Image: City of Chilliwack / Councillor Jason Lum speaks during Tuesday's council meeting about the need for better shelter bed distribution across B.C.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Shelter bed distribution

Chilliwack councillors press B.C. minister to take action on shelter bed distribution

Oct 9, 2025 | 7:42 AM

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack Councillors Jason Lum and Chris Kloot both urged the provincial government during meetings at the Union of B.C. Municipalities conference last month to better distribute shelter beds across the province and not just in Chilliwack.

Chilliwack City Council has been repeatedly calling on the B.C. government to take a more equitable approach to shelter bed locations after learning in early 2025 that Chilliwack has the highest number of shelter beds per capita in all Lower Mainland cities. Municipal staff have calculated that Chilliwack has 2.69 shelter beds per 1,000 population. By comparison, many other Lower Mainland communities, except for Vancouver, range from zero to 1.61 beds per population, according to Metro Vancouver’s Housing Data Book, 2023, page 154. As an example, Coquitlam and Pitt Meadows have zero beds for unhoused people. Based on these numbers, Chilliwack City Council says it wants BC Housing to better develop shelter beds in an equitable manner between all communities and have expressed concern that people are migrating to places like Vancouver and Chilliwack because there are a greater number of beds.

During Tuesday’s council meeting, Councillor Lum characterized face-to-face meetings with B.C. Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Christine Boyle in Victoria as productive and said it’s time for other cities to step up, not just Chilliwack.

“We had a good meeting with Minister Boyle where we had an opportunity to express some of the concerns that we’ve raised on numerous occasions with the province, whether or not anything will be accomplished from that. Yet to be seen,” Councillor Lum said. “Certainly we brought forward the city’s position in the resolution that they provided to the UBCM about a more fair and equitable distribution of shelter beds. It was clear in the meeting that the minister understood that Chilliwack is certainly doing their part, and now’s it’s time for other cities to step up and do their part.”

In-person meetings and lobbying might be beneficial to advance Chilliwack’s position, but what emerged from the meeting was uncertainty around what agency would bring these concerns to bear.

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“What wasn’t clear was who should be responsible for setting that minimum target. Our position is clear is that it doesn’t make any sense for the City of Chilliwack… to try to set that target. This is the responsibility of the province,” Lum said.

Councillor Chris Kloot said during Tuesday’s meeting that “we did make it clear that we would really like to see some movement on the equitable distribution of shelter beds across the communities, rather than focusing on what would appear [to be] regional hubs, which unfortunately Chilliwack seems to have a significant share of.”

Image: City of Chilliwack / Councillor Chris Kloot speaks during Tuesday’s meeting.

Mayor Ken Popove has previously said that Chilliwack shelters are full and local service providers aren’t able to accommodate any more vulnerable people from other communities.

“We have already learned of several instances where hospitals in the Fraser Health and Coastal Health regions have discharged individuals with complex care needs and sent them via taxi to shelters in Chilliwack, despite being told there are no beds available,” said Mayor Popove. “Chilliwack shelters are full, and we are focused on taking care of the vulnerable members of our community. We can’t continue to serve as a destination for people needing shelter space, especially when we know people have the best support in their home communities.”