B.C. Conservatives promise to 'end tent cities' – but legal, practical questions remain

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad speaks in Kelowna on Oct. 5, 2024.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad promised to “end tent cities” in the province Saturday while standing at a podium set up in front of a Kelowna encampment whose residents he acknowledged he had not spoken to.

Rustad noted that he was holding his new conference in front of a place where people were living in tents and other temporary structures, referring to "what's going on behind us" as an example when beginning his remarks.

“We need to make sure we’ve got a clear path towards addressing this and cleaning up our streets,” he said.

“We are committed to bringing an end to having tent cities in this province. It is not the way that I think anybody would like to see their loved one or people live, it’s certainly not what we want to see happening within communities,” he later added, before being questioned about how he would overcome the legal, logistical, jurisdictional, social and economic challenges involved in order to keep this promise.

Involuntary treatment for people with “severe addictions” including “secure facilities” for people “who pose a risk to themselves or others” are among the proposals outlined by the party in a statement. The B.C. Conservatives also said they will ensure that all supportive housing units are “completely dry” and “operate under a zero-tolerance policy for drug use.”

Rustad said his proposal would inevitably require new “facilities” to be built but did not say how many spaces or units he estimates would be required, how the province would implement a system of involuntary care or how it would enforce the requirement for supportive housing units to ban drugs and alcohol.

He did, however, say new facilities will be established in places where they “protect the safety and character of communities.”

“It’s going to take some time to be able to do that but it’s a major step to say that we’re going to bring this to an end,” Rustad said.

“I don’t think as a society it’s right for a government to say it’s OK for people to be living on the street.”

Another prong in the approach to “eliminate” encampments would be policing, he said.

“A key piece of all this is to make sure we enforce law and order in our society. The Conservative party will ensure that there’s strict enforcement of public safety laws both to clear illegal encampments and to keep public spaces safe,” said Rustad.

“Law enforcement will be given the tools needed to make sure these encampments are removed and that order is restored and people can feel safe.”

One issue Rustad skirted, when asked, is that the courts have ruled that banning sheltering overnight in parks is unconstitutional when there are no other safe or adequate alternatives.

With years-long waitlists for subsidized housing, deteriorating and dangerous conditions in SROs, shelters that are constantly at capacity, and options that consist of little more than a mat on the floor – cities have had to update their bylaws to reflect those court decisions.

Subsequent court challenges have also identified problems with government approaches to decampment, saying there is a duty to consult the people who will be impacted before issuing orders like the one Vancouver’s fire chief issued when the encampment on East Hastings Street was dismantled in 2022.

Police in Vancouver have been adamant that dismantling the Hastings Street encampment – where hundred of people were living at one point – was a city-led operation and that officers were only ever acting in a “supportive” capacity to keep the peace while municipal crews worked to enforce bylaws.

Rustad blamed the BC NDP and David Eby for so-called tent cities, saying harm reduction policies such as providing people with prescribed alternatives to deadly street drugs have “fuelled” people’s addictions and promoted lawlessness by "handing out free drugs and crack pipes."

While he did acknowledge that some people who are homeless and unsheltered are “down on their luck” or “can’t afford things” the bulk of his remarks were focused on addiction, drug use and crime.

“What we see today is people dying on the streets because of drugs, people dying on the streets because of crime,” he said.

“We need to make sure that the public’s interests are taken care of, that we restore public spaces for communities to enjoy, for kids to be able to go out and play safely.”

B.C. NDP Leader David Eby, when asked to respond to the promise to end tent cities, focused his remarks on housing – saying Rustad has indicated he will get rid of the province's annual cap on rent increases.

That, according to Eby, would have the effect of leaving countless struggling tenants in a position where they can’t pay their rent. Tent cities, Eby said, will not be eliminated by "making more people homeless."

The NDP leader also said his government has been "working hard to get people indoors."

Eby has also announced a plan to create "secure facilities" where people will be detained without their consent after being apprehended under the Mental Health Act. This promise from Eby was framed as a response to random violence as well as a response to the current system “struggling” to respond to people with three overlapping issues: mental illness, brain injuries and addiction to synthetic opioids or stimulants.

B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, in a statement, characterized the latest announcement from Rustad as "hollow political posturing" that fails to address the root causes of homelessness, and therefore fails to provide a solution.

"He sticks to the same failed BC Liberal policies that caused the housing crisis in the first place, choosing to punish people rather than fixing the problem," she said.