COLLINS: Sometimes, we get it right
I HAVE CRITICIZED GOVERNMENTS on the haphazard way we’ve grabbed available land to put up affordable housing to meet the province’s demands. That there is a demand for such housing is pretty obvious. We need to find a way to support those living on the streets, cold and starving, unable to cope in a drug-filled world. Finding ways to bring those people back to a lifestyle that allows them some dignity and a sense of self-worth.
The only problem with this plan is that every available plot of land is bought up for affordable housing no matter how unsuitable it may be. Local governments pounce on these places because if they don’t meet the province’s targets, they could lose government funding. The incentives were wrong, and they resulted in decisions that made no sense.
In Kamloops, we’ve put up housing in some places that defy logic. But all of a sudden there comes a place that makes sense in almost every way. There is a large chunk of land already owned by the government at Sixth Avenue and Columbia Street. It has been used as a public works yard, government offices, the health unit and more. Upon repurposing the land, several services will be located there.
These are the places we need to search out — places more useful than some old motel or office building that the government buys and refurbishes. They wind up as a kind of no man’s land and nowhere near any support services or amenities that will provide a proper venue for recovery.
