Neighbours should help

Open letter to city council: After listening carefully to the full May 22 council meeting and reading the staff report on adding more “homeless” housing to the site at Green Avenue and Skaha Lake Road, I think Penticton is the worst place that a facility like that should be put.

BC Housing, the ASK group and other paid government “advocates” including our own planners need to start looking beyond Penticton’s city limits as a solution.

Let’s also put the presentation by staff in perspective. They say there was consultation and show an artist rendering of a building before and after. Take a close look at it and ask what phrases come to mind. My first impression was more lipstick.

There’s tons of vacant land and lots of potential redevelopment sites in Summerland, Oliver, Osoyoos and the RDOS in general.

Granted planners want the housing near services, but it’s not just Penticton’s problem alone.

Penticton pulls its weight when it comes to helping out the region and it’s time the other communities stepped up in equal proportion to what we’ve done. Where are the statistics that say how much of this housing Penticton residents support compared to surrounding areas?

Penticton is the wrong location for more “homeless” housing for all the right reasons.

Thank you so much for sending it back to staff for reconsideration because it needs to stop there. One of the best solutions is referring it to our neighbours for their participation too. Wayne Llewellyn Penticton