Image: City of Chilliwack / Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove (centre) is pictured with Chilliwack councillors.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Supportive housing

Chilliwack mayor disputes housing minister’s data, casts doubt on future supportive housing projects

Feb 27, 2025 | 3:32 PM

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack Mayor Ken Popove says Chilliwack has the highest number of shelter beds in the Lower Mainland, despite assertions from Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon that the City of Chilliwack’s numbers are incorrect.

Earlier this month, Fraser Valley Today received a letter prepared by city staff, and addressed to Kahlon, that shows Chilliwack with 250 shelter beds for a census population of 93,000 people, or 2.69 per 1,000 residents.

Image: City of Chilliwack / A chart showing Chilliwack’s shelter bed count versus other cities in the Lower Mainland.

By comparison, Delta, which is home to Kahlon’s riding, had literally zero shelter beds for a census population of 108,455, according to the letter from the City of Chilliwack.

Chilliwack City Council issued a statement on January 29, 2025 urging the B.C. government to take a more equitable approach to shelter bed locations after learning that Chilliwack has the highest number of shelter beds per capita in all Lower Mainland cities.

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Popove told 89.5 JR Country Morning show host Glen Slingerland on his weekly “Ask the Mayor” segment that Kahlon disputed the city’s numbers in a recent CTV News story.

“Ravi Kahlon is saying my numbers aren’t correct,” Popove told Slingerland. “But it’s kind of funny. We get our numbers from them. So, how can our numbers be wrong? My staff is looking for numbers to create the data. It comes from the B.C. Housing website.”

Kahlon told CTV News in a story this week that Hope has the highest shelter beds at 8.4 beds per 1,000 population, followed by Vancouver at 2.8 in second and Chilliwack in third.

Image: Canadian Press

“Maybe [Ravi] should check out his website because I debunked what he said,” Popove said. “Just out of the blue, he [Ravi] says I’m wrong. No, I’m not wrong. And yes, we have the most beds. And I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, the data shows it. Interestingly, in his community, which is Delta, he has zero. Nothing. Maybe he should lead by example. So, I was taken a little aback. He’s totally wrong.”

Popove said he’s ready to move on from the issue, and is less likely to support future supportive housing buildings because of what he says is a disproportionate number of shelter beds located in Chilliwack. Further, Popove said a current supportive housing building under construction is four years behind.

“I want this issue to go away. I’ve spoken into it. I’ve put up my flags and said, nope, Chilliwack is full,” Popove told Slingerland. “We’ll get these units done and after they’re done, I’m done, we’re done. I’m open for conversation but at the end of the day, I’m standing firm. No more.”