THE B.C. Liberal government must act now to reverse their damaging decision to deregulate recovery homes, say New Democrats.
“The B.C. Liberals threw the recovery home system into chaos when they deregulated them in 2002, and since then they have failed to fix the problems they created,” said New Democrat Critic for Mental Health and Addictions Sue Hammell on Thursday.
“While they said in 2006, and again in 2009, and again in 2011, that they were working on a certification process, still these homes operate without regulation. And still, unscrupulous operators are taking advantage of a weak system,” said Hammell, MLA for Surrey-Green Timbers.
Hammell joined MLAs Bruce Ralston (Surrey-Whalley) and Harry Bains (Surrey-Newton) in calling on the B.C. Liberal government to immediately fix seven years of broken promises by appropriately regulating recovery homes.
“Operators believe there are more than 150 unregulated recovery homes in our city, and many more around the province” said Ralston. “While many recovery homes are run well, some operators wreak havoc on their communities and terrorize their residents, offering nothing to help them reintegrate into the community, and maintaining crowded and unhygienic living conditions.”
