Treatment centers over new shelters

I am very concerned about the possibility of a fourth homeless shelter in Penticton.

The proposed audit of the other three shelters has not been done or hasn’t been made public (to my knowledge).

As a concerned law-abiding and taxpaying citizen, l wish to let you know my thoughts on this topic.

This proposed fourth shelter in Penticton must be squashed. There is already enough help available here for our homeless, our drug addicts and our alcoholics. Penticton is now drawing more clients from other communities.

These surrounding communities have got to take responsibility for their homeless and addicted citizens. They must provide their own homeless shelters in their own communities.

We have reached our breaking point. Crime rates are through the roof; our own citizens do not feel safe in their own city anymore. Our emergency services, medical personnel and RCMP are already stressed to the max with COVID, let alone overdoses which are happening on an almost daily basis.

My solution to this whole mess is as follows. Instead of providing more shelters, start providing more treatment centres.

These could be modelled like Discovery House for Men, keeping the number of residents to a minimum. Let’s go for quality of treatment instead of quantity. Of course, this would require many more trained counsellors and staff. The upside is more jobs for qualified people.

However, if we stop enabling people with free needles, free drugs, a safe injection site and providing food and sheltering them with people like themselves, what exactly is their incentive to change their lives?

The buck has to stop here and now. l am sorry for being so blunt. I do care that there are so many people in this city with problems and addictions. And, I do realize addicts have to want to change their lives before any improvement can take place. But, the current system is a merry-go-round with only more people getting on and no one getting off.

Marilyn LaFortune

Penticton