Drug users with mental health issues to be offered complex-care housing in Nanaimo

Substance users with serious mental health issues in Nanaimo are expected to get access to complex-care housing under an initiative offering services like addiction medicine, social workers and education on overdose prevention.

Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmsonannounced the project in the Vancouver Island community alongside Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog.

Malcolmson saidin a statement the aim is to provide services in existing supportive housing.

The complex-care housing approach was launched earlier this year, with services also announced in other areas, including Abbotsford, Kamloops, Bella Coola, Langley, Powell River, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria.

The Mental Health and Addictions Ministry says complex-care spaces in Nanaimo would be ramped up gradually by 2025, for up to 30 people.

It says people dealing with trauma and brain injury would be among those who benefit from the initiative because they are often at risk of becoming homeless.

Krog says complex-care housing is needed in the city, where street disorder can seem overwhelming sometimes.

"We have real challenges, and this is an important part of the solution,'' he said in the statement.

Island Health will deliver the services in partnership with B.C. Housing and local service providers.