Governments not solving the homeless problem
In a recent article in the Chek news there was an alarming but consistent story of people in our province demanding protection from our government and BC Housing.
This article related to a hotel in Victoria that the BC Housing leased for housing street people. The people in a nearby strata unit have been living in hell since this started and complaining to BC Housing and the government for help. Their membership is 65 per cent seniors.
Their situation is the same as here in Duncan. The government and BC Housing create a solution using the pandemic as a shield and in doing so create a larger problem for seniors and residents in the area. They claim to be protecting a vulnerable segment of the population yet every day in the same breath Dr. Bonnie and the health minister claim seniors are in that same group of vulnerable people!
The people in Victoria are saying to install security systems in their property and protection from these street people will cost them over $100,000! The BC Housing and government response — you have to work with the community and have them build themselves up!
Wow, the government slaps street people into an area with an inexperienced group to manage them then says the residents have to change and pay thousands to fortify their residences to combat a problem created by the government and BC Housing! This still does not protect these people or any people from the dangers of walking on the streets!
This situation has been mirrored here in Duncan on Lewis Street and the non profit group running this shelter called Warmland are just as blind to our community as the government. We must remember this money is our tax dollars being spent and harming us and depriving us of our fundamental rights to safety.
Attempts have been made by Duncan residents to communicate with the operators of this shelter, government ministries and BC Housing. Nothing has changed.
Why does the government expect private landlords to spend thousands to protect their investments in apartment buildings to protect the residents against the situation they created? Rents will soar and seniors on pensions will be short on money to pay rent and feed themselves and have the necessities of life. All of this because government did not look at the program — the people administering it nor the side affects it would cause to the community.
The scene is the same no matter where it happens and government has blinders on and ignores it. Business in Duncan are experiencing theft rates so high that prices increase and now a government plan to build a 50-unit residence in Duncan a block away from the biggest retail outlet Wal-Mart. This will surely cause this vendor more grief and it will likely close its doors.
We pay for policing yet it is ineffective and the street people are running the town. Local businessmen have had their lives threatened yet no one gets charged! Citizens get assaulted and no one charged! Has the government declared the street people above the law and untouchable? More people are becoming unsettled by no action to protect the public. Historically, anarchy was shown to have happened. Will this happen in B.C.? Will people get so fed up this will be their only avenue to safety?
Our government better wake up!
Larry Woodruff
Duncan