HUNDREDS TRAVEL TO VANCOUVER PER DAY
FOR MEDICAL CARE
WHERE DO THEY STAY?
BC CENTRALIZES HEALTHCARE IN VANCOUVER BUT IGNORES THE HOUSING COMPONENT FOR NON-VANCOUVER RESIDENTS.
When people must travel outside their community to access specialized healthcare, it is reasonable—and responsible—that accommodation be integrated into the care pathway. Ideally, this support would be embedded within their Medical Services Plan, ensuring that navigating lodging is not an added burden during an already stressful medical journey. This need is especially acute for those traveling to Vancouver, the province’s and Yukon’s central healthcare hub, yet also a city facing a severe housing crisis, strict short‑term rental regulations, and an increasingly expensive hotel market. With hotel rooms often costing hundreds of dollars per night, many families are effectively
priced out of the care they are entitled to receive.
The Canada Health Act guarantees equitable access to healthcare, and it is the Province’s duty to ensure that principle is upheld in practice—not just in policy. When patients are required to travel for care, failing to provide appropriate accommodation is a fundamental flaw in a centralized healthcare system, one that places the greatest burden on rural and remote communities. To deliver truly equitable care, the provincial government must take an active role in ensuring that affordable, accessible lodging is available around major medical hubs whenever travel is required for treatment.
Most patients are left to secure and pay for their own accommodation, a burden that creates cascading harm: stress during an already vulnerable time, delayed or interrupted treatment, medical debt, and in many cases the impossible choice to forgo care entirely. These barriers don’t just affect individuals—they ripple outward, increasing pressure on community emergency rooms, straining the broader health system, and undermining the vision of a StrongerBC built on equitable access and timely care.
Organ transplants are a prime example of this inequity. We ask British Columbians to be organ donors, yet we do not distribute the organs and transplant access equitably across the province. All transplants are performed in Vancouver—which is clinically appropriate—but requiring a three‑month relocation for anyone living outside the city, without adequate housing support or logistical guidance, is neither sensible nor just. Most British Columbians cannot afford a second rent in Vancouver at the most vulnerable moment of their lives. As a result, patients face average out‑of‑pocket costs of $18,500 simply to receive the care they qualify for. UBC Centre for Rural Health Research: Out of Pocket Cost Study for Transplant Patients, Dr. Jude Kornelsen
Caregivers often scramble after “getting the call,” desperately searching the city and the internet for a place where the transplant patient can safely recover. This is not a system designed for success. It is not fair, and it is not aligned with the promise of equitable healthcare when relocation is mandatory and transplants are only offered in Vancouver.
Vancouver is also home to other tertiary and quaternary specialties, provincial rehabilitation programs, specialized clinics, and even regional relocation requirements. Some patients benefit from strong models already in place—oncology patients have the Jean C. Barber Lodge and the Travel Treatment Fund (PHSA + Canadian Cancer Society), and families have the Ronald McDonald House and the BC Family Residence Program (PHSA + Variety). These programs demonstrate what is possible when funding is paired with actual housing. This pairing should be available to everyone who must travel for care.
We saw a glimpse of what equitable access could look like when PHSA funded hotel accommodations through Hope Air—a program with a remarkable success rate in helping British Columbians reach the care they need. That portion of funding has now been restricted, a devastating setback for patients who relied on it. Learn more about Hope Air’s success
British Columbians who must travel to Vancouver for medically necessary care face one of the most preventable barriers in our health system: the high cost and limited availability of appropriate accommodation. Every year the Province, health authorities, and partner agencies spend tens of millions of dollars on market rate hotel rooms, often paying more than 500 dollars per night for patients who simply need a safe place to stay. Investing in dedicated medical housing immediately reduces these costs and ultimately to below 100 dollars per night while improving health outcomes, reducing cancelled procedures, and easing pressure on emergency departments.
The inequity is clear. Rural, remote, and Indigenous patients pay far more and travel far longer to access the same care available to those living in the Lower Mainland. This stands in direct contrast to the principles of universal access and the commitments made through the Canada Health Act, StrongerBC, DRIPA, and the Province’s health equity agenda. By shifting existing hotel expenditures into long term, purpose secured patient housing, the government can deliver meaningful affordability relief, uphold its commitment to equitable care, and create a lasting improvement to the health system at a fraction of current spending.
PATIENT HOUSING:
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Removes a major structural barrier for rural, remote, and Indigenous patients.
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Reduces cancellations and delays for surgeries.
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Lightens load of community ER rooms.
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Creates significant cost savings by shifting spending away from high-cost hotel rooms.
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Embeds cultural safety through Indigenous navigation and partnership.
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Aligns with BC’s commitments under the Medical Services Plan, the Canada Health Act, DRIPA, and StrongerBC.
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Allows for proper dataset around traveling patients. Data Deliverables-->
WHERE SHOULD THEY STAY?
HOTEL OF HOPE
Lease-to-Heal model
*Stay tuned for more info on upcoming campaign!
We need temporary housing for patients traveling to access healthcare. In Vancouver, temporary housing refers to short-term, fully furnished rental accommodations designed for flexible stays, typically ranging from a few weeks to several months. In this case, it would also apply to single-day stays.
Call it patient housing, lodging, accommodation, temporary housing - it's simple: it's somewhere for patients and caregivers to stay when relocated to Vancouver for medical care. It's somewhere that is obvious, convenient, suitable, affordable for all, and available, and is woven into BC's public health insurance plan.
Now although it doesn't have to be a hotel, it has to operate as such, with flexibility in length of stay and around-the-clock/last minute check-ins, easy flipping of rooms and managerial aspects (bookings, cleanings, enforcing rules). It is the home-away-from-home model that can be purpose-built entirely or woven into another development with patient-specific aspects worked in.
Temporary patient housing as part of the hospital campus would make the most sense. Location is key and suitable for a local health authority or hospital foundation to support. This housing mandate could find its way into health authority and hospital foundation mandates province-wide, as you are either receiving or sending patients trying to access care. This would give way to proper data collection focused on traveling patients and act as a gateway to system navigation improvements for patients shifting between health authorities to access care.
It would be wonderful to see hospital foundations collaborate in this effort, but first and foremost it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and next, the Ministry of Housing. The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction and the Ministry of Children and Family Services also fit in here. This "one-government" approach and overlapping also applies to municipalities, as the issue spans the concern of every city and town in British Columbia and the Yukon. Ironically, the municipality with the least interest is Vancouver, as Vancouver residents do not need patient housing in Vancouver, nor do they want to sacrifice residences for out-of-towners. Yet, this city is the host to those traveling to access care and benefits economically from such visitors as well as from having world-renowned healthcare in their own backyard. It may not be as glamorous as hosting FIFA, but it is what it is, and it does bring economical benefits too.
Temporary patient housing needs to be Ministry-led - not only because it is the job of the provincial government to uphold the Canada Health Act, but because
we need the Province to adjust the ShortTerm Rental (STR) regulation - a provincial policy. STR regulations block temporary stays at residential properties if under 90 days. A temporary stay is what a patient needs, and that is why there is so much hotel usage for patients now. Apartment buildings around the hospital once targeted patient needs and offered flexible stays, and a larger amount of Airbnbs were available (although they were still expensive). Now the only Airbnbs offered are the principal residence listings (of which you need a license for) and are rarely available. A solution is needed - not to reverse the STR regulations but to create an exception - an exemption put in place by the Province allowing residential use for temporary patient housing. This is crucial for future developments and the creation of inventory and space for patients. There are current developments adjacent to Vancouver General Hospital that would be perfect - except that they are zoned for residential - and would need a change in use that was actually legal. We need that patient exemption to the 90-day rule in order to create more legal inventory. Patients are not tourists and they deserve proper accommodations, not expensive hotel rooms and homeowner listings on the black market.
Furthermore, residential development partnership needs a chance because even hotel developers are lacking interest in creating patient accommodations. Hotel developments located mere blocks away from the hospital have blatantly declared uninterest to city planners. Ideally, hotel developers (specifically those adjacent to the hospital) would accept conversation around patient stays based on incentives. This could be a 20-year lease on 3 floors for patients in exchange for that extra height variance, and would clearly benefit both parties. The City of Vancouver - councillors with staff - could design policy incentives for future hotel developments, which is what's needed if patients are to rely solely on hotels.
Examples to discuss: Bosa Properties; Dunna'eh. Inquire for more details.
To be clear, there is no official zoning specified for patient housing, and the Ronald McDonald House had to work with the city to create bespoke zoning for their project. This bespoke zoning only applies to non-profits who own and operate the entire building and the land.
The cost of hotel accommodation in Vancouver is simply too high for out-of-town patients, and it is not appropriate or conducive to healing. Pairing Vancouver's housing crisis with a fragile hotel market creates a puzzle patients are forced to try and solve often at their weakest stage in life. We need housing associated with healthcare visits and we need the provincial government to accept this responsibility by weaving it into the healthcare system, funding the cost so patients no longer pay out of pocket, and building in provincial policy exemptions, with the City of Vancouver following suit on hotel policy incentives. Secure travel funding as an umbrella approach for anyone trying to access care is the answer here, not just for oncology patients, or the Ronald McDonald House, but for everyone. It will improve patient experience, improve health, and improve the system.
HOW MUCH SPACE?
This housing demand encompasses market hotel rooms booked by:
+MSDPR (smartly redirect this funding!)
+FNHA (smartly redirect this funding!)
+Yukon patients (smartly redirect this funding!)
+middle class not receiving support
+ caregivers and hospital visitors
+Ronald McDonald House overflow (smartly redirect this funding!)
+Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) overflow (smartly redirect this funding!)
*CCS did in fact acquire 20 apartment leases to try and meet demand!
Over 500 patients per day are in Vancouver for medical care. (See data.) The Holiday Inn on Broadway has 197 rooms (across from the VGH ER) and is almost always full with tenants there for medical reasons. The Ronald McDonald House is just for families, always full with 73 rooms, and building a second house with 75 rooms to accommodate demand. Regional centers across BC display this need - take JoeAnna's House in Kelowna which is just for caregivers of patients traveling regionally to Kelowna for care; it is always full at 20 rooms and has just expanded to include 10 more.
If JoeAnna's House in Kelowna can easily manage 30 rooms for caregivers, Ronald McDonald House sees the need for 150 rooms for families (pediatric patients), and the 197-room Holiday Inn is always full for medical reasons, the starting point here could really be anywhere within that window. You could "build the whole thing" or start with x number of rooms (apartment or hotel leases) and continue to compile and grow.
Apartment lease, hotel lease, solo build.
ALL PARTIES WANT THE GREEN LIGHT FROM THE PROVINCE.
An easy but crucial first step would be to address an exemption for temporary patient housing within the STR regulations. This would be huge for the possibility of future developments (that are happening now, with healthcare stakeholder interest) and cost the Province zero dollars whilst providing a good news story.
Purpose built, affordable, close.
A hopeful arrival. A welcome home.
We are earnest to work together!
Partners needed to make this build possible could include:
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Ministry of Health, PHSA
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Ministry of Housing
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Vancouver Coastal Health
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other BC health authorities
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VGH+
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other hospital foundations
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Providence
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St. Paul's Foundation
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BC Transplant
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other organizations and non-profits
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City of Vancouver --> policy incentives
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other municipalities
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Ronald McDonald House and other current accommodation models such as JoeAnna's House in Kelowna
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Hotel developer/ developer partnership
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Residential developer (with STR exemption)
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a partner like Catalyst Community Developments Society + Kindred Construction (who built the private/public North Van development with 89 new affordable homes + 18 overnight respite beds with Care BC)
