City of Vancouver says it won't renew lease for Yaletown overdose prevention site

The City of Vancouver says it will not be renewing the lease for an overdose prevention site located in the heart of downtown.

The Thomus Donaghy Overdose Prevention Site (OPS) at 1101 Seymour St. in Yaletown, which opened in 2021, is named after an Overdose Prevention Society volunteer who was killed by a client.

It is operated by Vancouver Coastal Health in conjunction with housing operator Raincity Housing, with the health authority saying that the service saves lives amid a toxic drug crisis that the B.C. Coroners Service says sees six people die every day.

However, the city says that it will not renew the operator's lease, set to end in March 2024, with a city councillor saying that public safety concerns and the congregation of people outside the site made it unsuitable.

Opposition councillors and drug user advocates say the decision will leave a gap in services for drug users in downtown Vancouver and scapegoat them for having nowhere else to go.

"It's heartbreaking," said Guy Felicella, a peer clinical adviser for the B.C. Centre for Substance Use.

"Population health data shows that this [Vancouver City Centre] is the second-highest overdose rate area outside the Downtown Eastside.

"This facility was put here because it's needed to save lives."

While the decision to not renew the OPS's lease was made by city staff, not council themselves, OneCity Coun. Christine Boyle said it shows that the ruling ABC majority is not providing solutions to the unregulated drug crisis.

"Actually, what we need is a larger space in that neighbourhood to really meet the need," she told CBC News. 

"What I'm calling for is for the mayor and ABC majority to renew the lease on the Yaletown OPS until a better alternate site is found in the neighbourhood so that we don't disrupt services."

A spokesperson for Vancouver Coastal Health said they were disappointed by the decision.

They said the health authority had responded to "some neighbours'" concerns by regularly meeting with tenants and picking up discarded needles and litter in areas next to the OPS.

"VCH cares for everyone in the VCH region and has begun the process of identifying a new location nearby for these life-saving services," the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions also said the decision not to renew the lease was "disappointing" and said it would support VCH in finding an alternative site for drug users in the downtown core.

City councillor points to resident concerns

A City of Vancouver spokesperson said they had provided the notice to VCH and Raincity on July 19 so that an alternative site could be identified before the lease ended.

"We have been challenged to manage the extensive congregation outside of this location," the spokesperson said, adding that many people who gathered outside the OPS were not clients.

A proposed class-action lawsuit against the site, filed earlier this year, accused its operators of running a "ham-fisted" operation.

Coun. Peter Meiszner, a member of the ABC majority and a Yaletown resident, said he had heard from residents who complained about cleanliness, drug paraphernalia, and not feeling safe walking past the OPS.

"There's several issues with this site apart from it being quite small," he said. "There's no area to queue. There's no area for respite after people use the site, and there's no inhalation component to the site either."

The councillor said the city supported harm reduction and the work that OPSes do, and he hoped any new OPS in the neighbourhood would have a clear plan for mitigating public safety concerns.

Felicella said public safety was for everyone, including those without a home.

"In a situation such as this, I find that it's easier to scapegoat harm reduction … than it is to actually give people housing who are struggling," he said.

"We all have to coexist. This is not just your community. It's everybody's community."