B.C.’s mental-health and addictions minister says the province is working as fast as it can to create a new kind of housing and help for people who are so troubled that they end up getting kicked out of even the lowest-barrier supportive housing.
The ministry said this week the province has 100 complex-care units already in place out of a planned 500 that are being funded with $164-million. In Vancouver, for example, 44 apartments at the Jim Green social-housing project in the Downtown Eastside are now designated for complex care.featured in The Globe last week
“The province has been slow to roll that out,” said Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran. He and Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog and Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said people experiencing homelessness with increasingly difficult behaviour problems, along with the separate issue of repeat criminal activity in public places, is the main issue large B.C. cities face.
“The government has made us a promise that no one will be evicted. That is a game changer,” said Ms. Helps. “People don’t want to go inside because they’re afraid to be lonely. So they go to the street where they can feel a sense of community.” That’s something that would-be premier David Eby has talked about as a possibility recently, a stance that produced criticism from people who said forcing drug users into sobriety is inhumane and ultimately not workable.