Posts

Why are Overdose Prevention Sites needed in every community? 

Posted on

“They really do save lives.”

That’s the short answer. Jennifer Conway-Brown, a harm-reduction lead with Fraser Health shared this in a recent Vancouver Sun article. Lori Culbert from the Sun visited a number of Metro Vancouver OPS (Overdose Prevention Sites), including the Thomus Donaghy OPS that RainCity operates in Vancouver’s Downtown. 

Members of our Peer Services Dept in front of the previous location of the TDOPS. Mouse, second from the left , is no longer with us. He was a quiet force of nature and we miss him immensely!

Since moving to a new location in April this year, the TDOPS has had 5,362 visits, showing the need for an OPS in that neighbourhood. This location also has inhalation tents (two-thirds of people who died in 2024 were smoking drugs, while only one in 10 were injecting), a cooling area for the summer heat, and small kennels for dogs to stay in while visiting with their owners. 

On the fourth floor of St Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver is an OPS where RainCity Peer Witnesses build connections with patients and nurses to assist in safe consumption and community connection upon discharge. Since May this year this OPS (which also has outdoor space for inhalation) has had 4,482 visits, the majority accessing the inhalation space. All these visits are in patients of St Paul’s – they’re not walking in off the street – and safely return to the ward of the hospital where they’re staying.

But it’s not just a Downtown Eastside issue or even an urban issue. Almost half of the OPS in B.C. are outside the lower mainland. This is an intentional response from all provincial health authorities since the leading cause of death in B.C. among people aged 10 to 59 is now poisoning from unregulated drugs. Almost 15,000 people have died since 2016. The good news is that nearly 29,000 overdoses were successfully reversed thanks to having OPS set up across the province. 

It’s also an intensely debated national issue as well. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has decided to close 10 of the 23 OPS in Ontario, concerned about their proximity to schools and daycares while promising more treatment services. This goes against the expert opinions in two reports sought out by Ford and his government, reports saying the province needs to keep OPS open and EXPAND harm reduction services, not close them down.  

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who has labelled supervised consumption sites “drug dens” has vowed to withdraw federal funding for sites if elected and believes “reasonable restrictions” can be put in place to prevent them from opening “in locations that endanger the community, or where there is community opposition.”

We saw an example of this in Richmond, B.C., where a small but vocal group made it clear to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) they did not want an OPS opening near Richmond Hospital. It’s worthwhile noting that while VCH chose not to pursue this, Richmond Mayor and Council “voted 7-2 in favour of exploring the possibility of establishing such a site for people with addictions in the city, despite overwhelming public opposition during open council meetings.”

A recent Globe and Mail editorial acknowledge and agree with the reports provided to the Ontario government, recommending expanding and improving harm reduction services, not eliminating them. The editorial also emphasizes the importance for OPS operators to be responsive to neighbours’ concerns, something that our staff at all the OPS we operate pursue on a regular basis.

What can you do?

If you think Overdose Prevention Sites are needed in your community, reach out to your Mayor and Council, MLA, or MP and let them know you support having an OPS in your neighborhood because they save lives, provide connections to health care resources, and access to services that include treatment. Keeping people alive means they can make those connections, pursue treatment, and live a long life.    

How to contact all three levels of government in B.C. 

August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day

A pic from one of last year’s IODAD events, with harm reduction cookies!

August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day and there are events taking place throughout B.C.’s lower mainland, as part of the world’s largest annual campaign to end overdose, remember without stigma those who have died and acknowledge the grief of family and friends left behind. 

Here are some links to events and note that some are as early as tomorrow (Aug 29): 

What do you think?

Please let us know! Comment on this blog post or on Facebook, Instagram, or X. 

We are looking for people to join our Board! 

Posted on

RainCity Housing wishes to acknowledge that we operate programs on the stolen, unceded, ancestral, traditional homelands of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm, q̓íc̓əy̓, qiqéyt, qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓, sc̓əwaθən məsteyəxʷ, səl̓ílwətaʔɬ, SEMYOME, shíshálh, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, ˈstɔːloʊ and Xʷməθkwəy̓əm Nations.

The Opportunity 

We are seeking individuals to join our Board of Directors, ideally with prior board experience. We are actively recruiting Directors who reflect the diversity of the people that we work alongside and with experience/background in the following areas: 

  • Harm reduction philosophy and practices 
  • Poverty and homelessness including understanding of a ‘housing first’ approach  
  • Trauma 
  • Mental health and substance use challenges 
  • Not-for-profit community organizations 
  • A commitment to right relations with Indigenous communities and the principles of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion 

The approximate hours required from Board Members can be up to 5-10 hours per month with a term length of two years. Board Members will have the option to renew at the Annual General Meeting in the month of June. 

Board meetings occur every other month.

Interested candidates are invited to submit a confidential CV to Mei Ng, Executive Assistant, mng@raincityhousing.org by February 2, 2024. 

Website: https://www.raincityhousing.org. 

Who We Are 

RainCity Housing is an organization that makes a difference in people’s lives. Our mission is to advance social equity by building upon the strengths of our community and of each individual. With a goal of providing a home for everyone, RainCity’s programs sustain relationships, strengthen communities, and make change for people experiencing homelessness, mental health issues, trauma, and substance use issues. 

RainCity Housing has been developing emerging and promising practices for over 40 years in social services and healthcare, providing Housing First, harm reduction and supports for community members who access our services. To learn more, check out our innovations page on our website: www.raincityhousing.org 

RainCity has been and continues to be deeply impacted by the ongoing Drug Poisoning public health crisis, a crisis that has continued unabated for more than 7 years. 

RainCity Housing serves a diverse group of people and is committed to social inclusion, equity, and diversity on its board, reflecting the diversity of the people that we work alongside. As an organization we are committed to our work towards being a decolonial and anti-racist organization.  

Our Vision 

“A Home for Every Person” 

Our Board 

The RainCity Housing Society Board is a policy governance board (i.e. follows the Carver model), as opposed to an operational board. 

The role of the RainCity Housing’s Board of Directors is one of oversight and governance. Board officers are assigned responsibility for certain areas, but the Board carries out its responsibilities with one voice. We ensure that our activities and decisions are in alignment with the values and philosophies of RainCity Housing. 

Individual Board Member 

Each individual Board member shall ensure that they familiarize themselves with the duties and responsibilities they have as board members. Each Board member shall: 

  1. Be prepared to support the ethical obligations RainCity has towards the communities of people that RainCity serves. 
  2. Has read, understands and knows their part in the role of governance at RCH, which includes but is not limited to: 
    • Review, approve and keep up-to-date on the progress of the RCH’s Ends and Strategic Plan. 
    • Approve the annual budget, monitor budget variances and approve the Audited Financial Statements. 
    • Provide input into and sign-off on Board development activities. 
    • Provide input to Board evaluation. 
    • Develop, review and keep bylaws and policies current as RCH evolves. 
    • Approve changes to the Governance Manual. 
    • Monitor the Risk Registry and ensure that risk mitigation strategies are in place. 
  3. Be prepared to sit and participate on at least one Board Committee. 
  4. Attend all Board and Committee meetings. 
  5. Be prepared to participate in all Board meetings by reviewing Board package material. 
  6. Promote the services and programs of RCH to the community at large. 
  7. Participate in the recruitment of new Board members. 
  8. Abide by and support all Board decisions. 
  9. Commitment to personal work and growth to support RainCity Housing’s work towards being a decolonial and anti-racist organization.

Our Statement on the East Hastings Decampment

Posted on

As a witness to the recent decampment efforts on East Hastings, RainCity Housing is choosing to publicly express its extreme concern about the current and ongoing impacts of the approach taken on individuals and communities of people in the DTES area. 

Members of the DTES community continue to experience extreme hardship and tragic loss of life due to the ongoing drug poisoning epidemic. This epidemic is not unique to the DTES nor is it unique to people experiencing homelessness in this or other areas of the City or province. This epidemic, though, does disproportionately impact people living in poverty, Indigenous people and members of other equity seeking communities. 

We know that the ongoing encampment displacement has placed vulnerable individuals at even greater risk, further isolating people who are at high risk during the drug poisoning epidemic, a public health emergency. We know this primarily through the work of members of our Peer Services Department and we thank them for their ongoing work in the community. 

We are concerned that these elevated risks will continue. Decampment approaches, in the absence of real and adequate housing alternatives, are not only not a solution, but they also create further harm for vulnerable populations. This is the case in the current decampment. 

The lack of meaningful consultation and partnership with the majority of non-profits, agencies and organizations in the area is troubling, and resulted in decampment activities that lacked meaningful considerations of the safety, dignity and engagement of people themselves. 

It is important to acknowledge that this issue cannot be characterized as a solely DTES issue: homelessness and disenfranchisement are a growing reality in communities across the province, and long term, collaborative, community-based approaches to addressing these issues is the only way forward. 

At RainCity we are committed to continuing to build relationships based on trust, mutual respect, and cultural safety with Indigenous people, Black people, people of colour, women and members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. We will continue to actively listen to the voices of those impacted and work alongside them and with other partners and all levels of government to identify potential solutions to address the root causes of homelessness. 

We call on all levels of government and community organizations to prioritize evidence based and culturally safe harm reduction strategies to address both the relentless drug poisoning crisis and the affordable housing crisis. We know that there are many people throughout Vancouver and across the province who are working hard to create solutions and build bridges across differences.  

Our collective efforts should be on creating more housing supply, and not on forced decampments that contribute nothing positive to our housing crisis and end up harming people and reinforcing the discrimination that our communities face on a daily basis.