Victoria residents reject proposal for new transition house for recovering addicts

The founder of an addictions support group says he isn't discouraged by aplebiscite vote Tuesday night that rejected the proposal to put a transition house and drop-in centre in the community of Victoria in Conception Bay North.

I think a lot of people may have voted without having all the proper information.- Jeff Bourne

Residents voted 475 to 350 against the move to put the U-Turn facility in Victoria, a result thatexecutive director Jeff Bourne suspects may have been split along lines of age.

"It's the youngergenerationthat's fully aware and kind of understands the nature of the transitional house. But I guess for some of the older generation maybe the word addiction has kind of got their feathers ruffled a bit," he told the St. John's Morning Show.

• Town vote: Transition house for addicts to be decided by Victoria residents

"A lot of people are upset and kind of discouraged. Even people that moved away that are previous residents of Victoria are saying how disgusted they are at their home town for voting against this project."

Bourne and his wife Tammy had pushed for the proposed centre to go in Victoria, after a vacant building in the community was donated to U-Turn. The group has outgrown itscurrent space inCarbonear, and it plannedto move the drop-in centre in the basement of the proposed Victoria building under the 18 living units of the transition house.

He suspects the vacant building, which used to be a long-term care home, will now go back on the market.

Doing the right thing

Now that residents of Victoria have rejected the transition house proposal, Bourne has no other choice but to move ahead to find another community willing to house such a facility. He said he's going to take a couple of weeks to regroup, but he's already getting a lot of calls about what to do next.

Regardless, he said the results of Tuesday night's plebisciteis a big disappointment.

"I kind of view it as a blessing that the building was being donated and it's kind of sad. This would have been a blessing to the Town of Victoria but they're missing out. I think a lot of people may have voted without having all the proper information," he said.

"For me, I was able to put my head on the pillow last night and go to sleep because I know that I'm doing the right thing. I'm just going to keep motoring forward."