New Westminster city council is concerned that cuts to a local community service could have far-reaching concerns for the city.
The Lookout Emergency Aid Society has announced that it will need to cut staff at the Cliff Block because of funding cuts from the Fraser Health Authority.
"This is quite shocking," said Coun. Lorrie Williams. "New Westminster has done such a good job of outreach and putting homeless people into shelters and getting them off the street. Anything like this would certainly be like a step backwards."
Lisa Spitale, the city's director of development services, is putting together a team to discuss the matter, said Mayor Wayne Wright.
"We want to make sure we have all the information, so when we go back to them, we can say this is where we are now, this is what could happen if you stop this funding or change the funding," he said. "Council was at the police board meeting last Tuesday. They explained we had a mental health officer who is going out, and he was evaluating the situation. When it came back it was not a pretty picture. In fact, it was quite disturbing."
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said he's pleased staff are being proactive in handing this issue.
"Our streets are full of people with mental illness. It's a neglect of the system," he said. "What's really shocking now is we are being offloaded - we are hiring a police officer who's doing what the Fraser Health Authority should be doing. We are instructed that often they will show up at the hospital with a patient, and they can't leave there. They are waiting eight to 10 hours for that patient to see a psychiatrist, so we are tying up a police officer for the entire shift, waiting to see someone from Fraser Health, from Royal Columbian Hospital. This is, again, an absolute slap in the face."
Wright, who chairs the New Westminster Police Board, said the local police are already inundated with work related to mental health issues. As part of the its 2013 budget, the New Westminster Police Department added one additional constable to improve its ability to respond to mental health issues.
Coun. Betty McIntosh said Fraser Health has started to "abandon" New Westminster since it moved its head office out of the city.
