Try again, BC Housing

It must be getting frosty in hell, because we’re about to give Penticton city council credit for listening to the concerns of the public and then making a good decision based on what it heard.

Following a two-hour public hearing Tuesday night, council voted wisely to send BC Housing back to the drawing board for a new location to plunk down a 52-unit social housing project.

BC Housing’s first proposal at 179 Green Ave. made sense for BC Housing, but not for Penticton.

It made sense for BC Housing because the agency has other such projects in the area and owns the lot.

But the lot is literally in a school zone, just half a block from Princess Margaret Secondary School and Skaha Lake Middle School.

No, we don’t want to shelter our children from the real world and the downtrodden who live in it. But we also don’t want our kids to go to school across the street from a homeless shelter.

The other main concern expressed at the public hearing is the existing concentration of social housing projects at the south end of Penticton.

“There’s a term for that: It’s called a ghetto,” observed Coun. Max Picton.

No one wants a 52-unit social housing project downtown. No one wants a 52-unit housing project near a park. No one wants a 52-unit social housing project by a school. No one wants a 52-unit social housing project in a residential neighbourhood.

That pretty much rules out all of Penticton, but it has to go somewhere. And while there will never be a perfect place for it, there has to be an acceptable location for it. Somewhere. And now it’s up to city staff and BC Housing to find it.

Good on council for having the guts to tell BC Housing to do better.