Vancouver care-bed dispute raises questions about access beyond city limits

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is again calling on the B.C. government to provide at least 100 involuntary-care beds within the city, arguing that beds announced in Maple Ridge, Prince George and Surrey do not serve Vancouver.

Vancouver Coastal Health says municipal boundaries do not prevent Vancouver residents from accessing voluntary or involuntary mental-health and substance-use care. The health authority said all such beds across its operations are available to Vancouver residents, including beds at Spiritwood Homes in Maple Ridge, which accepts involuntary-care patients from across the Lower Mainland.

Officials say the Vancouver Coastal Health region, extending from Richmond to Pemberton, currently has 473 beds that can be used for involuntary care. The authority could not provide, by deadline, figures on how many Vancouver residents or people arrested in Vancouver have been committed since the provincial program was announced two years ago.

Sim linked a shortage of local beds to street disorder and said people who are a danger to themselves or others should receive treatment and care. Harm-reduction and recovery advocate Guy Felicella said most people experiencing addiction and mental-health challenges would not meet the strict threshold for involuntary care, and argued that more voluntary beds are needed.

Deputy Premier Niki Sharma said the province is committed to expanding involuntary-care capacity in every region, but described it as one part of a wider approach that includes B.C.’s Road to Recovery addictions-care model in Vancouver.

The dispute comes ahead of a municipal election. Green candidate Pete Fry noted that Sim and his ABC party froze supportive-housing facilities in Vancouver last year, while TEAM for a Livable Vancouver leader Colleen Hardwick accused the mayor of shifting responsibility for unresolved problems.