PHS Community Services Society
@phscss.bsky.social
Housing, harm reduction and healthcare in Vancouver & Victoria, BC
Failing to address homelessness is not only inhumane, it's an irresponsible waste of public money.
That's because it's cheaper to house the homeless than trying to police them away. Stays in prison or hospital cost more than supportive housing.
That's because it's cheaper to house the homeless than trying to police them away. Stays in prison or hospital cost more than supportive housing.
Hospital-led housing cuts costs and ER visits
Finally, a hospital did the math. Research from Dr. Andrew Boozary’s team at Toronto’s University Health Network (UHN) demonstrat...
tinyurl.com
January 10, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Failing to address homelessness is not only inhumane, it's an irresponsible waste of public money.
That's because it's cheaper to house the homeless than trying to police them away. Stays in prison or hospital cost more than supportive housing.
That's because it's cheaper to house the homeless than trying to police them away. Stays in prison or hospital cost more than supportive housing.
Involuntary care is not going to sweep away visible homelessness, writes political insider Shane Mills.
Supportive housing is both more humane and less expensive.
Read on:
Supportive housing is both more humane and less expensive.
Read on:
Here’s Why Involuntary Care Won’t Work for Most People | The Tyee
We need a total rethink of our failed approach to drugs and homelessness.
tinyurl.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Involuntary care is not going to sweep away visible homelessness, writes political insider Shane Mills.
Supportive housing is both more humane and less expensive.
Read on:
Supportive housing is both more humane and less expensive.
Read on:
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
🧵We deserve access to #StigmaFree health care & resources to help us make informed decisions about our bodies. The more we know, the better we can care for ourselves & support people in our care. Healthier, safer communities are possible when we have the tools & will needed to make this a reality.
January 9, 2026 at 3:05 PM
🧵We deserve access to #StigmaFree health care & resources to help us make informed decisions about our bodies. The more we know, the better we can care for ourselves & support people in our care. Healthier, safer communities are possible when we have the tools & will needed to make this a reality.
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
🧵The overwhelming amount of data & folks' lived experiences continues to show #HarmReduction saves lives & improves individual & community health. As outlined in this @inforum.com op-ed, we must let this reality lead the way in how we approach & ultimately end...
bit.ly/HarmReductionReducesHarmOpEd
bit.ly/HarmReductionReducesHarmOpEd
Letter: Harm reduction is not enabling — it’s literally reducing harm
"Addiction is here. It is real. It does not vanish because a politician is uncomfortable," writes Ashley Nucamendi.
bit.ly
January 7, 2026 at 8:02 PM
🧵The overwhelming amount of data & folks' lived experiences continues to show #HarmReduction saves lives & improves individual & community health. As outlined in this @inforum.com op-ed, we must let this reality lead the way in how we approach & ultimately end...
bit.ly/HarmReductionReducesHarmOpEd
bit.ly/HarmReductionReducesHarmOpEd
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
Inside the Battle for the Future of Addiction Medicine
"Instead of seeing patients in binaries — addicted or sober, with a positive or negative drug test — she measures progress on a spectrum."
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
"Instead of seeing patients in binaries — addicted or sober, with a positive or negative drug test — she measures progress on a spectrum."
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Inside the Battle for the Future of Addiction Medicine - KFF Health News
The experiences of one doctor in Louisiana reveal the tensions around trying to get people to engage in addiction treatment, even if they’re not ready to stop using drugs.
kffhealthnews.org
January 7, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Inside the Battle for the Future of Addiction Medicine
"Instead of seeing patients in binaries — addicted or sober, with a positive or negative drug test — she measures progress on a spectrum."
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
"Instead of seeing patients in binaries — addicted or sober, with a positive or negative drug test — she measures progress on a spectrum."
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
So *what is* a public health approach to substance use? Our latest 🧪 paper provides a systematic review of academic and grey literature and outlines a conceptual framework to guide practitioners.
link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-025-25402-4
link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-025-25402-4
Defining a public health approach to substance use: insights from a systematic scoping review and conceptual framework development approach - BMC Public Health
Background Psychoactive substance use represents a significant global public health challenge, leading to diverse health, social, and environmental harms. Traditional punitive and commercial approache...
link.springer.com
January 7, 2026 at 4:28 PM
So *what is* a public health approach to substance use? Our latest 🧪 paper provides a systematic review of academic and grey literature and outlines a conceptual framework to guide practitioners.
link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-025-25402-4
link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-025-25402-4
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
🧵Start the new year off with free learning opportunities, including our upcoming Foundational Fridays session, "Syringe Access 101!" Through this webinar, we'll explore the critical role of sterile syringe access in saving lives, promoting #PublicHealth, & reducing...
bit.ly/SyringeAccess1012026
bit.ly/SyringeAccess1012026
January 5, 2026 at 5:39 PM
🧵Start the new year off with free learning opportunities, including our upcoming Foundational Fridays session, "Syringe Access 101!" Through this webinar, we'll explore the critical role of sterile syringe access in saving lives, promoting #PublicHealth, & reducing...
bit.ly/SyringeAccess1012026
bit.ly/SyringeAccess1012026
“I’m hoping that the province will realize that there is no way to not pay for the housing crisis” - Pacifica Housing CEO Carolina Ibarra.
“You either invest and pay for solutions, or you’re gonna pay even more in homelessness management.
“We just need to commit and invest.”
“You either invest and pay for solutions, or you’re gonna pay even more in homelessness management.
“We just need to commit and invest.”
From streets to support: Searching for a better future for Victoria’s homeless - Victoria News
Our Place Society and Pacifica Housing discuss this year’s wins, challenges and work to come
tinyurl.com
January 4, 2026 at 6:01 PM
“I’m hoping that the province will realize that there is no way to not pay for the housing crisis” - Pacifica Housing CEO Carolina Ibarra.
“You either invest and pay for solutions, or you’re gonna pay even more in homelessness management.
“We just need to commit and invest.”
“You either invest and pay for solutions, or you’re gonna pay even more in homelessness management.
“We just need to commit and invest.”
“Seniors homelessness is bad now, and it's about to get much worse" - Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of seniors advocacy group CanAge.
“We've seen a sharp increase in the everyday costs of goods and services.
“Older people simply can't make ends meet on fixed incomes.”
Read on:
“We've seen a sharp increase in the everyday costs of goods and services.
“Older people simply can't make ends meet on fixed incomes.”
Read on:
As cost of living climbs, a Vancouver shelter adapts to a rise in unhoused seniors | CBC News
For the first time in the history of Union Gospel Mission's Vancouver shelter, home-care aid workers are making weekly visits to help seniors with basic tasks like taking a shower.
tinyurl.com
January 3, 2026 at 6:00 PM
“Seniors homelessness is bad now, and it's about to get much worse" - Laura Tamblyn Watts, CEO of seniors advocacy group CanAge.
“We've seen a sharp increase in the everyday costs of goods and services.
“Older people simply can't make ends meet on fixed incomes.”
Read on:
“We've seen a sharp increase in the everyday costs of goods and services.
“Older people simply can't make ends meet on fixed incomes.”
Read on:
"Drug users are being scapegoated for all the failures of our broken system" - DULF compassion club members.
"We’re low hanging fruit. It’s easy, you can always blame the drug user. Vilify, criminalize, stigmatize: Makes it so you want to crawl away and hide. These are lies."
"We’re low hanging fruit. It’s easy, you can always blame the drug user. Vilify, criminalize, stigmatize: Makes it so you want to crawl away and hide. These are lies."
DULF and the Case for Radical Harm Reduction | Capilano Courier
The need for safer supply continues as the Drug Users Liberation Front contends with legal battle Ren Zhang (they/them) // Contributor Cameron Skorulski (He/Him) // Production Manager As deaths…
www.capilanocourier.com
January 3, 2026 at 3:00 AM
"Drug users are being scapegoated for all the failures of our broken system" - DULF compassion club members.
"We’re low hanging fruit. It’s easy, you can always blame the drug user. Vilify, criminalize, stigmatize: Makes it so you want to crawl away and hide. These are lies."
"We’re low hanging fruit. It’s easy, you can always blame the drug user. Vilify, criminalize, stigmatize: Makes it so you want to crawl away and hide. These are lies."
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
drugpolicy.ca/our-work/add...
“Addiction treatment: what it is, where it currently fails, and how it could meet the needs of people and communities.”
“Addiction treatment: what it is, where it currently fails, and how it could meet the needs of people and communities.”
Addiction Treatment in Context: Principles for a System of Just, Accessible, and Voluntary Care - Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
Position Statement Veuillez noter : une traduction française de cette déclaration sera bientôt disponible. December 30, 2025 This statement outlines the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition’s organization...
drugpolicy.ca
January 2, 2026 at 5:32 PM
drugpolicy.ca/our-work/add...
“Addiction treatment: what it is, where it currently fails, and how it could meet the needs of people and communities.”
“Addiction treatment: what it is, where it currently fails, and how it could meet the needs of people and communities.”
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
“Canada appears to be the country with the highest average rate of involuntary psychiatric detentions in the western world.”
Note this is *before* new forced abstinence measures hit full speed in AB and BC.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Note this is *before* new forced abstinence measures hit full speed in AB and BC.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Opinion: Why does Canada have such high rates of forced psychiatric hospitalizations?
We should push our governments to better report on who’s being involuntarily committed and why, and if they’re more often helped or seriously harmed
www.theglobeandmail.com
January 2, 2026 at 4:22 PM
“Canada appears to be the country with the highest average rate of involuntary psychiatric detentions in the western world.”
Note this is *before* new forced abstinence measures hit full speed in AB and BC.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Note this is *before* new forced abstinence measures hit full speed in AB and BC.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
While people capitalize on fears of Aboriginal Title to reinforce anti-Indigenous racism, let's look at something that is *actually* devaluing land in BC: pipelines.
ckpgtoday.ca/2025/12/06/r...
ckpgtoday.ca/2025/12/06/r...
RDFFG directors discuss possible pipeline devaluation
PRINCE GEORGE - The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George board of directors discussed a possible re-evaluat...
ckpgtoday.ca
December 22, 2025 at 6:59 PM
While people capitalize on fears of Aboriginal Title to reinforce anti-Indigenous racism, let's look at something that is *actually* devaluing land in BC: pipelines.
ckpgtoday.ca/2025/12/06/r...
ckpgtoday.ca/2025/12/06/r...
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
we’ve crossed the foggy horizon and have no choice but to navigate the infinite night of the spooky zone
December 31, 2025 at 8:53 AM
we’ve crossed the foggy horizon and have no choice but to navigate the infinite night of the spooky zone
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
being a part of this has given me a lot of hope. But i object to the people involved being labeled “activists”. They’re just neighbors. “Activist” is only ever applied to leftists as a way to make them seem less normal. These people are normie AF.
www.startribune.com/inside-the-o...
www.startribune.com/inside-the-o...
Inside the organized resistance to ICE in Minnesota
As the federal government broadened immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities, a network of neighborhood activists ramped up pushback by keeping tabs on ICE agents and lending aid to families in hidi...
www.startribune.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:50 PM
being a part of this has given me a lot of hope. But i object to the people involved being labeled “activists”. They’re just neighbors. “Activist” is only ever applied to leftists as a way to make them seem less normal. These people are normie AF.
www.startribune.com/inside-the-o...
www.startribune.com/inside-the-o...
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
"An organization that began 30 years ago as a peer group for sex workers has grown into an operation with over 50 employees to support more than 2,000 sex workers a year in #Victoria" #VancouverIsland #BC #BritishColumbia www.timescolonist.com/christmas-fu...
Victoria's sex worker support organization thriving in 30th year
With a $3.5 million annual operating budget, the Peers Victoria Resources Society does everything from handing out safer sex supplies, to counselling and housing advocacy.
www.timescolonist.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:30 PM
"An organization that began 30 years ago as a peer group for sex workers has grown into an operation with over 50 employees to support more than 2,000 sex workers a year in #Victoria" #VancouverIsland #BC #BritishColumbia www.timescolonist.com/christmas-fu...
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
Good analysis of the connection between #addiction and other #mentalhealth disorders.
thebulletproofpoet1.godaddysites.com/blog/f/the-c...
thebulletproofpoet1.godaddysites.com/blog/f/the-c...
The Cycle of Self-Medication: How Mental Health Drives Addiction
Introduction: The Quiet Pharmacy of Pain
thebulletproofpoet1.godaddysites.com
December 30, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Good analysis of the connection between #addiction and other #mentalhealth disorders.
thebulletproofpoet1.godaddysites.com/blog/f/the-c...
thebulletproofpoet1.godaddysites.com/blog/f/the-c...
The team from Softchoice Vancouver collected and packaged toiletries and little luxuries to create 240 travel hygiene kits for our shelter guests.
They joined forces with Kits For A Cause to source and bag the items at a teambuilding kit-packing event.
Thank you for your generosity and support.
They joined forces with Kits For A Cause to source and bag the items at a teambuilding kit-packing event.
Thank you for your generosity and support.
December 30, 2025 at 6:01 PM
The team from Softchoice Vancouver collected and packaged toiletries and little luxuries to create 240 travel hygiene kits for our shelter guests.
They joined forces with Kits For A Cause to source and bag the items at a teambuilding kit-packing event.
Thank you for your generosity and support.
They joined forces with Kits For A Cause to source and bag the items at a teambuilding kit-packing event.
Thank you for your generosity and support.
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
Don't tell me there isn't enough money in the world to feed and house everyone.
The money is there, it's the will that isn't.
The money is there, it's the will that isn't.
December 22, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Don't tell me there isn't enough money in the world to feed and house everyone.
The money is there, it's the will that isn't.
The money is there, it's the will that isn't.
Reposted by PHS Community Services Society
"Unhoused people in #Parksville #QualicumBeach are looking at another cold, wet winter season without an overnight shelter. Many of the area’s #unhoused are working people who simply cannot afford market rent" #VancouverIsland #BC #homelessness #housing vancouverislandfreedaily.com/2025/12/29/p...
PQB unhoused enter another winter with no overnight shelter - Vancouver Island Free Daily
Government and NGOs working on solutions
vancouverislandfreedaily.com
December 29, 2025 at 2:34 PM
"Unhoused people in #Parksville #QualicumBeach are looking at another cold, wet winter season without an overnight shelter. Many of the area’s #unhoused are working people who simply cannot afford market rent" #VancouverIsland #BC #homelessness #housing vancouverislandfreedaily.com/2025/12/29/p...
Special thanks to the Ribbon Community for providing Christmas gift bags of food necessities and luxuries to some PHS residents.
Formerly known as AIDS Vancouver, Ribbon is Canada's original AIDS service organization, helping people overcome the impacts of HIV and HIV stigma.
Formerly known as AIDS Vancouver, Ribbon is Canada's original AIDS service organization, helping people overcome the impacts of HIV and HIV stigma.
December 29, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Special thanks to the Ribbon Community for providing Christmas gift bags of food necessities and luxuries to some PHS residents.
Formerly known as AIDS Vancouver, Ribbon is Canada's original AIDS service organization, helping people overcome the impacts of HIV and HIV stigma.
Formerly known as AIDS Vancouver, Ribbon is Canada's original AIDS service organization, helping people overcome the impacts of HIV and HIV stigma.
It means a lot when people reach out this time of year to offer thoughtful and practical gifts to the community we serve.
Two students at Stratford Hall School, Ella and Stephanie, arranged care packages for people staying at our shelters over Christmas. (Stephanie not photographed.)
Two students at Stratford Hall School, Ella and Stephanie, arranged care packages for people staying at our shelters over Christmas. (Stephanie not photographed.)
December 28, 2025 at 6:01 PM
It means a lot when people reach out this time of year to offer thoughtful and practical gifts to the community we serve.
Two students at Stratford Hall School, Ella and Stephanie, arranged care packages for people staying at our shelters over Christmas. (Stephanie not photographed.)
Two students at Stratford Hall School, Ella and Stephanie, arranged care packages for people staying at our shelters over Christmas. (Stephanie not photographed.)
“For many, drugs are simply an easier relief from pain" - former BC chief coroner Lisa Lapointe.
“We’re seeing more people who use drugs because of the housing crisis. The province has done good things, but not enough of anything.”
“We’re seeing more people who use drugs because of the housing crisis. The province has done good things, but not enough of anything.”
B.C.’s toxic drug crisis: human rights, evidence and the push for involuntary care
On Human Rights Day (Dec. 10), more than 500 people signed up for a livestream hosted by B.C.’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) to grapple with one of
www.pentictonherald.ca
December 27, 2025 at 6:02 PM
“For many, drugs are simply an easier relief from pain" - former BC chief coroner Lisa Lapointe.
“We’re seeing more people who use drugs because of the housing crisis. The province has done good things, but not enough of anything.”
“We’re seeing more people who use drugs because of the housing crisis. The province has done good things, but not enough of anything.”
Staff at three veterinary clinics collected treats and toys for PHS residents and shelter guests pets.
Donations were arranged through the Hearts to Paws initiative of Merck Animal Health Canada, which supports shelters and outreach programs across Canada.
I borrowed HQ regular Ringo for the pic.
Donations were arranged through the Hearts to Paws initiative of Merck Animal Health Canada, which supports shelters and outreach programs across Canada.
I borrowed HQ regular Ringo for the pic.
December 26, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Staff at three veterinary clinics collected treats and toys for PHS residents and shelter guests pets.
Donations were arranged through the Hearts to Paws initiative of Merck Animal Health Canada, which supports shelters and outreach programs across Canada.
I borrowed HQ regular Ringo for the pic.
Donations were arranged through the Hearts to Paws initiative of Merck Animal Health Canada, which supports shelters and outreach programs across Canada.
I borrowed HQ regular Ringo for the pic.
Stylists from a White Rock's Sin 7 Salon called round to give free haircuts to seniors living with PHS.
It was a beautiful event. The Sin 7 Salon team were friendly and treated everyone with respect - chatting and sharing holiday treats.
It was another day at the salon, basically.
It was a beautiful event. The Sin 7 Salon team were friendly and treated everyone with respect - chatting and sharing holiday treats.
It was another day at the salon, basically.
December 25, 2025 at 6:02 PM
Stylists from a White Rock's Sin 7 Salon called round to give free haircuts to seniors living with PHS.
It was a beautiful event. The Sin 7 Salon team were friendly and treated everyone with respect - chatting and sharing holiday treats.
It was another day at the salon, basically.
It was a beautiful event. The Sin 7 Salon team were friendly and treated everyone with respect - chatting and sharing holiday treats.
It was another day at the salon, basically.