Re: ‘Real people have been left out in the cold’ (Letters, PQB News, Sept. 17)
My thanks go to Jerrold Paetkau, community chaplain of Manna Homeless Society for his letter. He expressed much better than I could my own feelings about the closure of the cold-weather shelter which had been part of the original plans for Orca Place.
As welcome as Orca Place has been for the 52 people who now call it home, we need to remember that less than half of the applicants who applied to live there obtained accommodation.
The other applicants are still in transient or unstable housing, or on the streets. And for them, it is unlikely that needed shelter will be found before yet another winter is upon us.
As a taxpayer, I object strongly to the decision to use $700,000 of taxpayer funds to buy the city out of the cold-weather shelter agreement with Orca Place.
These decisions of city council have been not only “short-sighted and cruel” but also wasteful and expensive.
Linda Leger
Parksville