Vancouver officials approve business tax to expand homeless services with proposed ‘bridge shelter’

For more than a year, the city of Vancouver has been trying to build a so-called “bridge shelter” to expand its homeless services from several 40-person “safe stay” facilities to include a new 150-bed congregate shelter.

The facility would provide a suite of services to help people transition out of homelessness including drug treatment, case management, work opportunities and medical care. The city’s proposed site is east of the Vancouver Mall.

The shelter would cost $16 million to build and another $6.5 million to operate in the first year. On Monday, the city approved a 0.1% retail business tax ($1 per $1,000 in sales) to help fund its construction and operation.

The city’s funding ordinance acknowledges that Vancouver is facing a $43 million funding shortfall.

On Tuesday evening, the city will host an online information session for residents who want to weigh in on the plan. The first session, held in-person, took place over the weekend.

There are around 500 people who are unsheltered within city limits, according to Jamie Spinelli, who manages Vancouver’s homelessness programs. A larger congregate shelter with wraparound services would help people overcome barriers so they can exit homelessness, she said.

“It just becomes exponentially harder to get out of homelessness and if you’re having to do so outside, without shelter, that’s even more challenging. Those challenges just compound,” she said.

Despite the costs, city officials are acting with a sense of urgency about proposal. “At least 31 [homeless] individuals have died since Vancouver’s Dec. 2023 Homeless Memorial ceremony, representing a 50% increase from last year,” the city’s website reads. About half of those deaths were the result of drug overdose.

The timeline for building and opening the bridge shelter is unclear, but Spinelli said the city would like to have it operational by late 2025 or early 2026. The shelter is planned to be open for the next decade, Spinelli said, but it’s very possible the need will remain after that as Vancouver’s population — including those who are homeless — continues to grow.

“People will still fall into homelessness and need to be picked up,” she said.