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Lack of supportive housing affects everyone

I am writing to urge city council to support both of the housing applications from the Aboriginal Housing Society. I would also urge council to encourage the development of even more supported housing in Prince George.
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I am writing to urge city council to support both of the housing applications from the Aboriginal Housing Society. I would also urge council to encourage the development of even more supported housing in Prince George.

If you have ever had a long wait in the emergency department at UHNBC, you have been affected by the lack of supported housing in Prince George. If you or a loved one has spent days lying on a stretcher in the emergency when you should have been on a medical or surgical or psychiatric ward, you have been affected by the lack of supported housing here.

As a psychiatrist, I see daily the problems with the lack of supported housing. Patients are admitted every day who could be managed in supported housing, but there is none available.

Patients are not discharged in a timely manner and stay longer than needed because there is no supported housing available.

These patients end up filling up beds on the wards so that new patients have to be held in emergency for days or more waiting for an inpatient bed. This reduces the number of spots in the emergency for the doctors to see patients and ultimately leads to longer waits in the ER.

If you live in Prince George or surroundings, you are a potential user of the emergency, so all of us are affected by the lack of supported housing here.

We need more initiatives to increase this kind of housing and I urge council to do all it can to support this.

Dr. Barb Kane

Prince George