New B.C. legislation cracks down on weapons, violence in supportive housing

B.C. Housing Minister Christine Boyle, then an election candidate, speaks during a campaign stop in Vancouver, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The B.C. government has tabled legislation, which the housing minster says will make it easier to kick “problematic” tenants out of supportive housing.

Groups like the BC Coalition of Safe and Supportive Housing have long raised concerns about weapons and violence from tenants, and Housing Minister Christine Boyle says the legislation responds to those concerns.

She says the “vast majority” of the nearly 15,000 residents who live in supportive housing are good tenants, but operators have been asking for the “right tools” that reflect the “operational realities” of supportive housing.

Boyle says the legislation tabled Wednesday in the legislature includes language that would make it easier for operators to evict tenants more quickly if they are found with weapons.

She says that while many operators already prohibit weapons, they have told government that they need additional tools to enforce the bans.

The legislation would also allow operators to temporarily remove tenants for “a sort of cooling off period” to de-escalate serious health and safety risks, Boyle says.

Conservative MLA Claire Rattee says some of the changes should have happened years ago, but adds that they do not go far enough in calling for measures to curb the harmful effects of second-hand smoke from drugs, among other improvements.

Rattee says she will be lobbying Boyle for additional improvements, noting that one simple solution to the second-hand-smoke problem is to ban drug use in supportive housing buildings.

This report by Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press, was first published March 4, 2026.