Street disorder and homelessness isn’t solely a Cowichan Valley issue, and North Cowichan mayor Rob Douglas says each municipality has their own hurdles in addressing this growing problem.
Municipalities across the province gathered in Victoria during the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention to gather feedback from the provincial government on how to address these issues.
Douglas says the region isn’t unique to the rising concerns, but the municipality is still pushing the province to help address and deal with the issue.
“We’ve made requests to the province for greater assistance in dealing with these issues,” says the mayor. “As a municipality, we have a limited number of tools we can disassemble some of these encampments and move people around, but we don’t have the funds to get to the root of the problem.”
Douglas mentions the cost to manage the disorder is high, and it is not feasible to continue without assistance from senior levels of government.
“Even just managing the street disorder on a day-to-day basis is costing the municipality $15,000,” says Douglas. “For a municipality the size of North Cowichan, it just isn’t sustainable.”
The cost doesn’t cover mental health or treatment recovery services — Douglas says the cost is rather high for what the municipality does. “We’re not fixing the problem. We’re essentially moving people around — We don’t provide treatment services or supportive housing, that’s beyond the scope of what municipalities do,” he says.
At the UBCM meeting, Premier David Eby announced two new involuntary care bed facilities in Surrey and Prince George.
This, to help deal with severe cases of mental health and addictions.
Douglas says it’s a step in the right direction. “It’s not going to solve the problem of street disorder across the province, but it’s a good start,” he says.
Douglas notes members of North Cowichan will continue to work with provincial representatives to reduce the amount of disorder and homelessness in the Cowichan Valley.
