PETERS: We know how to get big things done quickly, so why has supportive housing been so elusive?

Literally days after the initial news came out, the various organizing groups came together and found another solution.

It was a tricky fix, but we got it done.

Here’s another example: an atmospheric river took out huge swaths of the Coquihalla, the Trans Canada through the Fraser Canyon and Highway 8.

What happened? Not even a year after that unprecedented destruction, all of those routes are passable once again. In the case of the Coquihalla, it was only a matter of weeks.

It was expensive and logistically daunting, but we got it done.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way — and a way to make it happen quickly.

So why has it been so difficult to move on supportive housing in Kamloops?

Why has it come to a point where a social agency, the Canadian Mental Health Association, throws up its hands and walks away from operating winter shelters, in part out of frustration that the temporary solution doesn’t seem to be that temporary at all?

Announcing this decision just days before those shelters were to open is not particularly tactful on the part of CMHA, but the organization says its hand was forced.

When it comes down to it, no one wants to see more and more shelters operating in Kamloops. They’re expensive and ineffective and dehumanizing.

The only thing we could do that’s worse? Not provide shelters.

But there are so many measures we could take that would be a better solution for the people who require housing and the broader community.

Why can’t we act on those measures with the same expediency we act on other challenges in our community?

Anyone in this community, from the most heartless to the bleedingest of hearts, can agree that the proliferation of shelters as a solution to homelessness is not working for anyone.

We need long-term housing with wrap-around supports.

It requires a lot of will and coordination, but if it can be done in other areas, it can be done here, too.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by James Peters

PETERS: We know how to get big things done quickly, so why has supportive housing been so elusive?

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