The Salvation Army is hoping to buy the Aleeda Motel in Prince Rupert and convert it into transitional housing for people who successfully graduated from drug or alcohol rehab, and a shelter.
Now this I find to be a total screw up move , why in hell would you put a recovering drug or alcohol addict in a place like the Motel , right across the lane from the Moby. One can get high anything he or she wants and proper dollars. Its bad enough that the S&A put people up at raffles. This reminds me of years ago when the Mental Health setup office in the Highliner and top floor as well, so if someone is paranoid of closed in spots and they had to get on the elevator , then when they come down from the top floor they must make a choice of going into the bar. This kind of setup should be on the outskirts of town and there must be a hell of alot more councellor available for people in need. Now it is easy to score while downtown but one hell of a wait to get help in addressing the issues.Plus is this going to be done as a community venture or is it going to be just S&A ? They could not keep Harbour Lights open so besides the 850,000 what are the other costs going to be. If everyone worked together like what usually happens in places like Terrace things would make more sense. If I wanted to cleanup my act , I certainly do not wish to be put in a or near a bar.
I certainly have to agree with the point made by JC regarding placing those that are attempting to recover from their addictions in an area surrounded by bars and known dealers. I have always thought instead of hostel rooms in Raffles, center to the town core, that possibly it would have been more beneficial to those in need of space away from their temptations to have a safe room in an area on the outskirts of town, like the Neptune as an example. While temptation is everywhere, would it not be safer and more productive for those in need to be away from the obvious while they attend to their recovery? Would it not be feasible, for instance, to rent or buy, a home on the east side of town, renovate it to suit and begin from there? Similar to a pilot project, address the concerns of the residents of the area as to having a transitional house in their area etc. Just a thought but though I agree a transitional house in Rupert is an obvious necessity, should we not be looking at the concerns of its’ prospective clients? Too bad we lost our Harborlight as that was an ideal situation and Ken Copping was a positive force in town overseeing it.
From just reading the opening sentence, I see that the “transitional housing” will be for those who HAVE SUCCESSFULLY GRADUATED from drug or alcohol rehab… I would presume by that statement that the “project” is only available to those who have “graduated” the rehab programming.