Opioid Crisis Archives - RainCity Housing

We are looking for people to join our Board!

January 10, 2024

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:

Be prepared to support the ethical obligations RainCity has towards the communities of people that RainCity serves.
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.
Be prepared to sit and participate on at least one Board Committee.
Attend all Board and Committee meetings.
Be prepared to participate in all Board meetings by reviewing Board package material.
Promote the services and programs of RCH to the community at large.
Participate in the recruitment of new Board members.
Abide by and support all Board decisions.
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

April 14, 2023

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.

COVID-19 Response October 2020 Update (revised November 9)

October 29, 2020

NEW: Due to the public health order issued on Nov 7, 2020, we’ve made temporary changes to the following information, dated Nov 9 to Nov 23 and in bold font.

Hello to everyone! We’ve been keeping our heads down, working hard during the pandemic, and wanted to provide an update on how we’re addressing COVID-19 at RainCity Housing, while at the same time address the ongoing opioid poisoning epidemic, in order to make it as safe as we can for the program participants and our staff every day.

We continue to regularly monitor developments related to COVID-19 and rely on information from the BC Centre for Disease Control and public health to guide our work in this area.

WHAT WE’RE DOING:

Each of our sites has an Individual Pandemic Plan to respond to the ongoing situation.
All staff are provided with PPE (personal protective equipment) and have access to detailed information about how and when to use various forms of PPE.
Signage has been posted widely at all of our sites with recommended hygiene practices for workers, guests and the people we support.
Hand sanitizer and soap dispensers are available at all programs.
Plexiglass guards have been installed at the front desks in all of our buildings to make it possible to have necessary conversations with the people we are supporting.
Continued enhanced infection control protocols are in place that include:
- frequent regular surface cleaning at all of our sites, particularly at high contact points;
- staff wear masks throughout their shifts;
- Guests and program participants are encouraged to wear masks in all common areas of our buildings and to maintain physical distance;
- Masks are available at all sites for distribution, upon request, to program participants and guests.
Nov 9 to Nov 23 – there will no in-person staff meetings. All will be conducted remotely.
Nov 9 to Nov 23 – our Indigenous Services and Peer Services staff will reduce site visits to essential visits only.
Nov 9 to Nov 23 – there will be minimum staffing at our 616 Powell Administration offices with as many people as possible working from home.
We have protocols and procedures in place for when a program participant or staff member tests positive and follow public health direction.

We continue to react to this situation and how it changes in real time, recognizing the possibility of receiving new information and new approaches to complex issues and ways to solve new problems every day.

Our exceptional and creative team of staff continue in their tireless work during every shift in the midst of not one but two health emergencies – thank you! And who constantly step up for each other and for the people we support.

Ways You Can Help

NOTE: from Nov 9 to Nov 23 we will not be able to accept donations in person.

If you are some of the amazing people who want to donate items to any of our sites, we are accepting donations of clothes and household items such as:

New socks
Blankets
Pillows
Towels
Shoes
Toiletries
Books

Please email me (Bill) at bbriscall@raincityhousing.org and provide a list of what you have in mind, and the community where you live. That way, I can make sure the right stuff is getting to the right program that is closest to you. Please note that we ARE NOT accepting food at this time, and we are unable to pick up items from you.

If you are wanting to support us in other ways, one can always donate safely and securely from their own home by visiting our direct donation page. Huge thanks to all of you who donate to us and make it possible for us to respond even faster to this ongoing crisis.

Again, thank you for your ongoing support during these very interesting and intense times!

Our Overdose Prevention Site is open!

May 24, 2018

Earlier in May we opened a new overdose prevention site — the only such site connected to a hospital in the province, and the only spot in Vancouver outside the Downtown Eastside where people can use drugs with clean equipment under the supervision of trained professionals and peers. They can even have their drugs tested for fentanyl at the facility.

Isacc Malmgen is our site Manager and is already getting positive feedback.

“We’re seeing a lot of people come by who are really excited to be able to walk to something within their neighbourhood, close to their home, where they can feel safe using,” he said.

“You can walk in off the street; you don’t have to check in with any other staff. You just come straight to us and do what you need to do in the tent and feel safe doing it.”

The Site is a partnership with Providence Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, and RainCity. Read the CBC article.

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