Richmond Encampment Fire Risk Exposes Eby’s Accountability Gap

Richmond’s highway encampment problem is no longer a quiet file moving between inboxes. Global News carried video on July 30 under the headline “Fires at Richmond homeless camps prompt concern,” just two days after another segment called the camp “growing.” An April Global News segment had already flagged concerns over a growing encampment in Richmond. This is a months-long warning, not a surprise.

The most important public record is Richmond’s own January 13 Community Safety Committee minutes. Council members discussed a homeless encampment identified at Highway 99 east to Jacombs Road and Westminster Highway north, and the minutes state the location is on Ministry of Transportation and Transit land. Staff reported discussions with the ministry because of what the minutes described as a serious threat to health and safety and critical infrastructure, including a jet fuel pipeline in the vicinity.

That should sharpen the accountability question. If the land is provincial, the public deserves to know who in David Eby’s government owns the operational plan, what risk assessment has been completed, what housing and outreach options are being offered, and what timeline exists for fire-risk mitigation and cleanup. “Working with partners” is not a plan residents can measure.

This is not an argument for cruelty toward people sheltering outdoors. Richmond’s March 2 General Purposes Committee minutes recorded 175 people identified in the 2025 homeless count, and staff said people living in cars or RVs would be considered unsheltered for that count. The City also announced a 2026–2029 homelessness strategy framework consultation, citing rising housing costs, service pressures and broader social and economic challenges. Those facts point to a housing and support failure, not a reason to dehumanize anyone.

But compassion cannot mean tolerating an unmanaged hazard under highway infrastructure. Richmond’s January minutes also say city staff were in communication with the Province, were planning operations on unsheltered sites on ministry land, and believed ministry responsibility was not being fulfilled. That is a serious local-government record, not anonymous grumbling.

Opposition Richmond MLAs have now demanded provincial action under the Oak Street Bridge and have alleged unsafe conditions, discarded needles, fire hazards and an absence of meaningful provincial response. Treat that as partisan advocacy, but do not use partisanship as an excuse to ignore the underlying documents and video evidence.

Eby’s government says it is serious about housing, public safety and compassionate care. Richmond is a test of all three. People living outside need real housing pathways. Nearby residents and commuters need safety. The province, if it controls the land, needs to stop passing the buck and put a dated, public plan on the table.