Forum addresses problems of mental illness, addictions and homelessness

Tentative first steps were taken Thursday towards establishing a unified response to some of Penticton’s most pressing social issues.

Eighty people from local service agencies and churches met for the first ever community forum dedicated to curbing the triple threat of mental illness, addictions and homelessness.

Those in attendance were given homework to take back to their respective groups and are planning to meet again in the fall.

“No significant, tangible action steps today, but a lot of ideas that we’re formulating, and we’ll hopefully continue this momentum,” said Mayor Andrew Jakubeit.

The forum was organized by the City of Penticton, which will eventually hand over the reins to whatever working group arises from the discussions.

Jakubeit said consistent themes of the meeting focused on the need to give people housing first before treating their addictions and mental illness, and to develop a co-ordinated approach among all of Penticton’s service providers.

“Everyone’s doing good work, sometimes off the corner of their desk,” the mayor added, “but we want to see more solutions and actions, and the community wants to see things happening sooner rather than later.”

Penticton RCMP Supt. Ted De Jager committed his troops to helping however they can, including by sharing information and restructuring the detachment to create a special Community Response and Enforcement Unit.

“I’m the chief of police. I have a gun here and naloxone here,” De Jager said, pointing out the items on his duty belt. “Something’s wrong, and we need to do something right now to fix it.”

The forum was facilitated by Wally Czech from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, who expressed optimism about Penticton’s early efforts to tame its three-headed monster.

“I’ve seen communities where the year before, one person alone was responsible for 400 hours of effort on the part of police in that community, to the next year, zero, because of these kinds of efforts.

“I know of programs… where they’re actually delivering and providing alcohol to complex individuals in their scattered-site homes, and it has been so successful in reducing the numbers and the caseloads in the court system, that even though it’s borderline illegal, the judges say keep doing it,” said Czech.

“That’s the impact that doing this work has on the communities, because it changes things. You don’t necessarily see it back in immediate dollars into your pocket, but you see it back in the quality of life in your community.”

I’m the chief of police. I have a gun here and naloxone here. Something’s wrong, and we need to do something right now to fix it.

Penticton RCMP Supt.Ted De Jager