B.C. is responding to increasing complaints of violence and drug use in supportive housing by looking at removing Residential Tenancy Act protections for residents to make it easier to create stricter rules and kick problem tenants out.
"We hear from supportive housing providers that there are challenges that they're dealing with, with enforcing rules, ensuring that no weapons are brought in," Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon said.
The province is bringing together a working group of police, providers, government officials and union representatives to examine the issue.
This group will be tasked with figuring out how to ensure it is protecting people's basic rights if the Residential Tenancy Act rules are removed.
Simultaneously, the province is working with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and WorkSafeBC to figure out how to respond to the impacts on indoor air quality in supportive housing from people smoking and inhaling fentanyl, which has surpassed injection as the predominant fentanyl use method.
Early indications from a series of tests at 14 buildings in Victoria and Vancouver show some areas of supportive housing units are more likely to have elevated levels of airborne fentanyl.
"The research indicates that the fentanyl smoke lingers in the air, and it could have risks for individuals," Kahlon said.
Results from those tests are still being analyzed. Kahlon said in the short term, the ministry is introducing policies to ensure staff have personal protective equipment and the ministry is bringing in air purifiers "out of an abundance of caution."
Striking a balance
After the April death of a man in a suspected homicide at Pacifica Housing's Waterview building in Victoria, the B.C. Coalition for Safe and Sustainable Supportive Housing argued that the Tenancy Act makes it and unwanted visitors from supportive housing.
Enforcing rules in private residences can be tricky for staff, who may not have the authority to search for weapons or to remove items from rooms, the coalition said.
Kahlon said he has heard both sides of the argument 鈥� some people argue the rules are fine and rights need to be protected, others say being exempt from tenancy branch regulations would allow better ability to enforce weapons bans.
"I think there's a balance we can strike," Kahlon said.
He did not have a definitive answer for what to do with people who continually break the rules in supportive housing and end up on the street.
Part of the province's response to this issue is to bring in more complex care beds for people with severe mental illness and substance use disorder. But Kahlon acknowledged there is a gap.
"Those are the folks that you find that are in encampments and can't get into housing," he said.
Kahlon said he hoped to be moving forward with the working group's recommended changes by September or October.
