Now there is the answer: more hand outs. That will definitely break the cycle of poverty. Just give them everything you think they need, and for gosh sakes don't ask them what they need, how would they know? they don't have educations, right?
For heavens sake, you would not want them to become productive members of society or anything.
metalman.

Get a life, metalman. Do you want PG to look more like the downtown eastside of Vancouver. We can get there, you know,as long as we continue to ignore the fact that stable housing is the first and most important step to becoming "productive" Try living out of your backpack for months on end and see how productive you become. My hope is that this time all those who moan about the homeless and social problems in PG will get behind whoever gets moving on this project and don't resort to the aforementioned comments you have just uttered.

Makes me think of selling my house, sticking the money in the bank, whine to the authorities I am homeless, get some new digs at the motel and pay no taxes. Free to travel, hang out, deal drugs and all kinds of stuff. No responsibilities, no bother. Let the government take care of me totally in my waning years. God knows I've paid enuff taxes. There is a FREE lunch after all.

Build it and more will come

Well at least we have one out of four posts that shows a certain ability to understand the problem. the three who have posted negative comments share the same ideals of the governemnt who created this problem in the first place. Your ideas have worked so well I can see why you cling to your ignorant beliefs of reality. Poor excuses for human beings still posting here. Makes me wonder how they learned to use the keyboards of their parents computers.

Hey harbinger............won`t find me doing that. I am happy with my life and willing to pay my taxes right where I am.

As for your idea, put your money where your mouth is.

Go for it and live off the fat of the land. I will buy you cofffee, after your first year without any debts or assets.OK?

Hey Realist and Harbinger.

What do you suggest we do with the homeless?

I would be happy to go get a beer from my parents fridge while you formulate your plan.

REALIST says, "same ideals of the government who created this problem". If the government "created" this problem wouldn't we all be homeless? We are always gonna have these problems. Why not invite a homeless person to come and live in yer basement? You can even help him/her get their lives back together. I am sure they would be willing. The good Samaritan? You are your brothers keeper? I guess as long as they don't take advantage of ya. And on and on and on.....

I would really like to know what the guidelines will be to obtaining this type of housing? Will you have to have job? Or perhaps we should ask,do you WANT a job? Who will pay the rent and how much will it be? Will there be ANY rent or will it be taxpayer supported and funded? How much difference will 30 units make to downtown PG? And can you just live there without any attempt to find employment or improve your life by enrolling in self-help programs? Will there be government funded programs on-site? Will there be on-site security?
Because they will need it.

There needs to be strict policy on this type of housing.I have seen similar projects in Prince Rupert and I can tell you,it isn't pretty!How will it be any different here?
I am not saying these people don't deserve a place to live, but this is not a solution to anything.Just a bandaid.
People who live in the area have a right to be concerned.In fact they should be!Just ask the cops in places like Prince Rupert etc.who spend a large part of their time at these kinds of places.And don't bother telling us that it isn't true.It is true and I have seen it.
I have also seen property values decline drastically because of it.I have seen houses become virtually unsaleable because of their proximity to this type of housing.
So let's not be suprised when people are unhappy with this.
It has been almost two years since calls went out for this.Not much interest it seems.I can't imagine why.

"This type of housing?" I think the if the police spend a large part of their time at these "housing sites" the answer would be to have a community police station next to it or even in it. That way the cops would just have to walk out their front door and deal with the problems. But then again, I wonder how many "homeless" would be willing to live with those tenants?

Gee touchy subject? It really is a controversial one. But people are not ignorant just because there opinion isn't that of some others who seem to think they are the authority on absolutely every topic. I do believe that I read in a list of rules regarding this site recently stating that we shouldn't be bashing other people and their opinions. Hmmm...I guess that only applies to some as I see these are still being posted, and they call others poor excuses for human beings.

"Why not invite a homeless person to come and live in yer basement"

So Harbinger, I did that with a teenager who was kicked out of school until he was better able to handle the world out there .... And he did not live in the basement ... he lived in a bedroom we had available on our bedroom top floor ...

What have you and others who feel that way done?

BTW .... what other government programs that are the community's version of being our brother's keeper do you think we should get rid of?

Of course, we can always put them into debtors prison like we used to centuries ago and take care of them in that fashion ... the "stuff 'em in the basement" attitude certainly has undertones of that.

If you build it--they will come. If you don't build it maybe realist and postman would put a few of them up in their basement until they can uhhhh--get it together? I'm sure there are a whole lot of others out there (good samaritans) who would love to take some of these junkies in and rehabilitate them.
What do you think Jay (owner of B&B music) thinks of them after they burned down his building? Any of you out there care to rent a building for a needle exchange? How much did that cost you and me in insurance hikes? How much will it cost now because those poor souls don't have a needle exchange.
Most of those people are on the street because of drugs. That's not our problem. Greedy governments are to blame. They took over booze and gambling from the mafia because there was money in it. Next it will be drugs. If the cops put half the effort into stopping the drug trade as they do into giving speeding tickets we wouldn't even be talking about this.
I'm sorry to all if I seem a little harsh to you but frankly I don't give a damn.
I've seen some junkies in my family and they will do anything to anyone in order to get more drugs. Put em in jail and take the drugs out of the jail. They will straighten out. Stop pampering those who don't deserve it. Treat them according to their works. What have they done for themselves? Show me one who isn't a junkie and that one I may help, but not one dime will I give to a junkie. Maybe if there were two or three dead people on the sidewalk in the morning there would be more incentive to stay away from drugs. My family had nothing after the war but a quarter section of Alberta dirt. We didn't even have a vehicle to leave in. But none of us are on the street and never were.
If you're going to build them a place, build it right next door to postman and realist and then we will watch your caring attitude crumble very quickly.

snappi .... it seems that if you call an individual that it is not allowed ... but when you identify the group, then it is okay ...

The fact of the matter is that you cannot change people's opinions on such matters, other than perhaps over a long period of time. In my opinion, those voices should be heard so that we remain aware that they are out there.

Frankly, I think we should invite some of them to participate in assisting with the programs so that they actually connect with those who are assisted in that way. It will not convert everyone, but I bet it will make a change in their attitude.

Supertech says, "Maybe if there were two or three dead people on the sidewalk in the morning there would be more incentive to stay away from drugs."

Clearly untrue as thousands of dead bodies lie on morgue slabs every year from people addicted to tobacco and who die from cancer. Yet people still complain when efforts are made to stop it, and they carry on smoking.

Fear of death does not curb addiction. Tobacco, marijuana, heroin - addicts are addicts.

Dozens of people die on the road every year from well off drunks with jobs and big cars who hit people while they are drunk, and they and other alcohol addicts still carry on drinking. Still, they got money, so they're not targeted for snide remarks by the self appointed arbiters of publicly accepted morality.

Just a point. All of us own this province, so the money (royalties) made from exploiting it that goes to government coffers belongs as much to the homeless, whatever their circumstances, as it does to metalman and harbinger, or me. Its THEIR money the government is spending to house them, like it or not.

"If the cops put half the effort into stopping the drug trade as they do into giving speeding tickets we wouldn't even be talking about this."

Hey supertech ... how's the "WAR ON DRUGS" going these days? BUsh found a convenient out in the USA's failed attempt by declaring "WAR ON TERRORISTS" instead.

Your system of throwing them in jail has been done in the USA .... what do you think of the result?

I think most people would not know what the type of housing they are proposing here looks like if they walked by it.

I also think that most people would not know where the major use of drugs in society is.

Hint ..... it is not among the poor.

I think it is time we provided access for the poor to go to those wonderful ocean view detox centres that the well-to-do go to who support not onley such detox centres but also the entire drug trade.

"My family had nothing after the war but a quarter section of Alberta dirt."

And, this means what? Does this make you unique?

My parents came to Canada from Europe after the war with $100 dollars or something in that miniscule order in their pockets because that is all Canada allowed immigrants to bring in. My father got a job at a service station and my mother worked in a dingy darkroom with all the chemical smells in a photoprocessing shop.

Unlike the farm boy with a quarter section of dirt, they had no property they could call home. They gave someone money to be allowed to live in one bedroom flat in a house without a private entrance other than the back fire escape.

So, the real question is why are the supertechs of this world so bitter about those who are not able to help themselves out of those situations, and the owls willing to help as best as they can and as best as the system with their taxes can?

This debate reminds me of the old joke where a pair of social workers come across a fellow beaten, bruised and bloody, lying in the gutter. One says to the other, "Whoever did this needs our help". Such is the world.

Sorry, but some of us (you too owl)may be missing what posters on here are actually saying.I think what we are really hearing is frustration with a system that continues to fail the people who need help the most.
Having lived in close proximity to so called "Affordable Housing",I guess I too have a somewhat tainted outlook.To be honest,I think the term "Affordable Housing" is ridiculous.That is not what it becomes.
One of the things retirement does to a person is it tends to soften your view of the world around you.Unfortunately, this is not the case with me on THIS issue.
This is not a solution.It is an out of sight,out of mind bandaid.Yes,there has to be a place for homeless people but it seems that term is used to cover far too many issues.It just isn't that simple.
It does seem to me that this kind of housing becomes a dumping ground for those that refuse to help themselves.Not the down and out people that really need it over the short term.And it happens.The system fails those people everytime.
I personally think we need to get tougher.More jail time perhaps for some,but also more treatment centers for many as well.Mandatory treatment behind a locked door.(much too expensive I know).But if this doesn't help them,then sure,try the jails.
Throwing them all in a low income housing setting and letting them fend for themselves solves nothing.It just hides the problem.
In fairness,not all homeless are addicts or alcoholics.Some have serious mental issues that will not improve without proper care.And they will not get that in the kind of enviroment they are proposing to build.Just watch.
(BTW,I have a daughter who works in this field and suprisingly,she thinks we need to get tougher too.Much tougher.She see the failures.)
I think this is nothing but more than downloading by the governemnt.Let a non-profit society deal with it.With no money.Then when it all turns to crap,shut it down and say,gee,we tried? And in the meantime,your neighbourhood has just become a getto.
In any event,this is obviously a touchy subject and that tells us it actually IS important to people!

Okay, so throw them in jail ..... at what cost???? $30 million to build tha place to house 160 or so? Then another $7million to tear off the exterior materials because you realize you built a wall structure which causes condensation on the steel studs which then rust, even though they are galvanized?

Plus how much to pay for 24/7/52 watch and care?

Do you guys even know what you are saying? Think it through a bit.

Other than homes for the stars at $40,000 per month on the beaches of Malibu, jails are about the most expensive ways of housing people. Even old age homes are cheaper ....

from the above link for those who do not wish to read too much:

"Prison and jail are among the most expensive settings to serve people who are homeless: one nine-city study calculated
median daily costs for prison and jail at $59.43 and $70.00 respectively, compared with $30.48 for supportive housing." (USA)

So, come up with some more hair brained ideas to save the taxpayers' money and make people's lives more miserable to boot.

ANd to talk abotu the other part of the problem, since many are not drug related, this article may serve as a reminder of what has transpired over the decades.

Maybe those who work in the system and have those thoughts about getting tougher didn't quite understand what they were taught. Something about competency in the profession one is in, I would say at first blush.

from the following page:
http://www.chovil.com/three.html

"Hospitals are a very expensive place to call home, and since 1954 there has been a de institutionalization of most patients with mental illness like schizophrenia. Unfortunately there hasn't always been a lot of attention given to a therapeutic environment for people to continue recovering in the community. Far from it actually, and mostly because housing generally is very expensive, and the disability caused by schizophrenia prevents people from earning enough money to afford housing in the community."

It talks about 1% of the population that suffers from schizophrenia. Based on 2006 census of PG and its immediate surroundings, thast would make about 800 people in this area.

Wanna throw them in jail? ... 5 more Hiltons on the hill.

Wanna throw them into psych wards? 800 longterm care beds. And you thought jails were expensive. Wait till you compare that to psych wards.

Why do you think these people landed on the streets in the first place?

$600 per person per bed per day, according to the above article...... that's a cool $127 million a year .....

Good luck guys and gals. How to bankrupt the system.

The location might be wrong, but the concept is not.

"This debate reminds me of the old joke where a pair of social workers come across a fellow beaten, bruised and bloody, lying in the gutter. One says to the other, "Whoever did this needs our help". Such is the world."

Not that far off the mark, other than the fact that the beaten guy needs medical help. Social workers do not provide medical help.

Social workers deal with prevention. If the person who did the beating is the type who has a tendency to do that often, then treatng the result will never stop the beatings ...... in order to stop those, you have to deal with the cause.

So, joke? .. maybe to some. But to me it shows total ignorance by the individual who dreamt up the "joke".

Close down the looney bins and funny farms? (valuable real estate) "Integrate" the patients into community settings/ group homes allowing them to join the real world. Obviously some wackos were misjudged as to their capability to "adjust"". So sad. Answer? Re-institute (pardon the pun) the worst of these people.