A.Supportive housing projects are not treatment centres. Supportive housing is tax payer funded, government subsidized housing where there are onsite staff to help the person connect to services outside the building.
There are a variety of models of supportive housing for many different patient populations. Examples would be - assisted living apartments for seniors and group homes for mentally disabled and mentally ill. Because there are so many different types, models and sizes of supportive housing, it is important to focus on the specific type and size of supportive housing proposed and who will be living in the supportive housing.
Size matters. The larger the facility, the greater chance there is for problems.
Each type of supportive housing will bring different risks to neighbourhoods and some, such as mentally disabled group homes and assisted living for seniors, will bring little if any risk. Others, such as drug addicts and drug addicts with a mental illness bring much greater risks because of the long term ineffectiveness of current abstinence-based treatment programs for the majority of the addicts housed. (Are you a Health Care Professional? Learn more »)
A. Large apartment buildings ranging anywhere in size from 30 to 50 to 80 units 1. Who will be living in these supportive housing units? Drug addicts or drug addicts with a mental illness (concurrent disorders). City Hall wants to build at least 10 of these projects, geographically dispersing them throughout Vancouver's residential neighbourhoods.
A. None. City Hall and Vancouver Coastal Health have no experience running this type of housing. There are currently no "abstinence-based" supportive housing projects for drug addicts or drug addicts with a mental illness operating in Vancouver. The first one, Fraser St, is due to open in August of 2007.
A. They have to be in a treatment program and "promise" to stay abstinent.
A. Yes. Medical research has been conducted with drug addicts and drug addicts with mental illness and the results are dismal in abstinence-based treatment programs. An important study of drug addicts with a mental illness who had completed an intensive 3 to 6 month program (in a rural, residential setting) found that after six months:
- 51% of patients had been hospitalized
- 12% of patients had been incarcerated; and
- 92% had used drugs 3 (Learn more about relapse rates with abstinent-based supportive housing »)
A.Most surprising, is the City's reliance on a scientific paper by Galster titled "The Impact of Supportive Housing on Crime Rates" 4. The conclusions of the report predict an increase in crime. "... it was the set of 7 large facilities, each housing 53 or more residents that was associated with the negative crime impacts ... Indeed, they suggest that total crime reports near these large supportive housing facilities increased by about 30% of the sample mean each year after opening; the comparable figure for violent crime reports was 40%."5
The study did not find these same effects for sites with 8 or fewer residents, but that is hardly comforting when you consider that the City plans to accommodate 30 to 50 residents at 16th and Dunbar, maybe up to 80 at 7th and Fir 6 and other neighbourhoods throughout Vancouver. (Learn more - "Safety Yours and Mine" »)
A.Yes. However, what matters to you and your family are results. Will the 50 or so drug addicts or drug addicts with a mental illness in the supportive apartment project stay clean?
City Hall bureaucrats will tell you that most of the relapsing occurs in the 60 day detox program and this will "screen out" all the bad drug addicts who will use drugs again. There will only be good "abstinent, recovering" drug addicts in the supportive housing. The current science tells us the decay of abstinence (going back to using drugs) is steady and continues regardless of a detox program, regardless that the individual is motivated to quit , and regardless of any customized individual treatment plan.
City Hall's own hired "experts" in the Supportive Housing Strategy Report "suggest that it's not worth all the trouble to make housing contingent on [no] drug use" 7 because the abstinent based housing had so much drug and alcohol abuse. Why bother with staying abstinent?
Let's be perfectly clear here. There are no crime or safety data for supportive housing of the type proposed. The statistics actually show an increase in crime near large facilities similar in size to those the City is proposing. 8
A. There are no plans for drug testing to ensure abstinence. 9 These large apartment supportive housing projects proposed for Vancouver neighbourhoods will likely follow the same model as the Fraser Street supportive housing project, which means:
- This will be a supportive housing project, not a treatment center;
- Again, there will be no treatment on site;
- Staff on site are not medically trained;
- Lapses and slips will be tolerated; and
- Addicts will not be tested for illegal drug use. (Learn more about drug testing »)
A. In the model proposed by the City addicts who lapse but recommit to staying clean will be allowed to continue living in their apartment. Those addicts who relapse or take up drug use again for longer periods may be moved elsewhere. According to the proposed operational management plan, the addict may lapse back into drug use many times but will be allowed to stay as long as they recommit to the program. As the City will not be testing for drug use it is difficult to say how much drug use the non health care professional staff will actually detect, as much drug use goes undetected, even by health care professionals. 10
A. This is a question that should be answered by your Mayor, City Council and MLA Colin Hansen. Write them and get an answer and send us their reply. There are countless published scientific papers linking drug addiction, violence and property crime. It is highly likely that this drug addicted "in recovery" patient population when relapsing, lapsing or slipping will do whatever they have to do to get their drugs.
A.Absolutely not. Calling you a NIMBY or other names is a strategy designed to deflect and distract you away from the supporter's housing proposals failure to provide any meaningful data proving safety and effectiveness.
Councillor Suzanne Anton and MLA Colin Hansen said they will not allow anything that is "not safe" to residents or their property. 11
- The science shows it won't work. Most of the clientele will begin to use drugs within a few weeks or months of residency.
- The City admits in their "expert" reports it won't work. Despite hiring numerous consultants and experts and having almost 1 year to find some specific data to show it would work and be safe City Hall couldn't.
The citizens of Vancouver were told by the politicians that if it wasn't safe they wouldn't build it. We expect the politicians to act responsibly, not accept the current proposed Supportive Housing Strategy for drug addicts because it fails to protect you, your family and your home.
A. NIABY IS part of the solution. Any City Hall policy that brings real risks to neighbourhoods, such as this Supportive Housing Strategy for drug addicts needs and deserves to be carefully scrutinized and examined. NIABY.com is evidence based. This means we look at the scientific literature and do not accept opinions from bureaucrats and politicians as evidence.
We also grade the scientific literature using something called "evidence-based medicine", where a set of rules is used to sort out weaker evidence from stronger evidence and to make sure that the evidence is relevant to the proposed policy.
As the supportive housing strategy for drug addicts is funded by you, the tax payer, Niaby wants a proven, effective supportive housing strategy for drug addicts, proven to be safe for neighbours.
Why waste tax payers money on something that is shown not to work and known to bring risks?
A. Write a letter or memo to Mayor and Council, and to MLA Colin Hansen. Tell them what you think about City Hall's proposal to spread drug addict supportive housing projects all over the city of Vancouver and what you would like the city to do. Don’t' hesitate to ask questions and demand answers that are specific to this type of proposed supportive housing project. Send us your letter and their reply
Talk to your friends, neighbours, and to people where you work and shop. Help make people aware. Help get the message out. Tell them to sign up at NIABY.com
A. Sign up for email notification of information through this site. Niaby.com will be able to send you a message when significant information is available. Stay informed!
A. If you have a question about the proposed drug addict supportive housing projects for 16th & Dunbar, 7th and Fir or 41st and Fraser St. or any other potential supportive housing project for drug addicts, email us at info@niaby.com and we will do our best to answer it.
Revised April, 2007.