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Waters: NIMBY alive and well in Kelowna

Support for plan to fight homelessness does not always translate into support for implementation
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When the current Kelowna city council was sworn into office, Mayor Colin Basran warned his councillors they would have some tough decisions to make.

He was talking about where to locate future social housing in the city.

With the Kelownasa国际传媒檚 Journey Home initiative to address homelessness approved, Basran knew his council would have little choice but to approve plans for the swath of supportive housing projects he knew was coming from B.C. Housingsa国际传媒攖he very facilities Journey Home called for.

In the last year, the city has seen plenty of those projects spring up in neighbourhoods across Kelownasa国际传媒攁nd every time, residents of the areas affected turned out in droves to oppose them.

The scenario is playing itself out again with the latest project, one planned for the corner for McCurdy Road in Rutland.

But this time, unlike others, the residents have enlisted the help of their local MLA.

Kelowna-Lake Country Liberal Norm Letnick has written to the housing minister urging her to sa国际传媒減ausesa国际传媒 the project until B.C. Housing can assure residents there wonsa国际传媒檛 be problems in the neighbourhood.

He says he has heard loud and clear from his constituents they feel theysa国际传媒檝e been more than generous in accepting their share of social housing.

That, of course, is a bit of a stretch. Acceptance is not really acceptance if you are opposed in the first place and donsa国际传媒檛 get your way.

Whatsa国际传媒檚 shaping up is a repeat of the scenario played out in other parts of the city such as recently on Agassiz Road, where residents theresa国际传媒攎ainly seniorssa国际传媒攍oudly voiced their opposition to plans for a supportive housing project in their neighbourhood.

As was the case with previous proposals, opponents protested prior a public hearing on the project, voiced their opposition and watched as council voted to zone the property to allow the project.

In the case of the McCurdy Road building, however, that will not be the case. The land is already zoned to allow for the use. That happened in 2017 when Freedomsa国际传媒檚 Door proposed a similar building on the land. The major difference was the housing Freedomsa国际传媒檚 Door wanted would have provided homes for graduates of its drug and alcohol recovery programsa国际传媒攁n abstinence-base program.

The current B.C. Housing plansa国际传媒攍ike others it has built in the citysa国际传媒攚ill be what opponents derisively call a sa国际传媒渨etsa国际传媒 facility, one that allows drug and alcohol use on site by residents.

Despite the difference, back in 2017, there was plenty of opposition to the Freedomsa国际传媒檚 Door proposal, just like there is now with the B.C. Housing plan. Two years ago, council approved the rezoning for Freedomsa国际传媒檚 Door but that project ultimately failed when the province declined to provide a grant because, ironically, Freedomsa国际传媒檚 Door was an abstinence-based program.

So, B.C. Housing stepped in with its plan.

The concept of providing housing to the homeless is one that, in theory at least, has been embraced by most in the city. But when push comes to shove, the theory is different from practice.

If you ask most in Kelowna if they support the Journey Home initiative, they will say yes. But, there seems to be a caveatsa国际传媒攊tsa国际传媒檚 a good plan, just implement it in someone elsesa国际传媒檚 neighbourhood.

As we have seen time and time again in this city, NIMBYsa国际传媒擭ot In My Backyardsa国际传媒攊s alive and well.

Alistair Waters is a regional editor with Black Press in Kelowna.





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