A tense 11-hour standoff with a man who barricaded himself inside his East Vancouver home has officials renewing calls for help tackling the city’s mental health epidemic.

The ordeal started Thursday night at around 11:30, when the 43-year-old man allegedly struck somebody else with a two by four in an unprovoked attack, according to Vancouver police.

Officers arrived at the house on Manor near Euclid Street and soon realized the suspect was somebody they had dealt with in the past.

When they tried to arrest the man, he barricaded himself in the home. Negotiators were called to the scene and police eventually tossed a flash grenade into the home in an effort to drive the man out.

“There is an indication that there is a deteriorating mental health situation here as well,” Const. Brian Montague said in the final hours of the standoff, which ended before 11 a.m. Friday with the suspect’s arrest.

The man was taken into custody for the alleged assault, and Montague said he was also wanted on outstanding warrants for assault, assaulting a police officer and attempting to disarm a police officer.

Local politicians said it’s just the latest incident involving mental health and that the provincial government needs to provide more resources to combat the growing issue.

“Ultimately we need more beds open, we need a place for people with severe mental illnesses to get the treatment and support they need, or we’re going to keep seeing these kinds of events that are very difficult and scary for the community,” Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said.

“We just need urgency and hopefully the long-term commitment to support the most vulnerable people.”

In September 2013, the city declared mental illness issues in Vancouver had reached epidemic proportions and publicly called on the provincial and federal governments to kick in more money for resources including 300 long-term treatment beds and increased staffing for BC Housing, which works with tenants suffering from mental health issues.

Vancouver’s police chief said department resources are increasingly tied up in dealing with people with mental illnesses. St. Paul’s Hospital said it has seen a 43 per cent increase in visits from people with severe mental illness and addiction problems in the last three years.

The province has pledged $20-million to the city to deal with the problem – but Coun. Kerry Jang said there’s been no headway on the most pressing need.

“The one key missing part is beds,” he said. “Certainly the minister is looking at that issue, but he’s not as of yet provided those beds…The issue is that we need those beds now; we can’t wait.”

The province has told the city it is looking into the issue, but that it will conduct more research before it acts.

But Jang said time spent researching is time wasted on a system that isn’t working.

“A lot of these folks are on government assistance, they’re getting about $900 a month direct from the government,” he said. “Half of that goes to rent, but all the rest goes to drugs – so we’re subsidizing their habits and we don’t even know it.”

Jang said long-term care beds are needed because they provide 24/7 care and addiction treatment, as well as help retrain drug addicts with serious cognitive deficits.

The VPD estimated last September about one-fifth of all police incidents involve people with mental illness.

They said those people are also 23 times more likely to be a victim of violent crime than people without mental illness.

With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Peter Grainger