Response to online request from Parksville church for parishioner’s support:
I appreciate your effort to help homeless people; however, your request to church members to support the Corfield Street project without a complete understanding of the ramifications of this project is causing an unnecessary division between Parksville residents. Good decisions are made when people are fully informed and not based solely on faith.
Please familiarize yourself with the correct information/lack thereof concerning the proposed supportive housing before suggesting people support this unprecedented housing model. There are many unanswered questions, which ICCS and BC Housing were still unable to address as of the May 7 council meeting, available online. It is very concerning they are pushing ahead without all the answers. This particular housing model was described in the presentation as a ‘pilot scheme’, meaning it is experimental.
I believe the residents of Parksville are in support of affordable housing for homeless and those in need. The issue is with this particular model because the city is too small to support a facility of this size for the entire Parksville Qualicum Beach area. The infrastructure in not in place and never will be, as it is too small a community among many other important factors.
I encourage you to read the information on parksvilleshelter.com as the information is the result of months of research, interviews with managers of other supportive housing, BC Housing, ICCS, and other reliable sources. Please educate yourself about this housing experiment that BC Housing has initiated under a ‘Rapid Response’ program.
There is no doubt that we need affordable housing but please do not bring religion into a civic discussion.
Marilyn Wilson
Parksville