Chilliwack city council is taking its fight for a more equitable approach to emergency shelter beds to the next level.
Council was told last January that Chilliwack had the highest number of shelter beds in the region, said Mayor Ken Popove, which are usually full to capacity.
"We do want to help people but it has to be made more fair and equitable," said Popove.
To that end, a delegation of Chilliwack city councillors are proposing a resolution titled, 'Equitable Distribution of Emergency Shelter Beds', at the upcoming Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) conference in Victoria next week.
It's frustrating that the unhoused population of Chilliwack has exploded from just over 400 people to more than 700 in just two years, the mayor said.
"There's the idea that 'if you build it, they will come,' and well, that's what has happened," Popove said.
Unhoused individuals tend to head for communities like Chilliwack because there are so many homeless-directed resources available, but it's increasingly stretching resources to the limit.
According to Metro Vancouver’s 2023 Housing Data Book, most Lower Mainland cities excluding Vancouver had a rate of zero to 1.61 shelter beds per 1,000 population but Chilliwack had a whopping 2.69 shelter beds per 1,000, putting it at the highest per capita rate of shelter beds in the region.
Popove said the idea for pushing provincially on the issue as a united front came up at an urban mayors' meeting, and gained support.
Now the Chilliwack "equitable" resolution is moving forward to hit the 2025 UBCM Convention floor, to be discussed and voted on by local government officials from across B.C. from Sept. 22 to Sept. 26.
"I feel good about that. It just makes sense," Popove said about Chilliwack's resolution.
Chilliwack had a total of 212 year-round shelter beds in Chilliwack in early 2025, 44 for women only, and nine for youth. There are an additional 26 winter shelter beds available from Nov. 1 to April 1.
Mayor Popove acknowledged that they did lobby hard for homelessness prevention funding, and nailing down resources and partnerships with provincial agencies in 2019 to substantially increase their ability get people off the streets in Chilliwack, including more shelter spaces.
But then the unauthorized drop-offs of individuals with complex-care needs started that saw health authorities putting vulnerable people in taxis or other modes of transportation in the past few years and shipping them to Chilliwack shelters, despite being told the shelters were full.
That drop-off practice infuriated local officials.
"I will continue to push back on this," Popove said.
Here is Chilliwack's proposed resolution for 2025 UBCM:
"Whereas the Province of British Columbia, through BC Housing, is responsible for ensuring that emergency shelter beds are available to meet the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness across all communities;
"And whereas some communities have a disproportionately high number of emergency shelter beds per capita compared to other jurisdictions, causing unsustainable pressure on local resources and services in those communities:
"Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call on the Province of British Columbia and BC Housing to develop and implement a comprehensive, regionally equitable strategy for the distribution of emergency shelter beds, ensuring that all communities have available proportional and sustainable shelter capacity relative to their population and local service capacity."
