It’s said to be a one of a kind housing project in the Okanagan.
“This apartment building is going to be unusual in the fact that it’s going to be a dry building,” Tom Smithwick said.
Smithwick is with Freedom’s Door, a non-profit organization that runs a residential treatment program in Kelowna for men struggling with alcohol and drug addictions. The group has now launched a lofty campaign to provide long-term support to people in need. It wants to go beyond the standard three month treatment program.
“The problem is when you finish with Freedom’s Door recovery program, where then do you go?” Smithwick said.
The plan calls for the construction of a 51-unit apartment complex to be built at the corner of at McCurdy and Rutland Roads. Called “Freedom House”, the building would provide on-site counseling services and other programs to support former addicts transitioning back into society and the workforce.
“Short term recovery programs can only do so much,” Smithwick said. “They can get you sober but if you go back to the same old, same old, lifestyle – former housing, former friends – you are back in an addiction world again.”
A rezoning application for the site has been filed with the City of Kelowna’s planning department and a fundraising campaign called “Build Freedom House” has been launched. The group needs to raise just a little more than $3 million to get the project off the ground.
A public meeting about the project will take place on April 6 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall at 130 McCurdy Road.
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