The Minister Responsible for Housing says it’s “not out of the question” that 24-hour security be brought in to transitional housing where needed.
Dave Eby was commenting after Kamloops council voted on Tuesday to have those housing providers bring in around-the-clock security. He says it has happened in some cases, including at a Travelodge in Victoria.
“People who were moved from an encampment directly into a motel before BC Housing had the opportunity to do a tenant assessment, have faced some pretty serious challenges related to infiltration of that building by people engaged in criminal activity,” Eby says.
“So it’s not out of the question when a building is facing serious challenges, the province or the city or a partnership step up with additional security.”
He says he’s happy to speak with Kamloops council about the matter and would like to hear more about the motion that came up.
“I do have a concern that additional services that don’t actually deal with the root cause of issues – addiction and mental health issues and so on – are expenditures by government that only go up and don’t resolve the problem.”
Eby says complex care facilities that the government plans to bring in could also help alleviate the need for full-time security, once those are available.
“In my experience, and in the advice I get from the experts in this area, there’s a small group of very seriously ill people, both mentally ill and sick with addiction, whose behaviour is incredibly disruptive for other residents in the building and neighbours, and existing supports do not address the issues that those folks face.”
Council voted 5-3 to mandate that transitional housing providers bring in 24-7 security. Mayor Ken Christian and councillors Kathy Sinclair and Arjun Singh were opposed, while Coun. Sadie Hunter recused herself from the vote because of a conflict of interest.
Coun. Bill Sarai says there were high call volumes to 9-1-1 last year in areas of the city near marginalized housing. He says police, fire or ambulance responded 800 times last year to calls in a two-block radius.
“If we see issues coming forward in new housing units, or even ones that are operational now, and all of a sudden we have neighborhood issues, we should be able to go them and say we’re not going to get bylaw here everyday to stand guard. It’s on you to provide security for the neighboring businesses and houses, because the problem is coming from your housing unit.”
