A crowd of a few hundred people gathered in the Aberdeen neighbourhood on Saturday to voice their opposition to a proposed supportive building that’s being characterized as a “drug den.”
Posters circulating on social media, with messaging in both English and Chinese, have used images of people using drugs, insinuating what a proposed 90-unit BC Housing building will bring to the neighbourhood.
Some BC Conservatives were at the rally, including MLA Teresa Wat, who has recently switched from the BC United party to the Conservatives, as well as MLA Elenore Sturko.
Also in attendance were BC Conservative candidates Steve Kooner, who’s running in Richmond-Queensborough, and Michelle Mollineaux, who’s running in Richmond-Steveston.
“People in Richmond see record deaths from overdoses, they see rising street chaos and they feel unsafe in their community and the people of Richmond aren’t going to take it anymore,” Sturko said in a video of the rally posted to X.
“We know putting people with low barriers in one single place has brought increased crime, and it hasn’t helped people with mental and addictions issues in British Columbia,” she added.
Sturko said the BC Conservative party will rely on “experts” such as Julian Somers, an SFU professor, and will focus on treatment and recovery.
“This is a government that will give you free everything to do with drugs, pipes, and even the drugs but they won’t give you free treatment,” she said. “This will end with the Conservatives.”
She called the current government's policy on providing regulated drugs to people with substance use issues "publicly funded drug trafficking," and added the Conservatives, if elected to government, would end safe supply programs and the decriminalization of small amounts of drugs.
Alternative is the street: Richmond mayor
Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie told the News there could be some community impacts from the new building, but the impacts could be worse if they don’t have housing.
“Keep in mind, alternatively for these folks… is literally the street,” he said.
People who are homeless or at risk of homelessness have the best chance to “get back to a better situation” if they have adequate housing and a neighbourhood, he said.
“Richmond has always been supportive of people who need assistance in various ways,” Brodie said, including allowing two 40-unit temporary modular buildings, housing for women and children at Railway Avenue and Steveston Highway and the Storeys building in City Centre. Furthermore, Pathways Clubhouse is now building an 80-unit supportive building on No. 2 Road.
To minimize impacts at the BC Housing building, planned near the intersection of Cambie and Sexsmith roads, Brodie said the city will work with the operator, the neighbourhood, the RCMP and with service providers.
Ravi Kahlon, the Minister of Housing, put out a statement last week about the proposed building, saying “security measures” would be in place at the building, including two staff members 24/7.
The building will be fenced with only one entry point that will be monitored by staff and security cameras, Kahlon explained.
There will also be a direct number for neighbouring residents to call with any “feedback.”
“The operator will continue working with residents, staff and the surrounding community on an ongoing basis to address any safety concerns,” Kahlon said in the statement.
(Kahlon was not available for a follow-up interview.)
BC Housing is more than supportive housing and shelters; it also provides women's transition housing as well as family and seniors housing, Heidi Hartman, vice-president of supportive housing and homelessness at BC Housing, told the News.
"Based on a point-in-time count and ensuring the continuity of housing for the 80 people currently in temporary housing, we know that this supportive housing site is needed in Richmond and it would actually be the only permanent purpose-built supportive housing in the city," Hartman said.
"It's greatly needed and our commitment is to work with the community. We know this site can integrate well into the community."
With files from Valerie Leung
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