Whereas the Extreme Weather Response EWR shelter system was developed more than a decade ago to support community organizations in providing life-saving warm, safe places for unhoused community members to sleep in cold and wet weather, the EWR model does not provide any funding for facility rental costs, security, equipment or resource purchases, nor does it provide any funds for these community organizations to plan for, develop, and deliver EWR shelters in their communities; And whereas since the EWR program was developed the number of community members experiencing homelessness has grown substantially, and the needs of those community members have, often due to addiction and mental health challenges, become increasingly complex, community organizations in many communities have been unable to provide life-saving EWR shelters with the limited resources available: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM petition the Province of British Columbia to recognize that the EWR program is insufficient to address current social challenges and community capacity to meet those challenges; and that a provincially driven solution be determined in collaboration with community leaders to ensure that: 1. service delivery by existing provincial agencies that are tasked with providing social service supports, including shelter spaces and wrap-around services, is strengthened; and 2. funds are available to rent facilities, provide security and necessary equipment such that the community organizations that are tasked to deliver this program are appropriately resourced.
