Residents in Kelowna, B.C.’s Rutland neighbourhood are expressing concern after the city’s only social services centre was relocated to the corner of Highway 33 and Dougall Road.
Since then, Rutland resident Aaron Reitmeir says he’s noticed an uptick in drug use and homelessness in the area.
“The whole area of Rutland is becoming a hotbed for all this activity,” Reitmeir told Global News.
“And it just seems like the cops are turning a blind eye to it on purpose, because they’d rather it be here than in the rest of the city — downtown or whatever, right?”
Reitmeir says the situation is getting so out of hand that he no longer feels safe walking past Lions Park — just a few blocks from his home.
“I have to walk to Save-On-Foods to get my groceries, and I used to walk through the park all the time,” he said.
“And now I can’t walk through there without feeling like I’m going to get attacked. I see people smoking off tinfoil, they’ve got pipes in their hand — they don’t care.”
The office for the area’s local MLA is located right across the street from the social services office.
Norm Letnick says problems on the streets of Rutland, and across the province, have reached a tipping point.
“In almost every community, we’ve seen more and more open drug use, more and more disruptions of our neighbourhoods, and that includes Rutland,” said Letnick, the MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country.
“And I would say that increase in disruption lies right at the feet of the NDP government.”
Letnick says there was zero communication from the province that the social services office was being moved to Rutland.
“You know, it’s never too late for them to come to the table and help fix any problems they’ve created, and move forward with a positive vision of what Rutland can be,” Letnick said.
On Wednesday night, Letnick and fellow Liberal MLA Renne Merrifield are hosting a town hall meeting in Rutland.
They want to hear from residents and talk about a positive vision for the community.
The town hall meeting will take place at the Kelowna Christian Centre, 905 Badke Rd., from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Global News reached out to the province in regards to the social services office being relocated.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction replied, saying its office lease at Dilworth Drive expired on March 31, 2023, and that there was no option of renewal, thus the relocation.
“The Real Property Division from the Ministry of Citizens’ Services explored potential locations for the office within Kelowna and purchased the one in Rutland because it had the necessary city zoning to operate an income assistance office for in-person client services,” said the ministry.
“Prior to the move, the ministry reviewed the Kelowna caseload map, which showed that many of the clients were from the Rutland area.”
The ministry added that officials “met on more than one occasion with the Uptown Rutland Business Association and business community members to listen to their concerns.”
The ministry concluded that it “continues to keep open communication with the local business community and works together with them to mitigate issues that arise.”
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