The B.C. government has tasked a working group to make recommendations this fall on ways to remove drug-trafficking and weapons from supportive housing buildings, including possible changes to the Residential Tenancy Act.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, in a press conference on Monday, said housing operators and police have reported barriers to enforcing laws and policies — no weapons, no dealing drugs, no violence and no smoking — that must be addressed.
“We’re tasking this working group to come back to us with solutions, and we have made a commitment that we will enact the recommendations that come from them,” Kahlon said.
The working group includes supportive housing providers, law enforcement, union representatives, as well as First Nations and tenant advocates.
The announcement follows calls in May from the B.C. Coalition for Safe and Sustainable Supportive Housing and Victoria Police Chief Del Manak for tools to remove either residents and others who are involved in drug-trafficking, weapons and violence.
The working group will explore removing supportive housing from the Residential Tenancy Act to address “problematic and dangerous individuals taking advantage of vulnerable people and better respond to weapons and criminal activity within supportive housing,” Kahlon said.
Operators of supportive housing and police say the act prevents them from entering a resident’s room to confiscate weapons, which are prohibited in such facilities, or evict someone if weapons are found.
Kahlon said the ultimate goal is to protect the safety of staff, the community and residents who are “following the rules.”
If removing these facilities from the act is found to be a solution, the question for the working group is how to give residents basic rights and protections while ensuring housing operators and staff can enforce the rules, he said.
“I think there’s a balance we can strike,” Kahlon said. “We are open to whatever measures are needed to keep everyone safe.”
Manak, in a phone interview, applauded the government for taking action but said the devil will be in the details.
“Anything we can do to give [housing providers] more tools to evict criminals, to seize weapons or to keep their facilities safe, the better,” he said, adding that the safety of the most vulnerable residents ought to be prioritized.
“Many of these individuals don’t have a voice, and they’re exploited, and they’re victimized within their own home, which happens to be a supportive housing location,” Manak said. “So this is for the greater good.”
Greg Richmond, vice-chair of the B.C. Coalition for Safe and Sustainable Supportive Housing, said in a statement the coalition appreciates the prompt response from the province and that members of the working group “are ready to roll up our sleeves.”
Julian Daly, CEO of the non-profit Our Place Society, which provides housing and supports to those in need, said the proposed changes would give housing providers “more flexibility in how we manage our buildings, greater control over who lives with us, and allows us to create safer homes for those we serve and a safer workplace for our colleagues.”
Daly has argued the housing issue has become more of a drug-addiction issue, with fentanyl resulting in a small group of people becoming so brain-damaged from overdoses they can’t keep the housing or shelter they are given. For them, the province is looking at voluntary and involuntary secure care and complex care beds and facilities.
Since 2017, B.C. Housing has opened nearly 7,500 supportive homes in B.C., with another 2,900 underway.
Emily Rogers, of Together Against Poverty Society, noted that supportive housing units are individuals’ long-term homes, “not temporary shelters or transitional housing.”
For that reason, said Rogers, those homes should come with “the same basic rights as any other rental housing.”
Rogers warns removing tenancy rights would increase the risk of homelessness for supportive housing residents, “directly undermining the goal of providing safety and support to people facing significant challenges.”
“What we really need is to ensure supported housing is properly funded and well staffed so it can provide meaningful support and a stable living environment to its residents,” she said.
Manak countered that the safety of the majority, “many of whom don’t have much of a choice as to where they reside and who are obeying the supportive housing rules and the law, should be the top No. 1 priority.”
“Let’s put their safety first,” he said. “If that means that those that are violent, those that cannot follow rules … are now evicted … then so be it.
“Because the safety of the many — the ones that are vulnerable and marginalized — is more important than housing criminals and those that are exploiting our most vulnerable population.”
In addition to the working group, the province and B.C. Centre for Disease Control, in partnership with WorkSafeBC, is working on implementing new air-quality safety standards set in January 2025 related to second-hand fentanyl smoke exposure. Inhalation is the most common way the illicit drug is consumed.
While smoking is prohibited in supportive housing units, there are “safe spaces” within some of those buildings for people to use drugs. Preliminary indications from a series of tests at 14 buildings in Victoria and Vancouver show some areas of supportive housing are more likely to have levels of airborne fentanyl above the set limits.
B.C. Housing is analyzing the reports to develop a provincial exposure-reduction guidance possibly involving personal protective equipment to air purifiers “to mitigate second-hand exposure to fentanyl in supportive housing and shelters.”
