For some time now the politicians in BC and Vancouver have been promoting the idea that the extreme downsizing of Riverview in the 70's/80's was a mistake, and that some of the street people on the Vancouver Eastside would be better off in such a facility. I think they are wrong.
What is really happening here is the Mayor of Vancouver and Premier of BC are looking for a quick fix to clean up the downtown eastside for the Olympics. The solution from their standpoint is to round people up, declare them mentally incompenent, and place them in an institution.
Rather than round people up like gestapo they should actually build low cost housing and provide mental health support. I would bet in the long run it would be cheaper to build the housing, charge people 40% of their income for rent and provide people in these areas with medical and assisted living support. The alternative being placement in a mental hospital with 24 hour monitoring, 3 meals a day, a bureacracy of mental health red tape, and a bunch of people who become lifers to the facility and system. A system from the stone ages.
The province owns land all over the place that sits there permanently growing weeds. Build some housing and move these people into assisted living arrangements.
There are presently approximately 300 people at Riverview Mental Hospital. There use to be 5000+. Going back to the days of rounding up of people for permanent life in a nuthouse is ridiculous.
What is really happening here is the Mayor of Vancouver and Premier of BC are looking for a quick fix to clean up the downtown eastside for the Olympics. The solution from their standpoint is to round people up, declare them mentally incompenent, and place them in an institution.
Rather than round people up like gestapo they should actually build low cost housing and provide mental health support. I would bet in the long run it would be cheaper to build the housing, charge people 40% of their income for rent and provide people in these areas with medical and assisted living support. The alternative being placement in a mental hospital with 24 hour monitoring, 3 meals a day, a bureacracy of mental health red tape, and a bunch of people who become lifers to the facility and system. A system from the stone ages.
The province owns land all over the place that sits there permanently growing weeds. Build some housing and move these people into assisted living arrangements.
There are presently approximately 300 people at Riverview Mental Hospital. There use to be 5000+. Going back to the days of rounding up of people for permanent life in a nuthouse is ridiculous.
