To the Editor,
Re: Supportive housing helps less fortunate, Letters, Oct. 20.
I applaud the letters in favour of supportive housing.
As a former coroner in Nanaimo, I attended many sudden deaths due to accidental drug overdoses, suicide and natural causes where the housing was extremely appalling.
How people were able to live in those conditions was beyond comprehension.
Part of the coroner’s role is to determine what factors played into the sudden deaths and what factors could help prevent future deaths.
I firmly believe that with safe and adequate housing a number of these deaths could have been prevented.
Often circumstances, ill health (mental and physical) and addictions lead one to need supportive housing.
Although not right next door to the Uplands housing project, I support it and would support it if it was next door.
Norma Hinds
Nanaimo