Opponents of the McCurdy Road supportive housing facility in Rutland took to the streets last month in an effort to gather signatures for a petition against the project.

(SEAN MOTT / iNFOnews.ca)

KELOWNA - More than 100 people gathered in Kelowna city council chambers yesterday to show their opposition to a “wet” supportive housing project at McCurdy Road in Rutland.

While they spoke with one voice yesterday, July 17, when they gave loud applause for Coun. Charlie Hodge’s efforts to get council to reconsider the zoning for the land, according to other councillors, their views don’t necessarily represent the wishes of all Rutlanders.

At the start of the meeting, Mayor Colin Basran said the so-called “wet” housing project was going to be converted to a "dry" facility. That means, instead of being allowed to use illegal drugs on site and have a safe injection room within the building, residents have to commit to not using such drugs.

“Most of you who I met with said to me: 'We do not want illegal drug use. We do not want an injection site,’” Coun. Maxine DeHart said, referring to the many meetings, emails and phone calls she received from people opposed to the site. “What I’m hearing... is that most of you – and a lot of you who aren’t here - this is what you want. I think that’s what most of you have said to councillors around this table. That’s what we heard and that’s what we’ve come to.

“I have to say, we listened to you. We thank you for being so passionate about your community. When we came to this conclusion (for a dry facility)... I was really, really relieved because that’s what you told me and that’s what I’m going to be voting on... I see a lot of nods there.”

“A lot of nos,” yelled a man in the audience as others shook their heads no.

Therein lies the rub.

In 2017, a proposal was made by Freedom’s Door for a recovery house for addicts. The zoning was given third reading by council despite strong opposition to what would have been a “dry” facility, meaning drugs would not be allowed on site.

B.C. Housing, in the end, refused to fund that project and came back in June of this year with a plan for what is the standard model for supportive housing these days – a low barrier or “wet” facility where residents are free to drink or use drugs in their own rooms and there is a supervised injection site to prevent overdose deaths.

That sparked a petition drive against what opponents incorrectly called a housing facility for “substance-addicted homeless persons” and that 49 of “those actively addicted to illicit drugs” would be housed there.

In fact, such facilities have a mixture of residents, some with addiction issues but others with mental health challenges or just not being able to afford a place to live. By no means are all residents addicts. Still, almost 13,000 eligible signatures were collected from Kelowna residents.

Audra Boudreau, who led the petition campaign against the McCurdy Road supportive housing facility demanded council get an iron-clad agreement that it be neither a wet nor a dry facility but be converted to low-income housing instead.

Sitting beside her in the front row at yesterday’s council meeting was Chris Bocskei, another key contributor to the campaign. Along with many of the other people in the audience, they stared glumly as councillor after councillor praised Mayor Colin Basran for convincing the government to change the rules on how the facility was managed.

“A dry facility would be great if the province was going to change it over,” Boudreau said after the meeting. “What this means is they’re going ahead with a wet facility.”

Both said they are speaking for all those who signed the petition and who want low-income housing instead. They vow to keep fighting.

Bocskei said they need to continue to build their Rutland for Safe Neighbourhoods Facebook page beyond the 2,300 members he said it now has and Boudreau vowed to keep collecting names on the petition before it goes to the provincial government in the fall.

"This is not over by a long-shot; I will NOT let our community be turned into the 'downtown east-side' of Kelowna," Boudreau said in a Facebook post. "And that is what it will be, under our city's current administration."

She added that she's meeting with her MLA today and a group of community leaders tomorrow to plan "next steps."

How many more names are collected could be a reflection of whether Rutland and other Kelowna residents are OK with a “dry” facility, as DeHart and other councillors suggested. Or are they really behind Boudreau and Bocskei in their insistence on a totally different type of project?

As for Hodge’s motion to reconsider the rezoning?

While it got loud applause, he did not do it because of the petition, saying: "That doesn't phase me. Anyone will sign a petition."

Instead, he opposed it for the same reasons he did two years ago

“I don’t care if it’s a wet facility or a dry facility,” Hodge said. “It’s too big. There’s not enough staff. And it’s in the wrong location.”

His motion to reconsider was made on the last day such a motion can be entertained – 30 days after the final zoning was approved – but even if it had been supported by the rest of council, a legal technicality means it would not have stopped construction of the building.

A building permit has already been approved for the project so even if the zoning was changed, construction could continue and it would exist as a legal but non-conforming building.

In the end, only Hodge voted for his reconsideration motion.

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