I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland as I listened to Kamloops Mayor Terry Lake speak about how many $dollars$ the homeless cost the City of Kamloops, noting also the $dollars$ the provincial government spends on dealing with the homeless. I cast a quick glance around to check for the Mad Hatter when Mayor Lake went on to speak of the money to be saved by city and province in providing affordable and accessible housing to the homeless. One could only wish Abbotsford politicians had such a good grip on the fiscal reality of what it costs to deal with the homeless on the streets – but then if Abbotsford’s politicians had any grasp of fiscal reality we would not be mired in the quagmire of Plan A’s escalating costs.

That reality, that leaving the homeless without housing is more costly than providing housing, is why Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals are investing heavily in housing. Although given Abbotsford councils attitudes and lack of action one would never know there is funding for housing for the asking from BC Housing. Mayor Lake noted the irony that Mr. Harper’s aping of President Bush does not extent to the one area Canadians wish he would copy, the great success that American cities have had in making solid reductions in homelessness. Mr. Harper is apparently to much of an ideologue to let basic common sense or reality get in the way of how he believes the world should be.

I read the advertisement for “Expressions of Interest/Offers” by ebenezer home of “approximately 1.7 acres of developable land that are zoned P4 Special Housing” which is the zoning needed to build housing for those suffering addiction and homeless. I noted with regret that the advertisement spoke of “with rezoning, significantly higher density use is possible”, although the mention of rezoning was not surprise. After all in Abbotsford everyone knows that planning and zoning have no real meaning, being changed or ignored at the City’s whim. Unlike the city of Kamloops where council has a plan to ensure that affordable housing is included in the housing mix. More importantly they stick to their plan.

Of course Kamloops is also a city where it is considered a no-brainer that if a non-profit organization is engaged in activities that are good for or benefit Kamloops then property taxes are waived. Sounds pretty much like a no-brainer doesn’t it? When one of the not for profit societies that support people with severe and persistent mental illness in our community asked Chilliwack and Abbotsford, in light of the good they do both communities, to waive the property taxes on their facilities in both communities it was a no-brainer for Chilliwack which said yes. In Abbotsford’s case it was a matter of NO. When a phone call was placed to ask why and a message left … there was not even the courtesy of a reply. They are left to send a delegation to council to present their case in hopes that council will see fit to provide the permissive tax exemption for 2009.

If Abbotsford council will not waive property taxes for a non-profit organization that is demonstrably a good citizen I do not think there is much chance of them following Kamloops and waiving development cost charges or selling land at reduced prices to encourage the development of affordable housing or homeless housing projects. If cities the size of Chilliwack, with less than $33 million dollars in annual tax revenue they are extremely supportive in foregoing developmental costs to support affordable housing initiatives and annual property taxes to both not-for profit societies and BC Housing projects, Abbotsford should be expected to come to the table with similar support to subsidized housing projects as well as for not-for-profit service providers.

Concepts such a lenient suite policies, resisting NIMBYism and fast tracking these projects while common practice in Kamloops, as part of their affordable housing and housing mix strategy, seem beyond the grasp of Abbotsford’s council.

Across Canada we are seeing increasing numbers of families with children, seniors and people employed full time who cannot afford housing and groceries. This changing face of homelessness is why citizens need to demand that all levels of government come to the table to deal with this growing crisis. It is also why Mayor Lake is right, affordable housing must be treated as infrastructure, and city councils cannot sit around but must be pro-active, fully engaged and providing leadership.