The B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus has released a new video, reiterating its call for the provincial government to implement complex-care housing solutions to support the most vulnerable residents in their communities.
“Some of our most vulnerable residents are falling through the cracks,” the mayor of Kelowna, Colin Basran, said in the video posted on Tuesday.
Basran is co-chair of the caucus (BCUMC), along with Victoria’s mayor, Lisa Helps.
The BCUMC is a group of 13 mayors representing 55 per cent of B.C.’s population. The group is making a renewed call for the provincial government to implement more complex-care housing solutions.
These communities include Kelowna, Abbotsford, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Kamloops, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Prince George, Richmond Saanich, Surrey and Vancouver.
“Complex-needs housing is housing with really intensive supports, for those people on the streets suffering from the most severe cases of mental health, addiction or trauma,” Basran told Global News.
Basran says the video serves not only as a request for funding for complex-needs housing, but is also a criticism of B.C.’s housing model.
“The current supportive housing model that is being provided by the provincial government does not offer enough intensive healthcare and mental health and addiction supports for those who are currently on our streets,” said Basran.
As a result, Kelowna’s mayor says those who are the most vulnerable remain on the streets.
One person who agrees with Basran is Mike Gawliuk, the director of service delivery and program innovation at the Kelowna branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
In fact, Gawliuk applauds the BCUMC’s request.
“The reality is, in our community, we have a number of individuals with complex needs,” said Gawliuk.
“Complex-care housing is something that’s missing from our tool belt of services, and complex-care housing is missing in this community and across British Columbia.
The BCUMC hopes that the provincial government will make a complex care funding announcement soon.
“Not in months,” said Basran, “but in days or weeks.”
In an emailed statement, B.C. Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmson said an announcement on the initial phase of complex care housing in the province will be made next week.
She described the upcoming complex care program as a “first of its kind” that will be phased in across the province.