Wet Housing Project To Proceed

Screen Grab From News Bulletin Online Version

The above image comes from the Nanaimo News Bulletin online version of their newspaper which in one story deals with the issue of low barrier housing projects in Nanaimo and the second story deals with a recent spike in break and enters all across Nanaimo.

I encourage you to read both articles yourself but I will put in a nutshell what seems to be the position of the Mayor and the majority of council on the matter of the wet housing projects planned for the Quarterway School area. Basically, this project is well on the way, and has taken a couple of years to get to this point, the Mayor is of the opinion that if the project is not followed through with now, Nanaimo will lose the $34 milllion in provincial funding ear marked for this project.

One of the projects strong supporters, Councilor Pattje is quoted as saying:

"Once these people are in a safe place, they behave differently from the very beginning. That has been proven ," said Pattje. "They don't have to fight or argue or rob or whatever. In my heart of hearts I think this will work."

Irony?

In the same online version of the News Bulletin the accompanying story is about a marked increase in the number of break and enters the RCMP are reporting across the city. RCMP spokesman Const. O'Brien is quoted in this story as saying:

"They fall back into their drug addiction cycle and they have to support their habits," O'Brien said.

The comment by Const. O'Brien caused me to wonder, how does someone who is not employed, actually support a drug or alcohol habit if there only income is welfare as is likely the case of candidates for the wet housing projects going ahead in the Quarterway School area?

The issue with residents opposed to these projects seems to be around the matter of density, with HANA saying they support helping the homeless but a density of 12 units per project is what they feel reasonable. The only reason the city seems to offer to support the locating of these two projects in such close proximity to the school is the fact that that is where the city owns available land.