Image: City of Chilliwack / Chilliwack City Council.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

City of Chilliwack

With highest number of shelter beds per capita, City of Chilliwack calls on B.C. govt. to make changes

Jan 29, 2025 | 10:08 AM

CHILLIWACK — Chilliwack City Council issued a statement Wednesday (Jan. 29) 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.

According to a news release, 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.

“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.”

Chilliwack City Council says it will be reaching out to the provincial government, BC Housing, Fraser Health, and the Ministry of Health to advocate for an equal distribution of shelter spaces throughout the province in order for people to have the opportunity to stay in their home communities. Additionally, Chilliwack City Council says it will continue to advocate for expanded access to detox beds, sobering beds, and stabilizing beds in communities across BC.

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“We are a small community that has done the best we can to support service providers and the needs of those within our community. The service providers have done an incredible job in Chilliwack and should be proud of everything they have accomplished, but we acknowledge that we have reached full capacity as a community. We need the province to step up and take care of housing and health care equitably to ensure shelters and services aren’t concentrated in just one or two communities,” said Mayor Popove.

A list of current shelter spaces available in Chilliwack can be found online at chilliwack.com/shelters