Woodwynn Farms therapeutic treatment centre has run aground on the hard rock of financial reality. The Central Saanich farm is modelled on a respected program in the Italian community of San Patrignano, which offers help to those plagued with addictions and homelessness. Its goal is to provide people with stable, long-term homes while they work to overcome those difficult issues. Those who passed through Woodwynn have been helped.
But for nine years, Woodwynn has operated in defiance of the municipality and the Agricultural Land Commission, which have refused the needed approvals. In December, eviction notices went up on the trailers where clients were living. Staff are trying to find new homes for the three remaining clients.
The farm and the Creating Homefulness Society, which owns the property, are in trouble. The numbered company that holds the $5.3-million mortgage is trying to foreclose. Nothing has been paid toward the principal or interest. Other debts are outstanding.
There is no more money, and the six full- and part-time employees will lose their jobs at the end of March.
The society has found a buyer for the farm and hopes to close a deal next week, bringing in enough money to pay off the mortgage and most of the other debts.
Executive director Richard Leblanc says he and the board 鈥渁re not perfectly aligned at the moment.鈥� Operating a non-profit is never easy, but when the board and the staff are going in different directions in the face of serious financial problems, it鈥檚 a recipe for collapse.
Leblanc hopes to preserve the program, even after the farm is sold, but it鈥檚 unclear how that would work.
The Italian example is evidence that something like the Woodwynn model 鈥� in the right place with the right support 鈥� could be invaluable in the midst of Victoria鈥檚 crises of addictions and homelessness.
