Mandate Equitable Shelter Beds and Social Services Across All B.C. Communities

Across British Columbia, people are being forced to leave their home communities in order to access basic survival services, including emergency shelter beds, outreach, harm reduction, health supports, and housing navigation.

This is not equitable. It is not safe. And it is not sustainable.

When only certain communities provide shelter and social services, those communities are left to carry a disproportionate responsibility, while people in crisis are displaced from the places where they may have family, culture, connection, employment, health care providers, peer support, and community relationships.

No one should have to leave their home community to find a safe place to sleep.

We are calling on the Province of British Columbia to create and mandate a fair, population-based model for emergency shelter beds and related social services across all communities.

This means every community should be responsible for providing shelter capacity proportionate to its population and local need. For example, a community of approximately 106,000 people should not be relying on neighbouring communities to meet its shelter and social service needs. Each municipality must be part of the solution.

This is not about moving people from one community to another. It is about making sure people can stay connected to the communities where they already belong.

A fair provincial model would help:

Ensure every community contributes to emergency shelter and social service access
Prevent certain cities and towns from carrying a disproportionate burden
Reduce the displacement of unhoused people from their home communities
Protect people’s connection to family, culture, health care, peer support, employment, and community
Create clearer accountability for municipalities, regional districts, and the Province
Support better planning, funding, and coordination across B.C.
Homelessness, poverty, substance use, mental health challenges, and housing insecurity exist in every community. The responsibility to respond must also exist in every community.

We are asking the Government of British Columbia to:

Establish a provincial standard for equitable emergency shelter capacity in every community, based on population and demonstrated local need.
Require all municipalities and regional districts to participate in shelter and social service planning.
Fund and support communities to create low-barrier, culturally safe, trauma-informed shelter options close to where people already live.
Ensure shelter planning includes Indigenous communities, people with lived and living experience, Community Action Teams, service providers, municipalities, and local residents.
Prevent the over-concentration of services in only a handful of communities by creating a shared-responsibility model across the province.
Protect the right of people to access support in their own community, rather than being displaced to another city in order to survive.
British Columbia needs a coordinated, compassionate, and equitable approach.

Every community has people in need. Every community should have services. Every person deserves safety, dignity, and connection.

Sign this petition to call on the Province of British Columbia to mandate equitable shelter beds and social services across all communities.

This petition is about shared responsibility, community connection, and ensuring every B.C. community has the services its residents need.