Housing Minister Rich Coleman:
I am writing on behalf of the family advisory committee to our local Mental Health Services. We are asking for help for people with mental illnesses in our community who cannot find adequate, affordable housing or, in many cases, any housing at all.
We have no supportive housing for youth with mental illnesses who are aging out of care or for youth suffering from early psychosis. Due to the tight housing market here, the tertiary care facility for people with mental illness, Sumac Place in Gibsons, has nowhere to send clients who are ready to move on, and so cannot take in new clients. Sumac Place is supposed to be a temporary residence. Clients leaving Sumac Place need the option of moving on to housing within the community.
We have many homeless people – our one emergency shelter has inadequate space. We are desperate for subsidies to tide us over until secure, supported, stable housing can be built. Our community is in immediate need of greater funding for supported independent living for those with mental illnesses. Presently this program is funded through Vancouver Coastal Health. It needs to be funded by B.C. Housing.
As you know, keeping people as well as possible lowers taxpayer costs such as policing, hospital emergency room visits and hospital stays. Housing is of fundamental importance for the ongoing recovery and well-being of our family members with mental illnesses. People do not get better when they are homeless or living in housing so costly that it cuts into their other basic needs. Please help us deal with this crisis.
Anne Miles, for Sunshine Coast Mental Health Family Advisory Committee
