Chilliwack's mayor wants provincial cash to address homelessness

Chilliwack's mayor says she expects her city to be at the top of the list when the premier starts doling out money from the $500 million affordable housing fund announced this week.

Sharon Gaetz said the city's homeless population has doubled or possibly tripled since 2014.

Outreach workers have identified 18 homeless camps, including a tent city that has been growing in the downtown core for about a month.

Gaetz said she visits the camp twice a week and she met a former teacher from Chilliwack on one of her recent trips.

"He had sores all down his legs, he has probably dropped 30 pounds since the last time I saw him," Gaetz said.

"From his perspective, he's addicted to drugs and he likes being addicted to drugs. He has lost his family, he has lost his wife and he lost his children. He doesn't live in their home."

City council agreed this week to seek a court injunction to dismantle the camp.

Bylaw officers and outreach workers went out on Wednesday to move the campers along, however, several are still living in the area.

Supervised injection

In addition to Chilliwack's homelessness problem, council has been bombarded by complaints about discarded syringes.

That has led to a discussion about whether Chilliwack should open a supervised injection site.

Louis De Jaeger, who owns a restaurant not far from the tent city and is a member of the Downtown Chilliwack Business Improvement Association, supports the idea.

"A lot of us have worked very hard to try to help develop downtown," De Jaeger said.

"We seem to be at a stalemate now. Organizations like the BIA, who should be out there promoting festivals and encouraging new businesses to invest in the downtown — our budgets are sucked up by having to pay for extra security."

De Jaeger said the city is also in desperate need of affordable housing, treatment facilities and harm reduction resources to help people get off the street.

Gaetz won't rule out a supervised injection site but says she needs more information first.

"I think we still have some work to do before we decide what the options are," she said.

"Let me be very clear. We do not have enough resources right now for people to detox or for them to find a way to stay sober."

Chilliwack adopted a homelessness action plan in June.