Carbonear approves ‘sober living home’
By Olivia Bradbury/Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Sober living homes are facilities that provide shelter and support to those trying to recover from addiction. As opposed to so called “low-barrier facilities,” which constitute most of the shelters in our province, sober living homes do not permit the use of illicit substances on the property.
At the February 11th Carbonear council meeting, councillor Danielle Doyle, who chairs the economic development committee, said council had received an application for a sober living housing development.
Doyle said she had seen the plans and described the housing as being similar to a hostel: eight hostel beds and a communal kitchen and living area. There would be four bedrooms on either side of the common area, each with its own bathroom.
The sober living house would be developed at 19 Industrial Crescent at an existing facility run by the organization U-Turn Addiction Recovery.
Councillor Peter Snow said it’s a good plan to develop it in the commercial area the Town would probably receive more negative feedback if it were to be built in a residential area. “Not everyone would want to have a sober living facility in the middle of their neighbourhood. So I think it’s a great location and I think that’s why council is so fond of supporting that initiative,” said Snow.
“The area is zoned such that it is at a discretionary use of council,” Doyle noted, “so the committee is recommending that it go to the discretionary use ad so that people can provide their feedback.”
The Town will post the development application publicly, giving residents the chance to share their thoughts.
“There’s a lot of discussion on the news not only within our own town, within our own region, province, across the country, about housing and addiction,” said Doyle, “and we feel this is an appropriate step for our municipality.”
She made a motion to resolve to open the sober living facility if the Town receives no objections or representations from the discretionary use advertisement, and that the application be referred back to the economic committee if objections are received. Doyle said the resolution is conditional upon the approval of Service NL and other applicable government agencies and departments. The motion passed unanimously.