, October 20, 2007 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The Vancouver Island Health Authority will supply $7.6 million for measures to ease Victoria&#8217;s homeless crisis, including new detox beds and specialized outreach teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The announcement was made yesterday, moments after the unveiling of the City of Victoria task-force report &#8220;Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness&#8221;, aimed at finding ways to reduce the number of people living on the street.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The largest chunk of cash is earmarked for 15 adult detox\/residential treatment beds ($1.7 million) and creation of four community\/treatment outreach teams, at a cost of $3.35 million. The teams, a cornerstone recommendation of the task force, will offer support and treatment for clients where they live, be that in parks, on the street, in shelters or in supportive housing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">A &#8220;housing-first&#8221; strategy, in which priority is given to finding homes for people on the street, regardless of their mental-health and substance-abuse issues, is the other cornerstone of the recommendations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The outreach teams, to be established in the next year, are to include mental-health, substance-abuse and social-service specialists with shared caseloads and low staff-to-client ratios. They will be on call 24 hours a day. One team will focus on individuals with significant criminal records and a history of behavioural problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The expert panel on the task force said similar outreach teams were credited with reducing hospital admissions in Ontario by 62 per cent after one year, and 83 per cent after six years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Victoria police found that 324 homeless residents &#8212; many with mental-illness or substance-abuse problems or both &#8212; were behind 23,033 police encounters over a period of 40 months, at an estimated cost to the city of $9.2 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Supporting the teams will be two new case managers assigned to help those leaving the hospital and correctional facilities, at a cost of $200,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Dr. Perry Kendall, provincial health officer and chairman of the expert panel, said the current system for delivering services is complex and difficult to negotiate, especially for people with mental illness and substance-abuse problems. Because they&#8217;re required to move from one service to another, they often fall through the cracks. He noted a study of injection-drug users showed that half had obtained treatment in the previous year, while 30 per cent tried unsuccessfully to obtain treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The health authority also earmarked $1 million toward building the $4.6-million Downtown Health Access Centre, a Victoria Cool Aid Society project planned for its Johnson Street building. The centre will provide one-stop health services to homeless people. It replaces a program that Cool Aid board chairman Andrew Benson said is &#8220;bursting at the seams&#8221; at its Swift Street location.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Benson said he is pleased with the VIHA commitment but anxiously awaiting word on applications for another $1.5 million from the province and $500,00 to $700,000 from the Capital Regional District before construction can begin in March. The balance would be raised through donations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">A home and day detox program will receive $240,000, while a similar amount will go to train 10 homeless people who are ready to rejoin the workforce for jobs with the health authority.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">The funding announcement also earmarked $600,000 to help the hard-to-house homeless, who will take up residence at a new 45-bed facility on Pandora Street. The facility, run by Our Place Society, is scheduled to open in November.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">Kendall said the current system lacks co-ordination between mental-health and addiction services. Clients trying to obtain mental-health services are often rejected because they have addictions, while the same is true for those with mental-health problems trying to obtain addiction services.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">VIHA yesterday earmarked $100,000 to train outreach workers to support clients with both mental-health and addiction problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial;\">cheiman@tc.canwest.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness T The City of Victoria released its homelessness report on October 19. http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/tskfrc_brcycl.shtml High Cost of Inaction http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/pdfs\/tskfrc_brcycl_inactn.pdf From the report. Reference citations are provided for these figures. It costs taxpayers more than $50,000 per year to support each homeless resident in British Columbia. With a homeless population growth factor estimated at 30 per cent, compounded for each year of inadequate housing stock and supports, Victoria\u2019s homeless population could double by 2010. The Victoria Police Department has identified a group of 324 homeless residents\u2014many of whom are mentally ill and suffer from substance use problems or a dual diagnosis\u2014who are responsible for 23,033 police encounters over a period of 40 months, at a cost of $9.2 million to the City of Victoria. The City of Victoria has spent over $1.4 million already this year in expenditures associated with homelessness; including clean-up costs, needle pick-up, damages to sensitive ecosystems, security and responses to complaints. Without proper access to health services, homeless residents rely on emergency and acute care health services\u201466 per cent of all homeless residents admitted to hospital by Vancouver Island Health Authority have a mental health or substance use related condition. The Task Force found that there are over 200 organizations in the Greater Victoria area currently engaged in addressing the needs of homeless, addicted and\/or mentally ill people in our community. Over 20 funding agencies already spend an estimated $76 million annually on housing, mental health and addiction services. By not addressing the needs of the homeless population in Greater Victoria, we are spending at least $62 million in other services, such as policing, prisons, hospital services, emergency shelter, clean up, etc. A study conducted by the province of B.C. in 2001 showed that the cost of service use under the status quo was 33 per cent higher than the cost of housing and supporting individuals. Help for the homeless $7.6 million pledged to help deal with homelessness, mental illness, addictions Carolyn Heiman Victoria Times Colonist Saturday, October 20, 2007 The Vancouver Island Health Authority will supply $7.6 million for measures to ease Victoria&#8217;s homeless crisis, including new detox beds and specialized outreach teams. The announcement was made yesterday, moments after the unveiling of the City of Victoria task-force report &#8220;Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness&#8221;, aimed at finding ways to reduce the number of people living on the street. The largest chunk of cash is earmarked for 15 adult detox\/residential treatment beds ($1.7 million) and creation of four community\/treatment outreach teams, at a cost of $3.35 million. The teams, a cornerstone recommendation of the task force, will offer support and treatment for clients where they live, be that in parks, on the street, in shelters or in supportive housing. A &#8220;housing-first&#8221; strategy, in which priority is given to finding homes for people on the street, regardless of their mental-health and substance-abuse issues, is the other cornerstone of the recommendations. The outreach teams, to be established in the next year, are to include mental-health, substance-abuse and social-service specialists with shared caseloads and low staff-to-client ratios. They will be on call 24 hours a day. One team will focus on individuals with significant criminal records and a history of behavioural problems. The expert panel on the task force said similar outreach teams were credited with reducing hospital admissions in Ontario by 62 per cent after one year, and 83 per cent after six years. Victoria police found that 324 homeless residents &#8212; many with mental-illness or substance-abuse problems or both &#8212; were behind 23,033 police encounters over a period of 40 months, at an estimated cost to the city of $9.2 million. Supporting the teams will be two new case managers assigned to help those leaving the hospital and correctional facilities, at a cost of $200,000. Dr. Perry Kendall, provincial health officer and chairman of the expert panel, said the current system for delivering services is complex and difficult to negotiate, especially for people with mental illness and substance-abuse problems. Because they&#8217;re required to move from one service to another, they often fall through the cracks. He noted a study of injection-drug users showed that half had obtained treatment in the previous year, while 30 per cent tried unsuccessfully to obtain treatment. The health authority also earmarked $1 million toward building the $4.6-million Downtown Health Access Centre, a Victoria Cool Aid Society project planned for its Johnson Street building. The centre will provide one-stop health services to homeless people. It replaces a program that Cool Aid board chairman Andrew Benson said is &#8220;bursting at the seams&#8221; at its Swift Street location. Benson said he is pleased with the VIHA commitment but anxiously awaiting word on applications for another $1.5 million from the province and $500,00 to $700,000 from the Capital Regional District before construction can begin in March. The balance would be raised through donations. A home and day detox program will receive $240,000, while a similar amount will go to train 10 homeless people who are ready to rejoin the workforce for jobs with the health authority. The funding announcement also earmarked $600,000 to help the hard-to-house homeless, who will take up residence at a new 45-bed facility on Pandora Street. The facility, run by Our Place Society, is scheduled to open in November. Kendall said the current system lacks co-ordination between mental-health and addiction services. Clients trying to obtain mental-health services are often rejected because they have addictions, while the same is true for those with mental-health problems trying to obtain addiction services. VIHA yesterday earmarked $100,000 to train outreach workers to support clients with both mental-health and addiction problems. cheiman@tc.canwest.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homeless"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Victoria&#039;s Homeless Report - James W. Breckenridge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=484\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Victoria&#039;s Homeless Report - James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness T The City of Victoria released its homelessness report on October 19. http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/tskfrc_brcycl.shtml High Cost of Inaction http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/pdfs\/tskfrc_brcycl_inactn.pdf From the report. Reference citations are provided for these figures. It costs taxpayers more than $50,000 per year to support each homeless resident in British Columbia. With a homeless population growth factor estimated at 30 per cent, compounded for each year of inadequate housing stock and supports, Victoria\u2019s homeless population could double by 2010. The Victoria Police Department has identified a group of 324 homeless residents\u2014many of whom are mentally ill and suffer from substance use problems or a dual diagnosis\u2014who are responsible for 23,033 police encounters over a period of 40 months, at a cost of $9.2 million to the City of Victoria. The City of Victoria has spent over $1.4 million already this year in expenditures associated with homelessness; including clean-up costs, needle pick-up, damages to sensitive ecosystems, security and responses to complaints. Without proper access to health services, homeless residents rely on emergency and acute care health services\u201466 per cent of all homeless residents admitted to hospital by Vancouver Island Health Authority have a mental health or substance use related condition. The Task Force found that there are over 200 organizations in the Greater Victoria area currently engaged in addressing the needs of homeless, addicted and\/or mentally ill people in our community. Over 20 funding agencies already spend an estimated $76 million annually on housing, mental health and addiction services. By not addressing the needs of the homeless population in Greater Victoria, we are spending at least $62 million in other services, such as policing, prisons, hospital services, emergency shelter, clean up, etc. A study conducted by the province of B.C. in 2001 showed that the cost of service use under the status quo was 33 per cent higher than the cost of housing and supporting individuals. Help for the homeless $7.6 million pledged to help deal with homelessness, mental illness, addictions Carolyn Heiman Victoria Times Colonist Saturday, October 20, 2007 The Vancouver Island Health Authority will supply $7.6 million for measures to ease Victoria&#8217;s homeless crisis, including new detox beds and specialized outreach teams. The announcement was made yesterday, moments after the unveiling of the City of Victoria task-force report &#8220;Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness&#8221;, aimed at finding ways to reduce the number of people living on the street. The largest chunk of cash is earmarked for 15 adult detox\/residential treatment beds ($1.7 million) and creation of four community\/treatment outreach teams, at a cost of $3.35 million. The teams, a cornerstone recommendation of the task force, will offer support and treatment for clients where they live, be that in parks, on the street, in shelters or in supportive housing. A &#8220;housing-first&#8221; strategy, in which priority is given to finding homes for people on the street, regardless of their mental-health and substance-abuse issues, is the other cornerstone of the recommendations. The outreach teams, to be established in the next year, are to include mental-health, substance-abuse and social-service specialists with shared caseloads and low staff-to-client ratios. They will be on call 24 hours a day. One team will focus on individuals with significant criminal records and a history of behavioural problems. The expert panel on the task force said similar outreach teams were credited with reducing hospital admissions in Ontario by 62 per cent after one year, and 83 per cent after six years. Victoria police found that 324 homeless residents &#8212; many with mental-illness or substance-abuse problems or both &#8212; were behind 23,033 police encounters over a period of 40 months, at an estimated cost to the city of $9.2 million. Supporting the teams will be two new case managers assigned to help those leaving the hospital and correctional facilities, at a cost of $200,000. Dr. Perry Kendall, provincial health officer and chairman of the expert panel, said the current system for delivering services is complex and difficult to negotiate, especially for people with mental illness and substance-abuse problems. Because they&#8217;re required to move from one service to another, they often fall through the cracks. He noted a study of injection-drug users showed that half had obtained treatment in the previous year, while 30 per cent tried unsuccessfully to obtain treatment. The health authority also earmarked $1 million toward building the $4.6-million Downtown Health Access Centre, a Victoria Cool Aid Society project planned for its Johnson Street building. The centre will provide one-stop health services to homeless people. It replaces a program that Cool Aid board chairman Andrew Benson said is &#8220;bursting at the seams&#8221; at its Swift Street location. Benson said he is pleased with the VIHA commitment but anxiously awaiting word on applications for another $1.5 million from the province and $500,00 to $700,000 from the Capital Regional District before construction can begin in March. The balance would be raised through donations. A home and day detox program will receive $240,000, while a similar amount will go to train 10 homeless people who are ready to rejoin the workforce for jobs with the health authority. The funding announcement also earmarked $600,000 to help the hard-to-house homeless, who will take up residence at a new 45-bed facility on Pandora Street. The facility, run by Our Place Society, is scheduled to open in November. Kendall said the current system lacks co-ordination between mental-health and addiction services. Clients trying to obtain mental-health services are often rejected because they have addictions, while the same is true for those with mental-health problems trying to obtain addiction services. VIHA yesterday earmarked $100,000 to train outreach workers to support clients with both mental-health and addiction problems. cheiman@tc.canwest.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=484\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-11-12T07:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2008-10-26T05:31:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=484#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=484\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James W. 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Breckenridge","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=484","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Victoria's Homeless Report - James W. Breckenridge","og_description":"Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness T The City of Victoria released its homelessness report on October 19. http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/tskfrc_brcycl.shtml High Cost of Inaction http:\/\/www.victoria.ca\/cityhall\/pdfs\/tskfrc_brcycl_inactn.pdf From the report. Reference citations are provided for these figures. It costs taxpayers more than $50,000 per year to support each homeless resident in British Columbia. With a homeless population growth factor estimated at 30 per cent, compounded for each year of inadequate housing stock and supports, Victoria\u2019s homeless population could double by 2010. The Victoria Police Department has identified a group of 324 homeless residents\u2014many of whom are mentally ill and suffer from substance use problems or a dual diagnosis\u2014who are responsible for 23,033 police encounters over a period of 40 months, at a cost of $9.2 million to the City of Victoria. The City of Victoria has spent over $1.4 million already this year in expenditures associated with homelessness; including clean-up costs, needle pick-up, damages to sensitive ecosystems, security and responses to complaints. Without proper access to health services, homeless residents rely on emergency and acute care health services\u201466 per cent of all homeless residents admitted to hospital by Vancouver Island Health Authority have a mental health or substance use related condition. The Task Force found that there are over 200 organizations in the Greater Victoria area currently engaged in addressing the needs of homeless, addicted and\/or mentally ill people in our community. Over 20 funding agencies already spend an estimated $76 million annually on housing, mental health and addiction services. By not addressing the needs of the homeless population in Greater Victoria, we are spending at least $62 million in other services, such as policing, prisons, hospital services, emergency shelter, clean up, etc. A study conducted by the province of B.C. in 2001 showed that the cost of service use under the status quo was 33 per cent higher than the cost of housing and supporting individuals. Help for the homeless $7.6 million pledged to help deal with homelessness, mental illness, addictions Carolyn Heiman Victoria Times Colonist Saturday, October 20, 2007 The Vancouver Island Health Authority will supply $7.6 million for measures to ease Victoria&#8217;s homeless crisis, including new detox beds and specialized outreach teams. The announcement was made yesterday, moments after the unveiling of the City of Victoria task-force report &#8220;Breaking the Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness&#8221;, aimed at finding ways to reduce the number of people living on the street. The largest chunk of cash is earmarked for 15 adult detox\/residential treatment beds ($1.7 million) and creation of four community\/treatment outreach teams, at a cost of $3.35 million. The teams, a cornerstone recommendation of the task force, will offer support and treatment for clients where they live, be that in parks, on the street, in shelters or in supportive housing. A &#8220;housing-first&#8221; strategy, in which priority is given to finding homes for people on the street, regardless of their mental-health and substance-abuse issues, is the other cornerstone of the recommendations. The outreach teams, to be established in the next year, are to include mental-health, substance-abuse and social-service specialists with shared caseloads and low staff-to-client ratios. They will be on call 24 hours a day. One team will focus on individuals with significant criminal records and a history of behavioural problems. The expert panel on the task force said similar outreach teams were credited with reducing hospital admissions in Ontario by 62 per cent after one year, and 83 per cent after six years. Victoria police found that 324 homeless residents &#8212; many with mental-illness or substance-abuse problems or both &#8212; were behind 23,033 police encounters over a period of 40 months, at an estimated cost to the city of $9.2 million. Supporting the teams will be two new case managers assigned to help those leaving the hospital and correctional facilities, at a cost of $200,000. Dr. Perry Kendall, provincial health officer and chairman of the expert panel, said the current system for delivering services is complex and difficult to negotiate, especially for people with mental illness and substance-abuse problems. Because they&#8217;re required to move from one service to another, they often fall through the cracks. He noted a study of injection-drug users showed that half had obtained treatment in the previous year, while 30 per cent tried unsuccessfully to obtain treatment. The health authority also earmarked $1 million toward building the $4.6-million Downtown Health Access Centre, a Victoria Cool Aid Society project planned for its Johnson Street building. The centre will provide one-stop health services to homeless people. It replaces a program that Cool Aid board chairman Andrew Benson said is &#8220;bursting at the seams&#8221; at its Swift Street location. Benson said he is pleased with the VIHA commitment but anxiously awaiting word on applications for another $1.5 million from the province and $500,00 to $700,000 from the Capital Regional District before construction can begin in March. The balance would be raised through donations. A home and day detox program will receive $240,000, while a similar amount will go to train 10 homeless people who are ready to rejoin the workforce for jobs with the health authority. The funding announcement also earmarked $600,000 to help the hard-to-house homeless, who will take up residence at a new 45-bed facility on Pandora Street. The facility, run by Our Place Society, is scheduled to open in November. Kendall said the current system lacks co-ordination between mental-health and addiction services. Clients trying to obtain mental-health services are often rejected because they have addictions, while the same is true for those with mental-health problems trying to obtain addiction services. VIHA yesterday earmarked $100,000 to train outreach workers to support clients with both mental-health and addiction problems. cheiman@tc.canwest.com","og_url":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=484","og_site_name":"James W. Breckenridge","article_published_time":"2007-11-12T07:45:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2008-10-26T05:31:14+00:00","author":"James W. Breckenridge","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James W. Breckenridge","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=484#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=484"},"author":{"name":"James W. 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