Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim vows to use ‘all tools’ to block overdose prevention site

The inside of the Molson Overdose Prevention Site is pictured in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Thursday, January 16, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says he is “moving an urgent motion” to block the planned opening of a new downtown overdose prevention site.

Sim says the city government will “use all tools available” including permitting, licensing and other methods to prevent the new site from opening on June 1.

Vancouver Coastal Health announced earlier on Monday that it had secured 900 Helmcken Street as the new permanent location for its overdose prevention site, after being limited to temporary service for months.

The health authority says in a statement that the Thomus Donaghy Overdose Prevention Site will be operated by social services provider RainCity Housing.

It says Vancouver’s city centre has been without permanent overdose prevention services since the last location closed on Jan. 31.

But Sim says a motion seeking to block the site will be moved at a council meeting on Monday evening, adding that the province and Vancouver Coastal Health should instead focus on “previous commitments regarding mandatory care.”

“The status quo doesn’t work, and frankly, it’s never worked,” Sim says in a statement, while calling the current provincial approach that also includes safer supply “disastrous.”

“(Premier David Eby) committed to 400 mandatory care beds over a year and a half ago and yet, the City of Vancouver has seen zero beds. That’s completely unacceptable and irresponsible when we are in the middle of a crisis,” Sim says.

Vancouver Coastal Health says in its release that overdose prevention is “evidence-based” and can reduce risks of death while also connecting people in need to treatment.

It also says the area to be served by the new Vancouver city centre overdose prevention site has the second-highest rate of overdose deaths in the health authority’s region.

The health authority says previous city centre overdose prevention sites had seen more than 149,000 visits and responded to 480 overdoses since 2021.

“Since the site’s closure in January, a temporary mobile OPS has been operating to provide a very limited number of services in the area,” Vancouver Coastal Health says.

“However, this interim solution is unable to appropriately meet the need, and the health authority has been looking for a suitable new location.”

A number of other locations had been considered, including on the St. Paul’s Hospital campus, but Vancouver Coastal Health says that location did not have enough space, and the hospital is also moving out within a year.

The health authority says the new location offers outdoor spaces for observed inhalation of drugs, described as the most common method of consumption.

Sim says the new site has drawn the ire of businesses and residents about community safety and the lack of local engagement before the new location was chosen.

“Vancouver is ready to be part of real solutions that connect people to care, improve public safety, and rebuild trust with communities,” he says. “Vancouverites deserve better.”

This report by Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press, was first published May 5, 2026.