Plan for addiction rehabilitation home in upscale Winnipeg neighbourhood gets resistance

Dozens of residents of an upscale southwest Winnipeg neighbourhood are trying to overturn a City of Winnipeg decision to allow a home to be temporarily used for live-in addiction recovery services.

Ninety five separate notices of appeal against the decision have been entered as exhibits for a Sept. 11 hearing, along with an additional 75 letters in support of the appeal (some from the same people who filed notices).

Asingle letter backing the project, and opposing the appeal, has also been filed.

The non-profit Regenesis Centre for Recovery Inc. plans to open its first facility providing live-in and outreach service for six adults out of a home on Lindenwood Drive East in the Lindenwoods neighbourhood.

It would be a temporary location for RCR to provide supervised wraparound secondary care to women and non-binary adults belonging to the 2SLGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and disabled communities,a City of Winnipeg report said.

RCR plans to rent a house on the property until around August 2025 while they search for a permanent location.

The organization has also received funding from the provincial government to carry out its operations, the report said, also notingthe treatment centre will be monitored by multiple security cameras and staff will be available after hours and on-call, if required.

RCR decribes itself on its website asa non-profit organization and registered charity and "Canada's second only organization developed specifically to address the needs of the 2SLGBTQIA+community."

"What we're trying to do is to provide folks who have gone through withdrawal management services and gone through some primary treatment, to have an extended period of time to really make the changes necessary to make the changes in their life to be reintegratedback into the community with success," said executive directory Cindy Foster.

Residentssay they weren't properly notified

But dozens area residents wrote to the City of Winnipeg to voicetheir displeasure with the decision to approveRCR's conditional use application.

The letters are included in the agenda item package for the city's Sept.11 Appeal Committee meeting.Many of them note the home'sproximity to a nearby school, seniors home and community centre.

Some residents said while they support RCR's initiative, or consider themselves to be advocates of mental health and addictions support, they also couldn't support the location of thehome.

One area resident,Michel L. Chagas, wrote in a letter that the "Lindenwoods community is not ready for the violenceusers of treatment will bring." The letter goes on to say, "andto make things even worse, the drug dealers will become prevalent."

Chagas saidthey were "stunned" by the fact they were made aware of the decision "with a pamphlet on my mailbox."

Other area residents echoed that frustration with RCR's canvassing process.

"Please note that the majority of homeowners within the [one kilometre] radius of the home were not canvassed and solicited for feedback," wrote Bhupinder Rai, who identified themself as a resident of Lindenwoods for over 30 years.

Raiwrote they felt that the facility could pose safety and security concerns for children and seniors walking and biking nearthe home.

Other letters,like that from EliasCholakis, also voiced frustration about RCR's canvassing methods, saying the neighborhood as a whole hadn't been given enough time to be "advised for this request and digest its implications to the community."

"The canvassing completed by RCR is inadequate as it only selected homes on either side of the proposed location," Cholakis wrote.

A City of Winnipeg report, following the decision to grant RCR conditional use, said the organization completeda "two-stage community canvassing program"and that more than25 homes in the immediate vicinity of the property, along both Lindenwood Drive East and Lindenwood Drive West, were visited.

The report also said the RCR provided informational packets consisting of a community letter, program brochure, and a business card.

It also said RCR includedthree signatures of support for the conditional use from adjoining impacted neighbours, one signature of support from a member of the public and seven written letters of support.

"We gave folks a lot of opportunity to reach out with any questions or concerns over a period of several months and we didn't receive anything from any of the community members within that time period," said Foster.

The home's opponents represent a "small vocal minority" that are feeling some concerns about RCR opening in Lindenwoods, she added.

"We actually have a lot of support from not only community members in the area, but across Winnipeg and across the province."