The intersection of a housing crisis and escalating social issues (mental health, addictions, homelessness, crime) is currently our most pressing issue.
Housing: We need to listen to builders telling us that arbitrary/blanket requirements, inefficient processes, and unnecessary bureaucracy are barriers to building the attainable homes our population needs.
We must implement creative ways to cut red tape, change arduous zoning, and decrease permit processing time. Co-operative housing, multi-family housing, and other entry-level housing is necessary. We need options for the Missing Middle.
With only 3% of available land to build on in Kamloops, we must unlock it. The Chamber of Commerce has put forward a Land Trust policy document proposing a “robust mechanism for ecological land donations” – these are the kinds of solutions to seek.
Additional considerations include maintaining awareness that industrial land must be preserved for business development, and that social housing and its occupancy should be regularly inventoried.
Social issues: Addressing housing effectively will begin alleviating some of the pressing issues facing our community, but others require an approach that interconnects/consolidates wrap-around services and/or removes the greatest impacts to the public.
Evidence shows we can’t warehouse people in buildings and expect change to occur; we need policy that regulates the disbursement of tenants of supportive housing, prioritizing units for those seeking recovery.
Let’s examine the execution of harm reduction (meant to be 1 of a 4 pillared approach: treatment, harm reduction, education, and prevention) and rebuild strategies to improve the devastation of addiction/overdose by working with qualified service providers/social service agencies.
Furthermore, city council should work with/advocate to other levels of government to aggressively discontinue “catch and release” and enforce consequences for prolific offenders.
Finally, let’s find practical ways to build the connections that inspire individuals at the neighbourhood level to build community and feel less alone.