28-05-2025
Neighbours near Maple Ridge assault link outreach facility to growing safety concerns
In the wake of a brutal assault in downtown Maple Ridge, B.C., some residents say the presence of a homeless outreach facility is making them feel unsafe in the area.
The HUB, located on Seklirk Avenue near 222 Street, has been in operation since September 2021, and some neighbours say the area has seen a visible increase in street disorder, drug use, and violence since.
Those concerns came to a head this weekend, after a man was allegedly beaten with baseball bats by several attackers while he was walking his dog.
'They provide service to the homeless, which is good and all that, but they hang out here, they sleep here, they are doing their drugs out in the open, they just don't care about anybody else,' said Ron Parker, who lives across the street from the HUB.
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'It's not surprising to hear that somebody was assaulted many times in the back alley here. We've asked them to leave, they swear at us, they threaten to burn our house down. We don't know what else to do.'
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Maple Ridge baseball bat attack
Tina McFarlane, who lives in the same building as the assault victim, said she's felt increasingly unsafe in the area since the HUB moved in.
'They've stabbed people, they've robbed people, they've mugged people out back,' she said.
'There needs to be a facility. Something safer. Open Riverview again. Just make it safer … Somebody is going to get even more hurt, and we don't feel listened to.'
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The HUB is operated by Coast Mental Health, which says it sees between 40 and 155 people visit the facility daily for services including hot meals, showers, bathrooms, and for referral to other services, including health care, detox and recovery programs and income assistance.
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Coast Mental Health chief operating officer Sara Goldvine said the facility is staffed 24/7 for security, and that she hasn't seen evidence that people using the HUB's services have been linked to violence in the area.
She said the facility provides a critical service by giving people a safe place to go during the day, but added that operators want everyone in the community to feel safe, and that they encourage neighbours to reach out to them with their concerns.
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'We know that nobody wants to see their community members and their neighbours having to sleep outdoors, we know that nobody wants to see people in our communities having to spend their days in parking lots because they have nowhere to go,' she said.
'The city of Maple Ridge has been doing a lot to really step up and do what they can as a municipality to support people and really our focus over the longer term is creating those permanent housing solutions for people with the right supports where they can thrive, and creating places, safe places indoors, where people can come during the day, be connected to health care, be connected to social service agencies and get food so that they can live healthy lives.'
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Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy said his municipality is doing everything it can to tackle the homeless issue, but that the community is growing at about twice the national average and its resources are strained.
He said Maple Ridge is home to an estimated 134 unhoused people.
Last year, the city hired 12 more RCMP officers and 16 more firefighters, boosted its bylaw office and has hired private security to patrol the downtown core, he said.
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Ruimy said the city is ready to reassess how those resources are deployed in response to specific concerns, but that solving the homeless problem is out of the scope of a municipality of 100,000 people.
However, he said services like the HUB remain an important tool to address the challenge of homelessness.
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He argued that the HUB, and other municipal initiatives like boosting RCMP foot patrols, have actually slightly improved conditions.
'The reality is, if you didn't have the HUB, they'd still be on the street. We are trying to manage with what resources the city has,' he said.
'Where is that money going to come from? That's our challenge … it has to start with the province and the federal government. They have to start to commit more money to mental health, to treatment, to recovery, to facilities to put people in. All we are doing is moving people from place to place to place.'
B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said the province is willing to work with Maple Ridge.
'If the community has a location where they can have more shelter or more supportive housing to get vulnerable people indoors, we're certainly open to that conversation,' he said.
Ridge Meadows RCMP said it has made efforts to visibly boost its presence in downtown Maple Ridge, logging 'hundreds of hours' on bike and on foot, and that it has a dedicated mental health unit to assist with crisis calls.
It said it is continuing to investigate the alleged baseball bat assault, which it said 'appears to be an isolated incident.'
