Vancouver health authority puts brakes on controversial overdose prevention site
The Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) will no longer proceed with the controversial overdose prevention site (OPS) at 900 Helmcken Street.
On May 5, VCH announced this new location for Thomus Donaghy OPS (TD OPS), between Burrard and Hornby Streets and across the street from one of Vancouver’s busiest hotels, the Sheraton Wall Centre.
The lease term was set to begin on June 1, with services anticipated to begin shortly afterwards.
Hours after this announcement, Mayor Ken Sim slammed the proposal and subsequently passed a motion ‘use all tools available to the City’ including permitting, licensing, servicing, and legal settlements as bases to prevent the opening of the new OPS.”
“Vancouver will not support solutions that fail both those who are struggling and the communities around them,” said Sim in a release, after a new location was announced. “We have seen the disastrous impact when OPS sites are introduced without the right planning, oversight, and accountability.”
The OPS provides supervised consumption, drug checking, and other harm reduction services. Since the Province declared the toxic-drug crisis a public health emergency in 2016, illicit drugs have been the “leading cause” of death in B.C. for people aged 10 to 59.
B.C. Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, said in a statement that “Vancouver continues to experience the highest rates of unregulated drug deaths in B.C.” and that it is “critical that people at risk of overdose have access to timely supports and services that save lives and help prevent serious harms, including brain injury.”
However, she added that establishing OPS in the downtown core needs to support both vulnerable people and the businesses, residents and workers in surrounding neighbourhoods.
She said she had heard concerns from the city, local businesses and community partners.
“We, along with the Ministry of Health and Vancouver Coastal Health, are committed to taking steps to fully engage with stakeholders and the community ahead of any new site opening,” she said.
There is no planned date for the OPS to open at this time.
The Helmcken Street location was to be the third location of the site.
It first opened in 2021 at 1101 Seymour Street. It closed in 2024 after the municipal government did not renew the lease due to controversy, including complaints of public disorder, strewn garbage and needles, crime and public safety issues, and sidewalk encampments.
The OPS then moved to Howe Street, which permanently closed on Jan. 31, 2026, with the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) saying it was at the discretion of the property owner. Since then, they said that only limited and temporary services for its clients have been available.
Osborne said that a mobile overdose prevention site will continue to provide limited services in the area.