Richmond shelters struggling to accommodate newcomers [Video]

The City of Richmond is calling on the federal government to provide housing for refugees and asylum seekers as shelters in Greater Vancouver fill up with newcomers. 

The city council passed a motion on Monday to write a letter urging the government to build more temporary homes or reimburse the city for housing newcomers at their facilities.

Coun. Carol Day, who put forward the motion, said a surge in refugee claimants has overwhelmed homeless shelters in Richmond. 

“We’ve been housing them for a long time … and it takes spots away from people that really do need the homeless shelter,” she told CBC’s The Early Edition.

LISTEN | Shelters are under pressure

Asylum seekers are ending up in shelters in B.C.’s Lower Mainland and the situation is reaching crisis levels, says refugee claimant advocate Katya Avalos.

About one-third of the 632 people who stayed in the Richmond House Emergency Shelter’s 30 beds last year were refugees or asylum seekers, …