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VANCOUVER — Housing researcher Alina McKay knows there are “tensions” in British Columbia’s supportive housing buildings, as tenants face disruptive violence flowing from poverty and other issues that beleaguer a sector aimed at keeping vulnerable people off the streets.
The B.C. government is moving to ease those tensions through changes to residential tenancy law to make supportive housing buildings safer for tenants, health-care workers, contractors and staff.
But McKay is among a growing chorus of opposition to the legislation known as Bill 11, which she and others fear will drive up evictions, increase homelessness and push problems onto the streets.
McKay, a housing researcher at the University of British Columbia’s law school, fears the changes to the Residential Tenancy Act will contribute to the very problems they aim to solve.
“A lot of housing providers have said to the province from my understanding, ‘There’s a problem with violence in our buildings, our staff don’t feel safe,'” McKay said. “That needs to be taken seriously.
“My concern with Bill 11 is that evicting people into homelessness does nothing to address that issue.”
The bill gives housing operators grounds to evict a tenant if they are found in possession of a weapon, while also granting landlords greater leeway in the seizure of tenants’ private property, and in prohibiting tenants from accessing their own property.
But McKay said there are “some major gaps in terms of how Bill 11 identifies, for example, weapons-based evictions.”
Housing Minister Christine Boyle said the legislation will make it easier to evict “problematic” tenants from supportive housing buildings, responding to operators’ concerns about violence and, specifically, tenants who possess weapons.
Boyle said the bill provides needed tools that will allow operators to de-escalate conflicts and quickly address safety issues in “rare incidents” of violence, including through temporary removal of tenants.
“The vast majority of British Columbians who are living in supportive housing are good neighbours, they’re good members of their community,” she said. “They just want safe and stable housing.
“That’s why we’re working to ensure that these buildings are safe for tenants and for staff.”
Boyle said the definition of what constitutes a weapon will be outlined in the regulations, and will include “illegal firearms, also legal firearms, and we are looking beyond that and what else will appropriately be included.”
Matt Tarasoff sits on the executive board of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, and is involved with other advocacy organizations in the Downtown Eastside.
Tarasoff said changing tenancy laws for supportive housing is “concerning for many reasons.”
“There’s already language in the (Residential Tenancy Act) to have chronic problematic renters removed in due course with some review process, though, and that’s very important,” he said. “But now they’d like to do away with that.”
Tarasoff said the bill’s “vague language” that doesn’t define what constitutes a weapon is also a major concern, worrying that someone with a tennis racket could find themselves kicked out of their home.
“Define weapon and tell us why they couldn’t be removed now if they possess a weapon,” he said. “Which of course they can be, so what is the real motivation behind this is what our question is.”
He said all renters should be concerned about the bill, which he thinks gives the minister “carte blanche” to change tenancy regulations at will.
“This time it’s supportive housing but who knows what’s coming down the line,” he said. “I think this should be protested heavily.”
Others voicing opposition to the bill include the Pivot Legal Society, the Community Legal Assistance Society and the B.C. Greens.
The societies released a joint statement last month, warning that the bill will “erode tenant rights” and create a “pipeline to homelessness.’
The Greens, meanwhile, warn the bill “increases the likelihood that tenants will be surveilled, criminalized and thrown out of their homes with no resources or recourse.”
Micheal Vonn, chief executive officer of the Portland Hotel Society, said supportive housing providers deal with tenants who often have severe issues with mental health and substance use.
Vonn said the bill is responsive to supportive housing providers’ needs to deal with safety issues faced by staff and others, and critics of the changes are not aware of, or acknowledging, the harsh realities in some buildings.
“Nobody is saying that you shouldn’t be able to have a kitchen knife in your unit,” she said. “But there’s a pretty broad range between that and a crossbow.”
Vonn said provisions about accessing tenants’ property arise from problematic hoarding, whether it be something causing a fire risk or rotting meat.
She said she’s concerned about the lack of understanding from critics as to why supportive housing providers sought the changes, believing them to be well intentioned but under-informed.
“If we wanted an easy job, we’d be working someplace else. We took a hard job, but we can’t have a hard job become impossible because we don’t have the tools we need,” she said.
The bill’s final details are yet to be revealed, and Vonn said it’ll be important for the government to provide clarity once completed.
“Where are the guardrails is always a fair question, and it’s one that we ask too.”
The NDP government’s move to change supportive housing regulations comes amid the City of Vancouver’s bid to stop new supportive housing being built in the city.
The majority of council under Mayor Ken Sim voted last year to stop new supportive housing developments in the city, claiming Vancouver is saddled with more than its fair share of supportive housing compared to other municipalities.
Council voted down a motion introduced by Coun. Rebecca Bligh to reverse the ban earlier this month.
Bligh’s motion said the ban “needlessly exacerbates the issues already faced by the limited supply of social and supportive housing that exists.”
Council also received a report this month outlining data from the 2025 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count, which showed a 12 per cent increase of people experiencing homelessness in Vancouver since the count in 2023.
The 2025 count found that 42 per cent of respondents “indicated that their most recent housing loss was due to an eviction.”
Housing researcher McKay said the province’s tenancy laws don’t offer proper alternatives to evictions, one of the main consequences of tenants running afoul of Bill 11’s changes.
The poverty and violence-driven “tensions” at the heart of the health and safety issues, she said, aren’t being properly addressed.
“That problem, pushing it onto the streets is not a solution,” she said. “Without addressing those underlying causes of those tensions, evicting people is really an ineffective tool.”
— With files from Wolf Depner in Victoria
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2026.
Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
