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Fed up with supportive housing plan, Rutland residents plan to sue City of Kelowna

Rutland For Safe Neighbourhoods Facebook group claims lawyers are working with them
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Rod Roloff signs the McCurdy House petition alongside volunteer Victoria Shannon. (Daniel Taylor - Kelowna Capital News)

A lawsuit against the City of Kelowna is alleged to be in the works on behalf of Rutland residents who are disgruntled about the concentration of supportive housing facilities in the area.

According to the Rutland For Safe Neighbourhoods Facebook group, a law firm reached out to one member a few weeks ago to help look into the issue.

“Over the next month they will be working pro-bono (+ costs) to research all viable avenues that exist to bring suit against the city and province on behalf of Rutland, for the concentration of these facilities here (which is a form of discrimination) and to change the use of the planned facilities due to their proximity to children and seniors,” read the post by Audra Boudreau, who started the petition regarding the issue which garnered over 14,000 signatures.

“Their work will not only be for Rutland however but for the betterment of the greater city and province as well, as we’ve seen that this can now happen anywhere, in any neighbourhood.”

A GoFundMe is also planned to help with admin costs and incidentals but has not yet been launched.

This is the second call for a lawsuit against the city in the past week.

On Wednesday (Nov. 27), following the movement of a homeless encampment from Leon Avenue to two locations in north Kelowna, a GoFundMe campaign was launched to raise $50,000 to aid in organizing a class-action lawsuit against the city for damages to the community allegedly caused by people experiencing homelessness.

READ MORE: Rutland neighbourhood group to file provincial complaint over low-barrier housing

READ MORE: Fundraisers clash over Kelowna homelessness issue


@michaelrdrguez
michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com

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