A recent letter to the editor written by a resident behind the North Star Inn shows that the government leaders need to do more work educating the public on why the purchase of these hotels are a good idea and why zero barrier housing is so important.
There is a TV show called Undercover Billionaire where Glenn Sterns attempts to grow a million-dollar business in 90 days without people knowing who he is. What always stuck with me about the show was that Glenn's first priority was always to secure housing and then he would proceed to build connections in the community.
Now imagine if Glenn broke his ankle and was given a highly addicting opioid like oxycontin by his doctor. He then became addicted like so many Canadians have in the past couple of decades. Do you think if he had no money his first priority would be housing or getting Oxycontin?
For a lot of people, the pull of highly addictive drugs that have been given out by doctors around the world are so strong that rules, housing and support networks are secondary to keeping the opioid high going. You can read the experiences in Portugal from employees at treatment centres who say that people can't be forced to quit drugs, they have to want to quit. Speaking to a drug addiction counselor in Edmonton years ago, he said that on average it takes a person eight tries to quit an addiction if they are lucky to have the right support in place.
If a successful billionaire like Stearns recognizes the importance of securing shelter first then isn't ensuring zero barrier housing providing the foundation for people with addictions to succeed? If we are going to tell people they magically need to stop doing drugs to have access to housing, are we not setting people with addiction up for failure? If people with drug addictions downtown could quit drugs that easily, society wouldn't have a drug addiction problem in the first place.
My observation has been that BC Housing hasn't made providing housing for people with drug addictions a priority up until the last five years and as a result people have had to live on the streets if they were not ready to quit drugs. Seeing the possibility of investments in zero barrier housing is encouraging and I think it can help people get back on their feet and off the street with the right support. Not everyone is going to beat the drug addiction but at least if there is a warm place where they can rest their head with no requirement to be sober, we can keep people alive long enough to possibly help them.
Richard Parks
Prince George
