[RACS/EASC-JUNE 2019] THAT the Fraser Valley Regional District Board forward a resolution on the need for a provincial strategy to address rural homelessness and encampments on Crown land to the Union of BC Municipalities for consideration at its September 2019 convention;
AND THAT the resolution shall be as follows:
RURAL HOMELESSNESS: CROWN LAND ENCAMPMENTS
WHEREAS Homelessness is a challenge facing both urban and rural communities;
AND WHEREAS electoral areas have the least ability to address homelessness, in that they are by their very nature remote from health, social, police and other services and the minimal tax bases cannot support the hard and soft infrastructure required to address homelessness;
AND WHEREAS the province’s response to homeless encampments on Crown land has been inconsistent or ad-hoc in nature, sometimes relocating encampments without taking into account impacts on rural communities and regional district resources;
THEREFORE IT BE RESOLVED that the province of British Columbia through its newly established Office of Homelessness Coordination within the Ministry of Poverty Reduction and Social Development develop a rural homelessness strategy to address what is clearly a gap in the province’s response to homelessness.