SURREY - The City of Surrey reports that since the inception of the Mayor's Task Force, 103 unregulated recovery homes have been shut down in the city and another 62 are under investigation.
Mayor Dianne Watts struck the task force last November after 2013's 22nd homicide, which was a record for the city. By year's end, the city had 25 homicides. The previous record was 21, in 2005.
Shutting down the recovery homes has been a collaborative effort between the city's bylaws department, RCMP, Crown counsel, the Assisted Living Registry and provincial social agencies.
"Typically upon receiving a complaint, it takes 15 to 30 days to shut down a problem unregulated recovery home," said Surrey's bylaws manager Jas Rehal. "The City of Surrey can also levy fines up to $500 per day."
While Rehal wouldn't provide the addresses of the homes that have been shut down, he said about 50 per cent were north of 88th Avenue.
"The biggest concentration we saw were four homes in a few block radius," he added.
The remaining 50 per cent of those shut down were found throughout the city, Rehal said. He confirmed they were found in each of the city's town centres.
The initiative is said to not only be targeting problem homes, but also ensuring adequate programs and assistance are provided for the individuals affected by the closures.
"Depending on what's going on in each home and depending how our involvement happened, we'll take the appropriate social service agency with us to make sure that if the individuals need help there's no displacement issues. We'll go with a team," Rehal said, adding on average, five or six people were found in each recovery home.
The information was released at the city's police committee meeting on Monday.
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