Call to Action: Protect Supportive Modular Housing in Vancouver
Allowing livable spaces to sit empty, despite the evident need in our community for housing, is both impractical and uneconomical.
Sent on July 22, 2025 to Vancouver City Council
Written by Rowan Burdge, BC Poverty Reduction Coalition
RE: support for Councillor Orr’s motion, entitled “Improving Public Safety by Protecting Supportive Modular Housing,” for Council’s consideration on July 23, 2025.
There are more people unsheltered in Vancouver than there are available spaces in shelters or affordable housing options. The Ministry of Poverty Reduction reports that there are nearly 3,300 people with no fixed address receiving social assistance in Vancouver. This does not include seniors and people who aren’t on social assistance. A reasonable and conservative estimate of the number of homeless people in Vancouver is approximately 4,000.
Until this gap is closed and everyone has a permanent place to call home, modular housing sites and units should be used to the fullest extent of their structural capacity as a point along the path to secure, permanent housing for all. Closing or moving units to maintain the practice of modular units being temporary, while the need for housing remains urgent, undermines the very purpose of the units, which is to provide stability and security for those in need of shelter.
Allowing livable spaces to sit empty despite the evident need in our community for housing is both impractical and uneconomical. Vancouverites have been left to bear the cost of cyclical emergency interventions for our unhoused neighbours instead of investing in sustainable, long-term solutions for well-being and safety. Hospitalization, medical treatment, incarceration, police intervention, and emergency shelter expenses can add up quickly. Alternatively, providing people experiencing chronic homelessness with permanent supportive housing saves taxpayers money.
Just last month, Council unanimously supported a motion to send a resolution to the Union of BC Municipalities convention about the importance of treating housing as a human right in BC. Canada’s Federal Housing Advocate has staunchly advocated for this rights-based framework of housing, stating “this needs to be replicated at the provincial and municipal levels to break down barriers between jurisdictions and create a commitment that motivates whole-government action”. The BC Human Rights Commissioner agrees that a human-rights framework is the only way forward in our current housing crisis.
Taking all possible steps to ensure housing availability also upholds the City of Vancouver’s myriad equity goals, including the City’s UNDRIP Action Plan, the Women’s Equity Strategy, the Seniors Housing Strategy, the TGD2S Safety and Inclusion Action Plan, and municipal efforts to ensure well-being for newcomers and youth. All elected councillors committed to Women Transforming Cities’ Hot Pink Paper Campaign pledge to reduce barriers to non-market housing. Extending leases for some of the most affordable housing options is one way they can fulfill this commitment.
People in our community are facing a 20+ year waitlist for subsidized units through BC Housing. While options for housing everyone in our community remain slow to emerge, and waitlists for safe options extend a full generation, it is essential that we maintain and fully utilize the options we have on hand.
Given the necessity of treating housing as a human right, the costs to taxpayers associated with chronic homelessness in Vancouver, and the value of aligning housing strategy with equity action plans, we urge Council to support the motion to protect supportive modular housing. A vote to secure the housing continuum in Vancouver and prolong availability of supportive housing options for the most vulnerable in our community is in alignment with this Council’s commitment to upholding human rights, and is in the best interest of all who call this city home.