Three Rivers and the Province’s Push to Normalize Drug Use

In the last article we discussed Housing First and a pilot project in Montague to provide government housing to people experiencing homelessness and addiction issues. Just recently, Charyl Paynter, who is the CEO for the PEI Housing Corporation, announced another Housing First project about to commence operation in Charlottetown.

In this latest announcement, Paynter confirmed that drug addicts will be some of the people moved into this building and that this is not transitional housing, but rather permanent housing.

This is a radical new approach for dealing with drug addiction and so it’s important to trace back previous efforts by the government to set up the regulatory framework for this new housing in regards to the Montague pilot.

It’s tempting to point to the special advisor to the Premier on this issue, Carlene Donnelly, as the main driver for this initiative, but the truth is that the groundwork for this policy seems to have been put in place before her.

The Three Rivers Official Plan 2023, which guides decisions on planning and land use, was released well before Donnelly was hired by the Province. The report has a section on group homes with a clear objective to de-stigmatize group homes to ensure council policy more closely aligns with the Three Rivers stated value of inclusiveness. This is to be achieved by allowing group homes to operate in all residential areas of Three Rivers, “group homes shall be permitted in all designations that permit residential uses.”

On December 16, 2024 the Three Rivers Council passed a series of amendments to development Bylaws that remove the exclusion of halfway houses, homeless housing, and day care facilities from the definition of group homes. All that is needed is the approval of the Minister for Housing, Cory Deagle, to ratify the new amendments before they become official.

It seems likely that the plan was to have this definition of a group home changed specifically to allow the provincial government to rollout their Housing First initiative. For whatever reason, Steven Myers never got around to ratifying the Bylaw amendments which has left the Province and the new Minister in an interesting conundrum.

A representative from Three Rivers Council has confirmed through email that the zoning use for the Montague pilot is a standard multi-unit dwelling. This representative has also stated that since there is no daily supervision inside the building, that this building is officially not a group home and everything is above board.

I suppose this is all true, but let’s consider for a moment how reckless and absurd all this is.

Both Carlene Donnelly and members from PEI Housing Corporation have all stated how the people taking part in this Housing First initiative are “complex clients” who require a variety of supports, but suddenly, when it’s a zoning issue, they require no supervision and only “a lower level of support.”

In order to move supervision into the building, Minister Deagle has to ratify the new group home definition, but this is akin to legalizing drug dens which is sure to not go over well — especially for someone who has shown the ambition to one day be Premier.

As of today, a representative for the Department of Housing has refused my requests to answer questions on this issue.

Unfortunately, the government has also recently announced the planned closure of the Mount Herbert addictions facility and the reallocation of the detox beds to a new mental health addictions campus.

This aligns with a policy of openly tolerating drug use and that neither treatment nor sobriety are a necessary step for receiving public support.