The working group will explore removing supportive housing from the Residential Tenancy Act, says Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon.
The B.C. government is forming a working group to look at safety issues in supportive housing buildings, including drug-trafficking, weapons and second-hand exposure to fentanyl.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon announced a time-limited working group in a press conference on Monday.
“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 will include supportive housing providers, law enforcement, union representatives, as well as First Nations and tenant advocates. The aim is to better equip supportive housing providers to remove residents involved in drug trafficking, weapons and crime.
The announcement follows calls by the B.C. Coalition for Safe and Sustainable Supportive Housing and Victoria Police Chief Del Manak for the tools to better respond to and remove violent residents and guests with drugs and weapons.
The working group will explore removing supportive housing from the Residential Tenancy Act to better address “problematic and dangerous individuals taking advantage of vulnerable people and better respond to weapons and criminal activity within supportive housing,” Kahlon said.
Supportive-housing operators have requested the change, saying the act prevents them from entering a resident’s room to confiscate weapons, or evicting someone if weapons are found.
Manak has backed operators, saying they should have more power to remove the criminal element from their facilities, including the ability to evict people immediately. “That would create a level of safety and at least there would be some consequences. You need a deterrent because the criminals know how to embed themselves.”
Since 2017, B.C. Housing has opened nearly 7,500 supportive homes in B.C., with more than 2,900 underway.
Kahlon said supportive housing is a vital way to help people experiencing or at risk of homelessness to come indoors and access supports. And while more low-barrier supportive housing is needed, he said “that doesn’t mean no barriers.”
In addition to the working group, the province, and B.C. Centre for Disease Control, in partnership with WorkSafeBC, is working on new air-quality safety standards related to second-hand exposure to fentanyl. Inhalation is the way most fentanyl is consumed.
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 with the aim of developing a provincial exposure-reduction guidance “to mitigate second-hand exposure to fentanyl in supportive housing and shelters.
[email protected]