Choosing to create a caring community
Children do not choose to be born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder or brain damage or a genetic predisposition for mental illness; they also do not choose to be born into an abusive or an impoverished family.
Young people do not choose to become depressed or to be involuntarily exposed to addictive drugs at parties, either through spiked drinks or by injection when they are unconscious.
People of all ages do not choose to have accidents that lead to brain injury or lifelong disabilities or chronic pain.
Seniors do not choose to become abandoned or homeless because they cannot keep up with inflation and have to choose between their medications, food or shelter.
Each one of these involuntary life circumstances can lead to poverty and/or addiction and the social stigma and marginalization that come with these conditions.
There are a multitude of reasons why people become homeless, and multiple paths to addiction. Very few people, if any, make a deliberate, conscious choice to become homeless or addicted. No matter how strong and independent we think we are, we are all vulnerable to the kind of trauma and catastrophic circumstances that could lead any of us down the path toward homelessness and addiction.
However, we can choose to become a leader in creating a caring community that supports people in need with appropriate, accessible, and affordable housing and with robust, integrated social and health programs and services to help them in their time of need. I believe the vast majority of our community want Council to exercise this kind of leadership and build this kind of caring community.
To that end, Council has worked with BC Housing and two housing proponents to secure $6.7 million in provincial funding toward two new housing facilities being built in North Quesnel. The Dakelh and Community Housing project will commence construction this fall and ultimately offer 38 units of new housing for a range of clients. The Quesnel Lions Housing Society also received provincial funding for their 30 unit seniors’ housing facility and is hoping to move to the construction phase of their project as soon as possible.
Northern Health and the City have also been working together to develop a comprehensive, community-based, inter-agency response to ensure we are providing our community members who struggle with addictions the health and social service supports they need. That initiative began this March.
In addition, earlier this year, Council gave first reading to the bylaws needed for a proposed new supportive housing complex that will equip our community to assist people who, for a variety of reasons, are “hard to house” in an unsupported environment. Last week, Council deferred further readings of these bylaws due to public confusion about the services and support programs that will be offered in such a facility and the kinds of clients it will serve. However, that in no way means Council does not believe such a facility is needed in our community, we have simply given the proponent (BC Housing), Council, and citizens more time to clearly understand what is being proposed, and what the community impacts will be, before Council gives any further consideration to the necessary bylaws.