City council was about to approve extra emergency shelter beds at the Ruth and Naomi's Margaret Avenue shelter for the winter, when a councillor brought up the ongoing irritant of homeless dropoffs in Chilliwack.
That launched a discussion at the Tuesday afternoon council meeting, on the impacts of being perceived as a community that welcomes the unhoused, versus the legitimate desire to help their own.
"I will always be in support of these policy resolutions," Coun. Jason Lum said about the annual resolution, to allow 26 extra emergency beds to be opened in the Margaret shelter, come winter time.
But the sticking point for Lum was the "ongoing process" of health providers who've been "discharging patients" from Metro Vancouver hospitals, and transporting them to Chilliwack's emergency shelters.
"If it's clearly a Chilliwack resident, it's an absolute no-brainer but now that people are getting shipped out here in taxis by service providers, I don't know where to go with this," Lum said.
Mayor Ken Popove said despite firing off a sternly worded letter in response to the last time it happened, there was no official response.
"We don't have any teeth to stop it," Popove said. "It's not right for our service providers here."
Karen Stanton, the city's director of public safety and social development, said there has been followup back and forth between city and health authority officials after two patients were recently discharged to Chilliwack shelters from facilities in North Vancouver and Richmond.
"We take that very seriously," Stanton said, and when it happens, often there is "no notice" given to the local shelter providers in advance.
The upcoming homeless count in Chillliwack this fall will provide the city with more information, Stanton said, since the number of permanent shelter beds here are "far less" than the number of people experiencing homelessness, particularly over the winter.
It was in November 2022, when council first decided as a "policy decision" to not enforce the zoning or BC Building Code rules, to allow the operation of a temporary shelter at 46146 Margaret Avenue run by Ruth and Naomi's Mission. That "met the need for extra beds throughout the winter and spring" as other shelter beds in Chilliwack were at full capacity, and BC Housing has since approved funding in six-month increments to continue the operation for the upcoming season into 2025.
Coun. Chris Kloot echoed Lum's concerns, adding that he was "certainly sympathetic" to the need for emergency shelter beds, but they had to find out "why is this happening over and over again" in terms of homeless patient dropoffs.
He said they thought it was "just a rumour" at one point, but there's evidence it's actually happened. He suggested referring the matter back to staff and said he personally wanted answers to determine what concrete action it would take to stop it. He said Chiliwack needed "meaningful" responses from providers as to why this was continuing to happen.
Coun. Jeff Shields supported Kloot's call for answers. He called it a "sad reality" Chilliwack was facing in terms of dealing the unhoused years after the all-night meeting at city hall several years ago over The Portal closure. He asked when the supportive housing and shelter facility on Trethewey Avenue was going to be ready for residents.
"Have we heard when it will be open; this decade?" Shields asked of staff.
Stanton replied that city officials had been advised in the past month by BC Housing that they were working toward a completion date of March 2025.
"That's another thing I won't hold my breath for," Shields said.
Popove added the Trethewey shelter/housing project was bogged down in litigation, with "two builders who went broke" on the project, but city officials were "doing what we can."
Coun. Bud Mercer said he hoped the media was listening, as he touched on the Trethewey building project saga, which he called an "embarrassment" and an "eyesore" that continues to cost taxpayers, with damage to the building because of construction stopping and starting partway, with the province reduced to "a cesspool of bureaucracy."
"It's a news story the public should hear about."
Mercer raised the spectre of discussions with the housing minister last spring, he mentioned legislation that contained "language that talked about hubbing of services" where people get shipped to where the services are," saying that Chilliwack "didn't sign on" for that. Despite the threat of financial repercussions, Chilliwack was living with the impact of not signing on, he said.
Coun. Nicole Read questioned the value of referring the matter back to staff, unless there was a benefit to doing so.
Stanton said the only potential concern for the operator in terms of referring it back was the need to hire shelter staff in advance to be open for October, and to operate at a higher capacity.
In terms of shelter beds "the need is still there" she said, and providers have people being turned away because of limits on capacity" so the beds are needed now.
"That's not going to change," Stanton said.
Lum said the response from health authorities was not reassuring. Another big concern was reports they're getting of tow companies transporting derelict vehicles and recreational vehicles to be dumped in the Chilliwack River Valley, for people who have nowhere else to stay.
"But at what point do we very seriously raise the alarm that Chilliwack is at capacity, for everything, and it's time for other communities to step up and to assist," Lum fumed. Lum pointed to other communities that are maybe in "a better position," to help rather than Chilliwack, such as those who signed on to be "hubs" for regionalization of services.
Lum said it felt like Chilliwack "was long past capacity," and because of its good nature, as a caring community and not wanting to turn anyone away, that it feels like Chilliwack is "being taken advantage of."
Mayor Popove said "we are advocates for these folks" and he said they don't want to seem unsympathetic "but we can only handle so many."
Coun. Kloot said if there was a concern about getting shelter staff in place, they didn't need to refer it back to staff, but they needed to get the message across that Chilliwack was "full."
In the end, council voted in favour of allowing the emergency winter shelter to operate.
