Many supportive housing tenants in B.C.'s Central Okanagan aren't getting the care they need: study

Supportive housing tenants in B.C.'s Central Okanagan region often do not have access to the health-care services they need, according to a new study, which also says more funding is needed for more treatment beds and other housing options.

Family physician Dr. Hannah Gibson and her colleagues presented their findings in an article in the May 2023 issue of B.C Medical Journal, which is affiliated with the Doctors of B.C. professional association. 

The researchers interviewed 42 tenants and 30 staff members at three supportive housing sites in Kelowna, B.C., from August to September 2020. 

According to the study, 93 per cent of supportive housing tenants reported having a chronic disease, 71 per cent a mental health disorder, and 50 per cent an addiction — and 72 per cent said they felt their health needs had gone unmet.

According to B.C. Housing, supportive housing, run by non-profits, is a form of subsidized housing equipped with on-site non-clinical support, such as referrals to health-care and addiction recovery services for vulnerable people, including those living with homelessness or are at risk of doing so.

But Gibson says the tenants she spoke with were often unaware of the services, and reported barriers to receiving care due to stigma and discrimination from health-care professionals.

"We found that there were some services that denied care to people with active substance use," she told host Chris Walker on CBC's Daybreak South.

"There was a gap where people that had both mental, physical and substance use concerns were not being able to access services."

The study said more funding is needed to provide long-term treatment beds, as well as other housing options for people experiencing physical and mental health issues.

It said the supports offered by supportive housing staff aren't enough to address tenants' needs.

"Ultimately it was just that supportive housing wasn't a good fit for them as an individual," she said.

"We just need more beds available in that whole range, so that we can give people the choice when they get housed, and we can also allow for better mobility between housing sites."

'Full-on approach' needed to help vulnerable people

The study involved housing sites operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), which runs a total of seven supportive housing complexes across Kelowna.

CEO Mike Gawliuk says since Gibson's team completed their study in 2020, the CMHA has opened two housing complexes — Ellis Place in November 2020 and McCurdy Place in March 2021 — where counsellors and substance use specialists are stationed to provide wraparound services.

But Gawliuk admits supportive housing staff aren't qualified to handle tenants' health-care concerns, and that the CMHA needs to rely on the health authority for health-care services at the supportive housing complexes. 

"In a perfect world with my buildings, I would want to have a full range of health-care services and supports that could address all needs," he said.

"It's going to take a full-on approach to ensure that those things get met."

'Historic level of funding' being applied: minister

Danielle Cameron, executive director of clinical operations for the Central Okanagan with Interior Health, says the health authority has made health-care services more accessible to supportive housing tenants by sending nurses and social workers to the sites, and setting up an outreach health-care centre in Kelowna's downtown core.

Cameron agrees that more funding is needed to provide different housing options for people living with homelessness and addiction.

"It really is in the essence of creating a full continuum of housing options to ensure that there are options that have the appropriate health staff to meet people with complex needs or more concurrent needs in a housing environment," she said.

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon has said B.C. has been in a "housing crisis," with a lack of housing units to provide options for people in need of complex care services.

"I wish we had an abundance of housing stocks where we could move people to different places, but unfortunately that just doesn't exist," he told CBC News on Thursday.

"We're working on it — historic level of funding we're putting in place to build out that type of housing, but it's going to take time for that housing to come online."