Locations on Kent and Duke considered for SCS in Kitchener
Posted Aug 10, 2018 11:00:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Two more locations for supervised consumption sites in Waterloo Region are now being considered by Regional Council and they are both in Kitchener.
They include 33 Kent Ave. and 150 Duke St. W.
Regional staff say the location on Kent would need to be renovated before being used.
Three locations were already up for consideration, they include 115 Water St. N. in Kitchener, and 149 Ainslie St. N. and 150 Main St. in the downtown Galt area of Cambridge.
In their report, regional staff say “It is important to note that candidate locations are not final sites for supervised consumption services. If approved, the next step is to conduct community consultation on all candidate locations to understand community members' perspective on the benefits and concerns associated with each site, and their opinions on how concerns can be mitigated.”
The report also releases the results of a survey asking the public for suggestions on possible sites.
They received a total of 310 submissions, the majority of those in Kitchener.
No additional sites were considered for Cambridge as the majority of the suggestions were for Cambridge Memorial Hospital, a location that did not meet the criteria for a SCS.
That includes a lack of accessibility when it comes to walking distance from problem areas, and a location where drug users may not feel comfortable. The report says, these sites “need to be in areas where drug used is already occurring … many people who use drugs avoid large health institutions such as acute care facilities because they feel intimidating.”
