The Vancouver Housing Authority will receive government funding if it sites on one of three properties: downtown Vancouver, Rose Village or Fruit Valley. These sites satisfy the low-income census tract required for funding. Why have they chosen Lincoln Avenue when homeless camps exist along the Columbia River, Hazel Dell, the I-5 freeway?
On-site medical services cannot be provided because it would trigger the city’s Human Services Facilities Ordinance, the purpose of which is dispersal of services vs. concentration. The ordinance states, “it is important that social services be regulated in a way that minimizes any adverse off-site impacts, particularly in established neighborhoods where such facilities tend to be located.”
The downtown and west Vancouver neighborhoods are most negatively affected by the behaviors of the mentally ill and addicted homeless. If the VHA would site in Fruit Valley or Rose Village, medical care could be provided. A criteria for residency is mental illness, drug or alcohol addicted. Many have secondary chronic illnesses — TB, diabetes, heart, HIV. Residents could have both housing and medical care, which is what they need.
What is the goal for both the taxpayers’ dollars and caring for the mentally ill and addicted? I believe the best use would be to address both.
