Union activists are raising concerns about the elimination of a program run by the Portland Hotel Society for people recovering from addictions.

Vancouver Coastal Health says it’s combining PHS’s Supported Independent Living program with the parallel Addiction Recovery Program run directly by the health authority.

According to VCH spokesperson Gavin Wilson, no services are being cut for clients as part of the amalgamated service, which provides people recovering from addictions with transitional housing and support from an outreach worker.

But Andrew Ledger, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 1004 and detox intake coordinator at Insite, believes cutting the PHS program could negatively affect clients who are transitioning out of the Downtown Eastside.

“The PHS has a very unique, client-focused care model,” Ledger told the Straight by phone. “It’s based on not judging people and meeting them where they’re at, embracing harm-reduction philosophy, and those are key elements of what we do at the Portland [Hotel Society] that makes us slightly unique from other sort of bureaucratic regimes.”

Delegates at a B.C. Federation of Labour convention in Vancouver approved an “emergency resolution” on November 27 to support and protect PHS services provided by members of CUPE locals 1004 and 1936.

“The elimination of programs would sever relationships formed over years with CUPE staff that visited residents regularly to ensure access to vital health care,” the motion read.

Wilson said the two VCH–funded programs are “essentially the same” in terms of the support and services they offer.

“They’re very similar programs, and yet they had two administrative processes, they had two different entry criteria, they had two different care teams, and yet they’re essentially providing the same service,” he said in a phone interview. “And so it makes sense to roll those two programs into one. It’s more efficient and it’s more cost-effective, and it also will be more streamlined in terms of access for clients.”

According to Ledger, the PHS program has a particular focus on helping people who have transitioned out of the Downtown Eastside. 

“It’s a small percentage of the population that are able to sort of break free of the holds of whatever it is that’s keeping them in the Downtown Eastside, and so to have a successful program that’s exiting people is fantastic,” he said.