Vancouver mayor demands 100 involuntary mental health beds in the city

Vancouver is shouldering more than its share of the province's mental health crisis, and Mayor Ken Sim is demanding the B.C. government respond by placing 100 new involuntary psychiatric care beds within the city limits — not in Maple Ridge, Surrey, or Prince George.

In a letter Wednesday, Aug. 6, to Premier David Eby and provincial cabinet ministers, Sim called for immediate action. "We don't need another study. We don't need another plan. We need meaningful action now," he wrote.

The province has announced plans for involuntary care expansion, but none of the new capacity is located in Vancouver. In 2024, 18 long-term beds opened at Alouette Homes in Maple Ridge. Last month, the government announced 132 more beds — 72 in Prince George and 60 in Surrey — expected to open gradually between late 2027 and 2028. The city already has access to more than 2,000 existing mental health beds across B.C. under the Mental Health Act, but Sim argues that patients need beds physically located here, where the crisis is most acute.

This is Sim's second letter in recent weeks pressing the province on the issue. He argues that Vancouver continues to experience a disproportionate share of B.C.'s street disorder and addiction challenges, while the provincial government's response has been to place capacity elsewhere.

The timing is strategic: Sim is heading into the October 2026 civic election with mental health and public order as core platform issues. The province faces its own pressure from a major court ruling on how involuntary psychiatric patients can be admitted and treated.