Dear editor,

In her letter, which appeared in the Record on March 11, Debra Oakman, CAO for the CVRD, stated that my letter concerning the proposed homeless shelter had a number of factual errors.

I disagree and I stand by the contents of my letter.

My statement that the CVRD would net a gain of only 10 beds at a cost of $2.9 million came straight from the CVRD website itself where that very issue is discussed at length. Other points in my letter concerned statements that have been made in my presence by local elected officials.

For example I was at a meeting on February 23 at which Comox councillor and former chair of the Comox Valley Housing and Homelessness committee, Tom Grant, revealed that applications had been made to BC Housing to acquire the Arbutus Hotel and Chuck's Trucks properties so that they could be used for additional housing for homeless people.

Mayor Greg Phelps of Courtenay was at that meeting and so, regardless of which organization is making the applications, our politicians are aware that the current homelessness strategy is going to make our beloved downtown shopping area into a destination for street people which, in my opinion, will be to the detriment of our local businesses.

Is this really what we elected them to do?

Dick Clancy,

Courtenay