Bidders vie for halfway house contract

By Scott Neufeld The Vernon Daily Courier http://www.dailycourier.ca/

A halfway house could be back in operation in Vernon but the John Howard House Society has decided not to make a bid. Corrections Canada met with the City of Vernon Monday morning in a closed-door meeting to update local politicians on the plans for a new home for parolees. But the names of the two organizations bidding to run the halfway house were not made public. “That is something that is being looked at, as for something definite, talk to Corrections Canada,” said Vernon mayor Wayne Lippert.

Blair Peden, president of the board of directors for the Howard House said they have decided not to submit a bid. He said they want to continue their program of helping homeless men move off the street and into longer term low-cost housing. “The bottom line is we have a shelter and that’s been very busy,” Peden said. “Our planning has been for some time on transitional living and we really want to focus on that.”

The city is continuing to work with Corrections Canada but Lippert said local politicians have not decided whether they will support the halfway house proposal. “From what I understand we have parolees here now,” Lippert said. “I believe we would be wise to take a look at possible solutions.” Lippert said Corrections Canada has made a commitment that public input will be involved in decisions on what types of offenders would be allowed in to the halfway house. He said he didn’t know when a final decision would be made about the facility.

Later in August 2004, the City of Vernon signed an agreement with Corrections Canada that a 12 to 16 bed affordable housing structure be built as soon as possible. However, a citizen committee looking in to the issue in October 2005 recommended a two-year halfway house moratorium. The moratorium will expire later this year. Peden said halfway houses are an important institution for public safety. It’s important to give criminals who’ve served their time, a place where they can get the support they need to re-integrate back into the community, he said. “I think despite the uproar, at the end of the day the citizens advisory, a pretty disparate group of people . . . came up with the unanimous recommendation that (a halfway house) is something that is important to have,” he said. “We can’t just dump these guys out in the street.”