A person walks through an encampment towards a creek in Penticton, B.C., on Sept. 19.Aaron Hemens/The Globe and Mail
Homelessness, street chaos, mental-health problems and drug addiction are the top preoccupations for many municipal politicians set to gather in Victoria next week for their annual convention.
Stretched to the limit of their resources, they say that although the provincial government has been stepping up with housing support in the past year, it’s still not enough.
“I think the biggest issue is the street disorder and the need for involuntary care,” said Prince George Councillor Cori Ramsay, echoing concerns across the province.
“It is incredibly challenging to see another fire downtown. It’s just heartbreaking. I can’t emphasize enough how much of a challenge it is.”
The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention Sept. 22 to 26 will see at least a dozen resolutions come to the floor pleading for additional help or new solutions.
Castlegar, Nelson and Trail councils have a joint resolution asking for a better strategy for rehabilitation, homelessness and public safety. Revelstoke wants the province to take charge of dealing with homeless encampments outside city boundaries, an issue affecting many cities outside the Lower Mainland. The eastern suburb of Maple Ridge is seeking more supportive housing.
In Penticton, Mayor Julius Bloomfield said the issue in his southern interior city is that it is providing almost all of the homeless services for the entire regional district of Okanagan-Similkameen.
He and his council are going to the municipal convention with a proposal that there be regional funding for municipal homeless services so that larger cities aren’t stuck with all the responsibility, something the UBCM executive is also recommending.
Penticton currently has about 120 shelter spaces and tries to find solutions for another 50 or 60 people who live outdoors. That’s even though the province funded an extra 40 rent subsidies for people in the city in an effort to get them out of shelters.
“That did have a positive effect during the winter,” he said.
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Mr. Bloomfield said he doesn’t expect the province to try to provide shelter beds or transitional housing in every small town in the district, even though those are the ones seeing overdose deaths remain steady while they are declining elsewhere. But he and the UBCM executive say there needs to be a regional approach to dealing with homelessness.
In a sign of how pressing the issue is, a Monday panel focused on dealing with “disordered downtowns” already has 300 people registered, said Vancouver Councillor Lisa Dominato, one of the speakers scheduled for that session.
“Increasingly, the public and municipalities are feeling fed up. Cities feel they’re exercising all the tools they have in the toolbox but there’s a view that the province needs to step up,” she said.
Besides that dominant issue, other topics that show up with regularity in the resolutions or in conversations with politicians include concerns about health care and the lack of resources for cities to engage meaningfully with local Indigenous bands over land-use issues. In addition, there is worry over the impact that B.C.’s current weak economy and huge debt is going to have.
“We are meeting at a time of crisis,” said UBCM president Trish Mandewo, a Coquitlam councillor. “We have a struggling economy, a growing sense of uncertainty and there are real questions about how the province is going to manage its finances.”
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Mr. Bloomfield said the province’s recent decision to change legislation so cities can borrow money without going to the public for approval, a long-time tradition in B.C., has some concerned it’s a sign that cities will be expected to take on even more expenses.
The change could mean that “it perhaps is because they’re not going to be giving out so many grants,” said Mr. Bloomfield.
Cities say they are already falling behind with repairs to existing roads, water, sewage and other community basics. And they’re trying to keep up with all the new services required as every city is being urged to build more housing and take in more residents.
Recent court decisions granting some new levels of property rights to Indigenous groups are also adding more pressure for cities. They say they are struggling to do the work the province expects of them on negotiating with local First Nations as part of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Tla’amin First Nation and the UBCM executive have a joint resolution asking the province for more financial help and for guidance in transforming their approach to reconciliation.
“There are complaints from local government that they’re being asked to engage” but are finding themselves struggling to do that, said Ms. Mandewo.