Housing Minister Rich Coleman mused aloud last January about coming up with a law that would give authorities the power to force homeless people into shelters during cold/wet-weather snaps, if they persist in sleeping outside in spite of efforts to get them in. Now it appears his ministry is going ahead with that plan, according to e-mails that I got sent to me from various ministry staff.
The Humanitarian Justification
The minister says he wants to at least try to do this to prevent deaths, even if groups decide to challenge it on Charter of Rights grounds. (He did clarify to me, by the way, that although police will be given the power to take people by force if necessary, though not too much force, to shelters, there will be no requirement put on shelter staff or police to keep them there.)
Coleman’s motivation stems from tragic winter deaths among Vancouver’s homeless population. Each winter, the city faces a grim cycle of emergency responses as temperatures drop and vulnerable people face life-threatening exposure. The proposed legislation represents an attempt to break this cycle by giving authorities proactive powers rather than waiting for crisis situations.
The minister acknowledges the constitutional challenges this approach will likely face. Charter rights advocates argue that forcing people into shelters violates fundamental freedoms, including the right to make autonomous decisions about where to sleep. However, Coleman’s team contends that the state has a duty to preserve life that can sometimes override individual choice, particularly when mental illness or addiction may impair judgment.
The Practical Challenges
When I asked the minister how many people he thought this might end up being used on, he didn’t give me a number but said that it’s just “one more tool in the toolbox” that people who work in various agencies have asked him for. As has been reported many times in the past, the last homeless count found almost 1,600 people sleeping outside out of a total homeless count of 2,600. Vancouver is also unique among North American cities in having a high percentage of people who are defined as chronically homeless and who have been out on the streets or in shelters for more than a year.
The scale of potential enforcement raises serious operational questions. With nearly 1,600 people sleeping rough, authorities would need substantial resources to monitor weather conditions, locate individuals, and transport them to shelters. The police already face competing demands on their time and resources, and this law would add a new category of intervention that requires both weather monitoring and individual assessment.
The legislation’s “catch and release” approach — allowing people to leave shelters immediately after being brought in — has drawn criticism from both sides. Advocates question whether forced transportation to shelters accomplishes anything meaningful if people can simply leave. Police worry about repeatedly cycling through the same individuals night after night.
The Shelter Capacity Issue
The law assumes adequate shelter capacity exists, but Vancouver’s shelter system regularly operates at or near capacity during winter months. The legislation doesn’t address what happens when all shelter beds are full, potentially creating a situation where police have authority to remove people from the streets but nowhere to take them.
Shelter operators also express concerns about the dynamics of forced admissions. Many shelters rely on voluntary compliance and therapeutic relationships with clients. Introducing involuntary admissions could disrupt the carefully maintained environment that helps some homeless individuals transition toward housing stability.
Constitutional and Rights Concerns
My Globe story on this is here.
The memos and e-mails I got are attached below. For obvious reasons, identifying markers have been taken off.
Legal experts predict immediate Charter challenges focusing on sections covering liberty, security of the person, and freedom of movement. The government will likely argue that temporary detention for life-saving purposes falls within reasonable limits on rights, similar to mental health apprehension powers.
Media Misrepresentation
P.S. I heard a headline on the radio as I was driving 15 minutes ago that said the province wants to make homelessness “illegal.” Nothing I’ve seen so far suggests that anyone will be ticketed or fined or charged for being homeless. The legislation is all about giving authorities the power to force people to sleep indoors during bad weather.
This mischaracterization highlights the politically charged nature of homelessness policy and the challenges of communicating nuanced legislative approaches to complex social problems.
