NDP critic Nicholas Simons introduced a motion in the legislature this morning urging a moratorium on group home closures.

Simons called the strategy of closing group homes without consulting families “a failed policy” and asked government to halt the practice.

“We’ve seen the chaos in Community Living B.C. and in the Ministry of Social Development,” he said. “We’ve had four ministers over a year.”

With a moratorium in place, government can begin to look at the larger issues in the sector, Simons said.

Community Living B.C. has been under fire for more than a year over its treatment of adults with developmental disabilities and their families.

The cash-strapped agency has being trying to cope with limited money from government by closing group homes, moving people into less-expensive living arrangements and using the savings to help the more than 2,800 people waiting for services.

Families and advocates have fought back, arguing that people are given little choice and uprooted from residences where they have led healthy, happy lives for years.

Former Social Development Minister Kevin Krueger, who served four months in the post overseeing Community Living B.C., spoke against the motion. He acknowledged the rising demand for services from adults with development disabilities, but said government should leave all its options open.

“The inflexibility of a moratorium on the closure of group homes, when some have reached the end of their natural existence as a building or as a home,  . . . is not one of the solutions we should be looking at.”

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