-Facility to be occupied by March: province-

OSOYOOS TIMES-February 4, 2009-

By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times

A now-vacant care facility in Osoyoos will be used for social housing as part of a provincial government program to expand the number of housing locations open to homeless people or people at risk of losing their homes across British Columbia.
The Desert Valley Care centre at 22 Jonagold Place was one of 15 new properties named in a Jan. 30 announcement as being either purchased or leased by the province for the purpose of providing more than 600 housing units with support services for homeless people.
The centre has 10 units and was used as a seniors care facility until November of last year when the last if its residents were moved into the newly opened Mariposa Gardens.
The 10 units were contracted out by Interior Health.
Residents of the facility would have to share kitchen and bathroom space.
The centre is owned privately by a local group of investors and according to the BC Assessment website, its property value is $663,000.
Despite the government's announcement, one of the owners said there is no deal done in terms of selling the facility to the province.
Gordon Zelko of Osoyoos said on Feb. 1 that the facility is on the market and there are a number of possible buyers but the owners have not finalized a deal with the province.
Susan Thom, a spokeswoman for BC Housing, said the completion date for the deal is sometime in March.
As for who will be in charge of running the facility, Thom said the province will be approaching community-based organizations to administer day-to-day operations.
There will be a non-profit chosen, but they haven't chosen it yet, she said.
Pastor Phil Johnson of the Osoyoos Baptist Church said he is glad this opportunity to help the less fortunate has been sent Osoyoos's way.
He added, however, that he hopes this announcement won't make the Town think Osoyoos doesn't need an emergency shelter program anymore.
Johnson has been encouraging the Town to adopt a shelter strategy to help local homeless people in extreme weather conditions.
Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells said the province's announcement caught him off guard and the Town has few details about how the centre will be operated and funded.
He did say he was told the facility is meant for support housing for people with mental health issues.
In a media release, the province said the facility should be occupied by March.
The purchase of the facility is part of a provincial investment of $34 million and brings the total number of social housing properties owned or leased by the government across the province to 45 and the number of affordable housing units up to 2,030.
The other 14 social housing facilities purchased by the province as part of the Jan. 30 announcement are located in Penticton, Vancouver, Mission, Abbotsford, Nanaimo, Kamloops, Prince George, Williams Lake and Logan Lake.
According to the province, the purchase of the Osoyoos facility, along with four other properties, are being made under the Provincial Homelessness Initiative which was launched due to Premier Gordon Campbell's Task Force on Homelessness, Mental Illness and Addictions.
The objective of the (initiative) is to break the cycle of homelessness by integrating support services with housing so people may move beyond temporary shelter to more secure housing, gain greater self-reliance, and achieve appropriate employment, read a provincial media release.
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