There are a number of agencies working in the community to address homelessness. Each agency has created a list of 'Frequently Asked Questions' (FAQs) to provide information on the work that their agency is doing in Maple Ridge to address the impacts of homelessness.
The following information was supplied by BC Housing.
What services will be offered at the temporary supportive housing project on Royal Crescent?
We recognize the urgent need for housing in Maple Ridge. Having a safe, warm place to stay is an important first step to help people get back on their feet and make positive changes in their lives. The temporary 53 units opening at Royal Crescent will provide much-needed homes with support services required to help people stabilize.
Residents will have their own private units and will have access to life and employment skills training, health and wellness support services, meal programs and opportunities for volunteer work. Fraser Health's Intensive Case Management (ICM) team will assist tenants facing complex challenges related to health, substance use, mental health, poverty and education by providing comprehensive assessments, individualized community-based supports and connections to other services.
Transitioning individuals from the homeless camp, Salvation Army shelter and within the community is truly a team effort. The move is expected to take place over five days and outreach workers, BC Housing, Coast Mental Health and Fraser Health staff will work with individuals and help them transition into their new homes.
Who is operating the new temporary supportive housing project on Royal Crescent?
The operator of the facility is Coast Mental Health, a non-profit society that has been operating in the region since 1972. Coast Mental Health operates the Alouette Heights transitional housing facility in Maple Ridge.
The new temporary supportive housing project does not have enough space for all of the people that are currently homeless in the community. What else is being done to address the need in the community?
We recognize the demand for housing exceeds the supply, so we are providing outreach workers with 40 additional rent supplements and funding a new shelter that will provide 20 new spaces every night over the winter months. BC Housing and partner agencies will be assisting in the transition and offering housing and shelter spaces to those living at the homeless camp who are willing to move and to others who are experiencing homelessness in Maple Ridge.
We continue to focus on working with the City of Maple Ridge on expediting the development and construction of permanent supportive housing units in the community.
We have seen numerous supportive housing projects open successfully across the province, bringing benefits to both the community and the residents and we hope to see that success continue in Maple Ridge.
More Information
For more information on BC Housing's work in Maple Ridge visit their website.
The following information was supplied by Fraser Health.
What kind of health care services will be available to people in the new modular housing development? What health care services are available to people who are homeless?
As people transition into the new modular housing, Fraser Health will provide a number of health care services, including primary care and support for mental health and substance use concerns. In addition, Fraser Health will continue to provide support to people in the Maple Ridge community who are homeless.
A Fraser Health nurse practitioner actively reaches out to vulnerable at-risk individuals in the community to identify and address their primary care needs, including the needs of people who have transitioned into the modular housing or are homeless. The nurse practitioner meets people wherever they are located, whether it is in new modular housing, the primary care clinic at the Salvation Army, or in the community. The nurse practitioner also provides primary care to people who are connected to the Intensive Case Management team.
If a person residing in modular housing needs support for a mental health and/or substance use concern, modular housing site staff will connect them to a case manager based in the community who will provide ongoing care. To support people who are homeless and may have mental health and/or substance use concerns, a public health nurse, mental health nurse and substance use outreach worker actively engage with people in the community who do not have housing.
The clinicians regularly interact with the homeless population, and provide harm reduction supplies and vaccinations to people as needed. When appropriate, the clinicians will connect people to primary care services, mental health services, and/or substance use services in the community and will encourage people to seek treatment in a clinical environment if a higher level of care is required.
Fraser Health will continue to provide outreach health services to people wherever they are located. These services include mental health assessments, harm reduction services, medication monitoring and provision, linkages to treatment services, and assistance in accessing primary care.
What is an Intensive Case Management (ICM) team? Where is it located? Who is allowed to access those services?
The Maple Ridge Intensive Case Management (ICM) team is operated by RainCity Housing and Support Society. In Maple Ridge, the ICM team is a team-based model of care, providing services to people with severe substance use concerns who may be mentally ill and homeless.
The ICM team includes mental health and substance use clinicians, a nurse practitioner, an addiction physician, a psychiatrist, housing outreach workers, and peer support workers who work with this vulnerable population to provide them with services to find and maintain housing. They help a person address their substance use, mental illness, general health and other needs in order to stabilize their lives. The team will go to wherever a person is located to provide the services they need.
The goal of this team, including care providers and community partners, is supporting people to recover and integrate back into the community.
What services does Fraser Health provide to people in Maple Ridge who have mental health and/or substance use concerns?
In Maple Ridge, Fraser Health has robust services to engage with people who have mental health and/or substance use concerns.
Maple Ridge Mental Health and Substance Use Services engages with clients and meets them wherever they are located in the community. For example, some clients may be comfortable receiving care in a clinical environment, while other clients may need support from an outreach worker who meets them in the community.
Maple Ridge Mental Health Services provides a broad range of supports to clients, depending on what their needs are. These services include:
- Mental health assessments
- Individual and group counselling
- Outreach
- Medication monitoring and provision
- Linkages to treatment services •Assistance in accessing primary care
- Crisis interventions: helping a person to move through crisis situations
- Consultation and navigating the system
- Education on mental illness and treatment options
- Education on skills development and ways to cope
- Assistance and support around a person's wellness and recovery goals
- Education and support for families
Older Adult Community Mental Health program, which provides mental health consultation, assessment, psychiatric treatment and support to adults 65 years and older.
In Maple Ridge, Fraser Health contracts Alouette Addictions Services to provide substance use counselling, harm reduction supplies, and first-line treatment for opioid use using medications such as Suboxone and methadone.
For more information about community-based mental health and substance use support services available in Fraser Health, please visit Fraser Health's website.
What harm reduction services does Fraser Health provide?
Harm reduction refers to policies, programs, and practices that aim to reduce the health, social, and economic consequences of substance use without necessarily reducing the amount of substances a person uses.
Harm reduction practices provide access to services to all members of the community, connect and care for those who use substances, reduce sexually transmitted infections, and help reduce substance-related harms including infections, the spread of disease, and the number of deaths due to overdose.
Get New/Sterile Supplies
Safer injection and safer smoking supplies help to reduce the risk of spreading HIV and Hepatitis C, and are available throughout Fraser Health communities and public health units. The Maple Ridge public health unit is located at 400-22470 Dewdney Trunk Road.
Get Take Home Naloxone
Naloxone is a safe and highly effective medication that reverses the effects of opioid overdose.
Naloxone is available in BC without a prescription. Take Home Naloxone kits and training are available at no cost for community members who use substances or have a history of substance use, and/or are likely to witness and respond to an overdose.
For a list Take Home Naloxone distribution sites in Maple Ridge, please visit Fraser Health's website.
More Information
For more information about available community-based mental health and substance use support services visit the Fraser Health website.
The following information was supplied by Coast Mental Health.
How are tenants selected for this modular housing project?
Candidates for the temporary modular housing are selected with a first priority on homeless individuals living in or in the vicinity of Maple Ridge. Residents are selected by Coast Mental Health and BC Housing, in collaboration with other community partners. People are assessed through a thoughtful assessment that helps determine the supports they need to remain housed and live a healthy, stable life. These tenants will also sign a Residential Tenancy Agreement along with a Good Neighbour Policy outlining appropriate community standards.
How many people will be housed from the Maple Ridge Tent City?
Tenants of Maple Ridge Modular include people who have been living at tent city, local shelters and others, who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in Maple Ridge.
How much does it cost tenants to live here?
The rental rate, plus utilities, for a suite is $375. Tenants pay the shelter portion allotted for a single individual on income assistance. The remainder of the rent is subsidized by BC Housing.
How long are tenants allowed to stay at this temporary modular site?
There is no minimum length of stay. Tenants are supported to transition to more permanent housing as soon as they are able to. The specific length of time will depend on housing needs in the community and timelines for the development of permanent supportive housing development elsewhere in Maple Ridge.
What type of support services will be provided to tenants?
Coast Mental Health is responsible for overseeing the tenant and management of the building. This includes 24/7 supports to tenants, including individualized support plans that include supports to access health services, as well as employment and opportunities for tenants to make connections with other community groups. Tenants will also receive two meals a day: buffet breakfast and dinner.
Will tenants be able use drugs on site?
This site utilizes a Housing First model (housing with wrap-around supports) that assist tenants along a recovery continuum. We strive to minimize the harms associated with drug use by providing education and resources for safer use, thus reducing harms for both the individual and the community. Non-stigmatizing and honest discussions occur along a recovery continuum that includes conversations and referral to detox, treatments, addictions counselling and other support services.
Additionally, all our staff are trained in the administration of naloxone, a medication which reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
How will Coast work with the community to keep neighbours informed?
Coast Mental Health has organized a Community Advisory Committee for this housing project. The purpose of the Committee is to build and maintain positive relations amongst the community, the building operators and the housing program partners. The kick-off meeting for the CAC occurred Tuesday, October 16, 2018. Committee representatives include four community members ( local residents, businesses and community organizations), Maple Ridge Police Department, Maple Ridge Fire Department, City of Maple Ridge, BC Housing, Fraser Health, Coast Mental Health and Open Door Church.
What type of staffing is provided by Coast?
A total of 14 staff members will provide rotating shifts 24/7, 365 days a year. Staff will include trained mental health workers available 24/7 a week, an on-site manager, home support staff, a seven day a week cook, as well as maintenance staff. Additionally, we provide 24/7 on-call support to our staff.
Coast Mental Health will take possession of the 53 studio homes in Maple Ridge on Monday, October 15, 2018. Each home is about 150 sq. ft. and contains a private bathroom. Three of these homes will be wheel chair accessible. Pets are also welcome.
What type of experience does Coast have with supportive housing?
Coast Mental Health is an experienced non-profit housing providers, leading community based mental health services for more than 45 years. We opened our first housing project in 1974. Today, we operate more than 48 supported housing sites in neighbourhoods across Metro Vancouver, and we are one of the largest supported housing operators in Canada.
With a client-focused and community-based approach, we provide a framework for community based mental health care by implementing the three essential pillars of sustained recovery: Housing, Support Services and Employment and Training.
We work side-by-side with clients, donors, governments and partner agencies to build homes and communities where people living with multiple barriers can thrive.
How will this modular housing be managed?
Coast Mental Health is responsible for the management of the building, but they will receive funding from BC Housing to operate and provide support services for the next three years.
Why is 'community-based support services' important to housing the homeless?
Coast Mental Health believes that there are three pillars to sustained recovery: 1) Housing 2) Support Services and 3) Education and Training. Access to affordable housing and community-based support services provides the stability in people's lives to assist them as they rebuild life skills and reconnect to their community.
More Information
For more information about Coast Mental Health visit their website.
The City of Maple Ridge recognizes that citizens are concerned about the impacts of homelessness. Dialogue on the issue is encouraged and the City asks that all parties respect the views of others and the diversity of perspectives that each person brings to the discussion.
Why are there so many homeless people in Maple Ridge?
Over the past few years, homelessness has emerged as a significant problem in every community in British Columbia and this includes Maple Ridge.
Regional homeless counts began in 2003 and occur every four years. Homeless counts in the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley demonstrate a significant growth in the number of people living on our streets. The 2017 Homeless Count reported 124 persons without shelter in Maple Ridge versus 84 in 2014. Here are the links to the latest homeless counts for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley:
What is the City doing to address homelessness?
On December 11, 2018 the City of Maple Ridge filed and injunction application in the BC Supreme Court seeking the authority to address the fire and life safety issues at the camp. The case came before the BC Supreme Court on January 14 and 15. On Friday, February 8 the BC Supreme Court granted an injunction giving the City of Maple Ridge the authority to address safety issues in the camp located on 223 Street west of St. Anne Avenue. For information on the work to bring the St. Anne site in compliance with the BC Supreme Court order please follow this link;
BC Supreme Court Injunction Information
Why didn't the City stop people from trespassing on the site when the camp formed?
The City initiated an injunction process to have the camp removed in May of 2017. That injunction was adjourned in June of 2017 to give the newly elected provincial government and BC Housing the opportunity to develop and present a new proposal to deal with the short term and long term issues that remain around homelessness.
A condition of the adjournment was that those occupying the St. Anne property would conduct themselves in a way that not only respected safety on the site, but the safety and security of the immediate neighbourhood. Assurances were obtained by the leadership of the camp that recommendations from the Maple Ridge Fire Department and RCMP around site and neighbourhood safety would be respected and acted on.
What is the City doing to address the safety issues in the camp?
The Fire Department conducts regular inspections of the camp seeking compliance with this Court Order.
An obligation upon the occupants of the camp to address fire and life safety issues at this site have been in place since November 2017, when a Consent Order was issued by the BC Supreme Court. This order laid out the obligations of the camp occupants to address fire and life safety issues as identified by the Fire Department. The City and BC Housing have regularly made support available to the camp occupants to achieve compliance with safety issues.
What is the City doing to end the encampment?
BC Housing has provided 53 units of temporary modular housing on Royal Crescent in Maple Ridge that is managed by Coast Mental Health. A number of people from the St. Anne Camp have relocated to this modular housing.
The City is working to contain the size of the camp and will continue to work to close the camp as additional shelter and housing comes available.
Can the City of Maple Ridge stop the housing project on Fraser Street?
No. The BC Government has invoked its legislative power of 'statutory immunity' over the City of Maple Ridge allowing BC Housing to move directly to the construction of the Fraser Street project bypassing the normal development process and public input, and unilaterally appointing Coast Mental Health to operate it.
Will the City of Maple Ridge try to convince BC Housing to delay and reconsider the Fraser Street location at this late date?
Although we do not support the Fraser Street location, we do support addressing the needs of our most vulnerable residents. The City of Maple Ridge wishes to work collaboratively with BC Housing to ensure the strongest service delivery model for Fraser Street becoming a pilot community for the Provincial Government's Complex Care initiative which means a specialized operator and improved support services for the Fraser Street facility.
This is one of many funding priorities on our list for the BC Housing and the Province of BC to consider so we can provide the best outcomes for our homeless residents, and the neighbourhood.
What additional requests and supports is the City of Maple Ridge asking for to ensure the health and safety of vulnerable residents and the community?
Addressing the complex needs and issues associated with homelessness – especially those that are associated with our most vulnerable who are experiencing mental health and addiction traumas – is difficult, costly, frustrating, and heartbreaking. This is not easy work for anyone. There are plenty of lessons to be learned, however, from the Royal Crescent housing project.
An integrated design/delivery model to allow for 'complex care' supports and services at the Fraser Street facility is appropriate and has the greatest opportunity to yield positive outcomes. Lessons learned must be truly lessons learned. There is no single solution. The City of Maple Ridge's complete list of requests presented to the Province can be found here.
What will be built on Fraser Street and who will live there?
52 permanent modular homes on two lots on Fraser Street, and a third lot facing 224th Street purchased by BC Housing. These residences are intended to replace the temporary modular housing on Royal Crescent which is at end-of-life. They are to be closed and removed, with Royal Crescent residents moving to Fraser Street.
Should Coast Mental Health be simply given the contract to operate the Fraser Street residence?
As BC Housing begins public information meetings about its permanent 52-unit supportive housing development on Fraser Street, the City of Maple Ridge wants to ensure that complex care is part of the plan.
Mayor and Council believe there is an important transparency and competency lens that must be applied rather than a policy of direct awards. Building housing to simply replace Royal Crescent is not enough. Many residents suffer from overlapping problems including addiction, mental health challenges and injuries, so they need “wrap-around” services to be provided. These are our most vulnerable citizens. It's important that they receive the best services that can be provided
By discussing how we can work with BC Housing to open up the awarding of the operator's contract to a transparent review and selection process, other agencies – some with local roots right here in Maple Ridge – would have a chance to prove their ability to do the job and provide best outcomes for the residents of the facility and the neighbourhood.
Does the City object to moving ahead with replacement housing on Fraser Street to replace the end-of-life modulars on Royal Crescent? Isn't it badly needed?
We have a huge demand for a broad continuum of affordable housing in Maple Ridge, and we view BC Housing as our partner in delivering on these important needs. The City of Maple Ridge supports BC Housing's investments in housing for our vulnerable homeless residents. The City, however, does not support the Fraser Street location for supportive housing as it is not a compatible land use in this part of our community that is designated for densification. The City of Maple Ridge believes it's important to hear local community voices in any decisions on housing for Maple Ridge.
Should you convince BC Housing to change the site at this late date?
No. Although we do not support the Fraser Street but we do support addressing the needs of our most vulnerable residents. Given that this decision is bound by the Provincial Government's authority for 'statutory immunity', we still wish to see the delivery of complex care services as the foundation of the new Fraser Street facility.
What will happen on the Royal Crescent site when the modular buildings come down?
The City is supportive of the demolition of the modular homes at the Royal Crescent site and will work with BC Housing to ensure the timely development of a seniors-oriented rental housing through the usual City's approvals process for this project. The City has also pledged to assign priority processing so construction can start as soon possible.
What other housing and supports are required in Maple Ridge?
The City has developed a list of housing funding priorities to share with the BC Government to address important gaps in the housing continuum on Maple Ridge. The hope is that the Province will work collaboratively with us to expedite the decision making on these projects.
Are you in touch with BC Housing to meet about the City's housing needs and priorities?
The Province's recent announcement of 64 rental units at Turnock Manor was good news for our community, and a reminder that Maple Ridge has a number of other identified housing needs that require the support and collaboration of the Province, BC Housing, and our City.