Whereas the lack of safe, adequate, and affordable housing remains a foundational barrier to progress on persistent health, public safety, and social challenges across British Columbia, and siloed approaches across the health, justice, social, and housing sectors have limited the effectiveness of interventions addressing complex, interrelated social issues, with Indigenous peoples being 13 times more likely than non-Indigenous people to experience homelessness, with 40 to 80 of those experiencing homelessness in municipalities across British Columbia being Indigenous; And whereas the Province of British Columbia and UBCM renewed a Memorandum of Understanding 2021 committing the Province to communicate with UBCM and local governments on key Indigenous issues as an extension of its unanimous adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 2019, which lists 89 actions, 24 of which either impact housing or should be considered in the context of housing: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call on the Province to establish an Indigenous-Led, Cross-Sectoral Housing Alliance composed of senior representatives from the health, justice, social services, and housing sectors, with strong and equitable urban, rural and northern Indigenous representation; And be it further resolved that the mandate of this alliance includes the development of a provincial framework recognizing safe and adequate housing as essential infrastructure, and to coordinate sector-wide adoption and public endorsement of this position by professional, service, advocacy, academic, and industry associations and their member agencies.
