Clean Up Our Downtown
Downtown Prince George has become a total disaster zone. It is absolutely plagued with homelessness, drugs, mental health issues, and the sum of it all - crime. Not to mention it is dirty, unsanitary, and unsafe. The city has made some weak and poorly planned attempts to "clean it up" only resulting in a court injunction stopping them in their tracks. The downtown business owners struggling to keep afloat amongst the jungle that surrounds them deserve better. Their employees who only want a clean and safe work environment deserve better. The patrons of downtown and the people of Prince George deserve better. And the people living the horrific lifestyle on the streets deserve better.
I'm not here to lie to anyone and say this is an easy fix, it's not. There is no "perfect" solution to such a complex problem, but I have a logical 4-Point Plan that can actually work. And frankly, a logical plan is more than anyone else on council can seem to muster up.
1) We have a facility on Gunn Road called "The Prince George Youth Custody Center" or PGYCC for short. Exactly as it sounds, this facility was designed to house juvenile offenders. But here's the catch - though fully staffed on the backs of BC tax payers, there are no inmates! This 60 bed facility is near empty, it's been near empty for years, and it will continue to be near empty for the foreseeable future. Why is this? Changes to the Young Offenders Act has made incarcerating juveniles a much harder and much more rare occurrence. Whether you agree with this or not is besides the point, the point is we have a facility that with little investment could quickly and cost effectively be transformed into a world-class rehabilitation center! Lets think about this - the facility already has individual secure housing, group housing, classrooms, a plethora of office space, an industrial kitchen, and it even has a gymnasium with basketball courts and outdoor recreation space. It is a perfect facility we can quickly and cheaply transform into a WORLD-CLASS REHABILITAION CENTER. Lets be honest, the BC government has been a huge contributor to the homeless and drug problem we are currently facing. They bussed all kinds of people into Prince George (many of them homeless) during the wildfires and their covid lockdowns (agree with them or not) only further increased drug use, mental health deterioration, and homelessness. They owe us this facility! I will petition the provincial government to hand this facility over to the people of Prince George and I will not rest until they do!
2) We are in desperate need of affordable housing. Our current council's plan seems to be to sit back and wait for BC Housing to act. Newsflash! BC Housing might be the only agency even more poorly run than the City of Prince George. They get billions and billions of dollars every year to build and/or acquire affordable housing yet they just can't seem to get it done. They are a bloated, over-staffed agency plagued with red tape and severely lacking leadership...hmmm that sounds familiar! If we plan to wait for BC Housing - we will be waiting forever. If we want to get this done, we are going to have to do it ourselves. I will aggressively pursue building and/or acquiring affordable housing so we can once and for all clean up our downtown.
I know there will be 2 strong reactions to this, those who support providing affordable housing and those who do not. To the people who support this, I suppose I'm preaching to the choir. But there will also be those who feel this is unfair and it's BS. They have to get up and go to work every morning to pay for their mortgage yet we are going to take their money via taxes to house drug addicts for free? To the people who feel this way I say - you are also right and you are not a bad person for feeling this way. It is unfair and it is BS! But if we look at the situation from strictly a cost perspective, it is also the most cost effective solution. How can this be? Well I've been researching this issue for some time and though the information varies from source to source, there are definitely some common denominators. Reputable studies (such as those from the City of Toronto, UBC, and the John Hopkins University) have shown that 1 homeless person, if we do nothing for them, costs the city around $50,000/year. Just a few of the contributing costs include policing, incarceration, ambulances, paramedics, hospital stays, Narcan, prescription drugs, bylaw services, clean up services, and the list goes on. Meanwhile, to house the same 1 homeless person and provide basic social services will cost the city approximately $30,000/year. Not to mention those who are housed have an 80% better chance of becoming productive members of society compared to the unhoused. It is not only the compassionate thing to do, it is also the cost effective thing to do and it is the only way we are going to have the current court injunction removed.
Though it can be hard at times, we must remember these people are still human beings. They are someone's mother, father, brother, sister, child, etc. and they deserve a solid opportunity at a productive and meaningful future and that's what I intend to offer them.
3) We need law enforcement's Feet on the Street Walking the Beat! Make no mistake, even with a world-class rehab facility and affordable housing, there will be a significant population of the homeless that will not want to participate. To those individuals I intend to make their lives uncomfortable in an effort to motivate them to change. When we make people comfortable, they have little motivation to change. But when we make them uncomfortable, there is a much better chance they will hit their "rock bottom" and succumb to help. And with the court injunction removed, we will be able to dial the tolerance knob down to zero and hopefully motivate people to make positive life choices. I will have police walking the beat 24/7 and there are many reasons this is important. I want our police on the streets building rapport and providing direct communication with downtown business owners, patrons, and the homeless alike. Furthermore, we need to focus on preventing crime before it happens instead of trying to deal with it after the fact. Feet on the street walking the beat will undoubtedly help with this initiative.
4) We need to close the loop of homelessness and recovery with employment. Let's say a homeless person graduates from a rehabilitation program and comes out the other end clean and sober. He/she then moves into the affordable housing we will have available and ready. We must then close the loop with gainful employment and I see no reason why the city itself cannot be the main employer. Have you ever visited a job board like "Indeed" and see city ads for "seasonal flower planters" at $34/hr? We could easily and quickly train the recent rehab grads to do this exact job and do it for closer to $20/hr. This is still a very reasonable wage ($5 over the minimum), it helps give the less fortunate a revenue stream to get their lives on track, and it will save the tax payers tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars each year by getting the same unskilled labor completed for less. It's a win/win situation. Furthermore, employment will give these individuals purpose and a schedule - both of which are very important in the process of recovery. Of course this is something we will have to collaborate with the union on and that is exactly what I will do.
That is my 4-Point Plan to clean up downtown, and it's a plan that can actually work!
Vote for BIG Change, Vote for Smart Ideas, Vote Adam Hyatt for Mayor!
