New Westminster is about a month into a two-year pilot project to tackle the crises of homelessness, mental health, and addictions – and is reporting some early successes.
That was one of the messages residents heard at the New Westminster Downtown Residents Association’s meeting on Wednesday night, where city staff provided an update on the three crises pilot project and fielded questions from residents. About 50 people, including residents and several members of city council, attended the meeting.
In October 2023, council approved a two-year pilot project and strategy aimed at addressing the overlapping crises of homelessness, mental health and substance use.
“All municipalities are grappling with these three crises,” said John Stark, the city’s manager of planning. “I was just at a Metro Vancouver meeting of other municipalities and each municipality is trying to figure out how they address these issues, how they work with senior levels of government, recognizing that inaction doesn't resolve the issues. These issues are growing.”
The city’s pilot project includes the formation of an operational support team, a policy development and advocacy team, and a crisis response team.
The crisis response team is responsible for addressing community requests and complaints, providing support to people who are experiencing homelessness, mental health and substance use issues, and coordinating, responding and providing referrals to provincial teams.
Stark said it has taken some time to recruit and onboard staff, so the project really got going in September.
“We've got most people on board. We've got the communications piece,” he said. “So, I think we're in a really good space to move forward.”
Stark said members of the crisis response team are already making connections with people who are unhoused. He said those relationships “are really important” and will benefit the community as a whole.
“If someone is in a business alcove and it's detrimental for that business, if you have a relationship and trust you can leverage that and say, ‘Hey, this is problematic. Let's go over here and we'll try and get you some shelter,’” he explained. “That relationship, it doesn't always have to be an enforcement approach. Sometimes an outreach approach can actually be, can actually have a better outcome for all parties.”
According to Stark, enforcement can sometimes just move an issue from here to there.
“That's where we're looking at these other actions,” he said. “We need to resolve these issues rather than just moving them from here to there.”
Nicole O’Connor, manager of homelessness services, said the crisis response team has been mandated with supporting the unhoused population by connecting folks to services.
“The other function of the crisis response team is around compliance,” she told residents. “We're in the process of hiring a community safety and compliance officer, and their goal will be to work with our integrated services team to gain compliance with local bylaws every day – so making sure that tents and structures are brought down by 9 a.m., as well as doing some more active outreach with businesses and residents.”
According to O’Connor, the community safety and compliance officer will be the person who’ll respond to calls about various issues.
The operations support team – an existing team comprised of staff in engineering, fire, integrated services, parks and police departments – will support the crisis response team.
“Its primary purpose is to address the externalities associated with the three crises,” Stark explained. “Some of their responsibilities include cleaning up encampments, disposing of abandoned belongings and needles, focusing attention on areas subject to encampments and sheltering.”
Stark said the operations support team will also do data collection, monitoring, and reporting. He said the city wants to collect as much information as possible because it’s going to make the case to the senior local government that it should be reimbursed for expenses.
When working Monday to Friday, members of the crisis response team do proactive and reactive outreach – going out to the places where folks are known to be sheltering and responding to calls from businesses and residents.
“It's really about building relationships with folks; so, getting to know them and what their needs are, their goals are,” she said. “We've had some really good success in a short amount of time.”
As an example, O’Connor said the team has been working quite closely with an individual who needed access to his bank account, but he didn't have an ID; with the team’s help, he’s well on his way to having the ID needed to access his bank account.
Stark said Holy Trinity Cathedral contact the crisis response team because it was having some issues on the property. He said the team put the church in touch with organizations that could be called if someone is having a mental health crisis, if needles or biohazardous waste need to be picked up, or if discarded items need to be hauled away.
Key actions
In addition to the establishment of the crisis response team, the pilot project includes some “key actions” as part of its vision.
The crises response vision and actions include:
- An extreme weather response and winter shelter
- A temporary and a permanent 24/7 shelter with support services
- A health connect and resource centre, with a health and wellness focus that addresses the needs of the daytime unhoused population
- A supportive housing development with 60 units, including up to 10 complex care units. (This would be in addition to the 52 units at 68 Sixth St.)
- An inhalation component in conjunction with the heath contact centre, as well as enhanced outreach and service provision
- Locating new facilities and supports outside the Downtown
- Realizing senior government funding for the crisis response projects, should the evaluation determine it is effective
Bringing people indoors and getting them off the streets – whether it’s in a 24/7 shelter, supportive housing, or health connect and resource centre – will not only help save lives but it will reduce some of the issues of concern in the community, Stark said.
“These actions, if realized, will significantly reduce externalities associated with the three crises, particularly on businesses and residents,” he said.
With about 65 per cent of today’s overdose deaths attributed to inhalation as opposed to injection of drugs, Stark said the provision of an inhalation component at the health contact centre would also benefit community members.
“We know that that can be very traumatic for individuals or businesses, community members, customers, when someone is out in public and consuming drugs,” he said. “This would be a way of bringing those individuals inside. We're looking at an indoor inhalation site, so people are inside and they are not outside on the street.”
Did you know: the latest stats show New Westminster experienced a 65% increase in homelessness between 2020 and 2023. Other neighbouring communities, like Surrey, Burnaby, the Tri-Cities, and Richmond also experienced an uptick.
— City of New Westminster (@New_Westminster) October 2, 2024
Learn more: https://t.co/VorAoRvmkz pic.twitter.com/uI31QWATsb
Homelessness in New West
Stark said there were 50 to 60 unhoused people within a three-block area of the downtown when he started working with the city 18 years ago.
“Over the years, we did work with BC Housing and our partners, and we did manage to house a lot of these individuals,” he said. “And we had about a 60 per cent decrease in unsheltered homelessness between 2010 and 2014.”
During the March 2023 point-in-time homeless count, 203 unsheltered and sheltered people were counted in New Westminster – 57 unsheltered and 146 sheltered.
Stark said New West saw a 65 per cent increase in homelessness between 2020 and 2023, but neighbouring communities, including Surrey (65 per cent), Burnaby (69 per cent), and the Tri-Cities (86 per cent), have also seen increases in homelessness. He said municipalities across the province are grappling with three crises – homelessness, mental health and substance use.
“These crises are complex, and they're interrelated,” he said. “Previously we looked at homelessness but given the opioid epidemic and the mental health crisis, we realized that we have to look at all three. If we only look at one, we'll have limited effectiveness.”
In addition to the individuals who are suffering and experiencing the three crises directly – people who are unhoused, or have mental health and substance use issues, Stark said the “associated externalities” impact the broader community.
“That could be people are sheltering in business alcoves or doorways, sheltering in parks, burning to keep warm or to cook, not having a place to go to the bathroom. There are a lot of issues when people are unhoused or living with mental health and substance use issues,” he said. “These crises are straining city resources. They're impacting staff health and safety, and also they contribute to business and resident concerns.”
Stark said the nightly shelter in the city operates from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., which means those individuals are unsheltered or unhoused from between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
“And of course, that's when businesses are operating, that's when residents are circulating the community,” he said. “So not only do we have to look at the evening on how unsheltered population, but also the daytime.”
Unlike some municipalities, Stark said New Westminster does not have large homeless encampments.
“We typically have people who are individually sheltered or sheltering in small numbers. If we look at Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, they have quite large encampments,” he said. “So, we try to stay on top of this. We try to provide a compassionate response.”
Getting it right
Brad Davie, the city’s deputy fire chief, said New Westminster engaged with a wide range of groups, including provincial bodies, health organizations, and service providers in the development of the pilot project. It’s also formed working groups to provide feedback to ensure the city is accomplishing its goals.
“The pilot project was based on best practices. We've spoken to just about everybody we can. We've looked at the models that have gone elsewhere. We've taken pieces from everywhere, the best pieces; engaged everybody,” he said. “And where we're starting off is what we think the best practices that we know about today.”
