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.
WHERE SHOULD THEY STAY?
Conceptualizing the "HOTEL OF HOPE"
What is Temporary Patient Housing?
Patients who must travel to access healthcare need temporary housing—safe, flexible, affordable places to stay during treatment, recovery, or medical appointments. In Vancouver, temporary housing typically means short‑term, fully furnished accommodations available for stays ranging from a single night to several months. In this context, it simply means a place for patients and caregivers to stay when relocated for care.
Call it patient housing, lodging, accommodation, or temporary housing—the concept is straightforward: It must be obvious, convenient, suitable, affordable, available, and integrated into BC’s public health insurance plan.
What This Housing Must Look Like
While it doesn’t need to be a hotel, it must operate like one:
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Flexible lengths of stay
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24/7 and last‑minute check‑ins
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Rapid turnover of rooms
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Professional on-site management (bookings, cleaning, rules enforcement)
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Some units with kitchens, more than one bed and bath
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Shared spaces for camaraderie, laundry
This is the home‑away‑from‑home model—either purpose‑built or incorporated into mixed‑use developments with patient‑specific design features.
Why Hospital‑Adjacent Housing Makes Sense
Temporary patient housing located on or near hospital campuses is the most logical approach. Local health authorities and hospital foundations are well‑positioned to support this model, and it could be embedded into mandates province‑wide. Every health authority either receives or sends patients who must travel for care.
This approach would also enable:
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Proper data collection on traveling patients
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Better system navigation between health authorities
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More coordinated care pathways
Who Must Lead This
Collaboration among hospital foundations would be ideal, but leadership must come from the Ministry of Health, followed by the Ministry of Housing. The Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction and the Ministry of Children and Family Services also have roles to play.
This is a one‑government issue, spanning every municipality in BC and the Yukon. Ironically, Vancouver—the city that hosts these patients—has the least direct incentive, as its residents do not need patient housing and often resist dedicating residential space to out‑of‑town visitors. Yet Vancouver benefits economically from hosting patients and from having world‑class healthcare in its backyard.
Why Provincial Leadership Is Essential
Temporary patient housing must be Ministry‑led not only because the Province is responsible for upholding the Canada Health Act, but because the Province controls the Short‑Term Rental (STR) regulation.
STR rules currently prohibit residential stays under 90 days. But patients need temporary stays, not 90‑day leases. This is why patients are pushed into expensive hotels.
Before STR regulations tightened, apartment buildings near hospitals offered flexible stays, and Airbnbs—though costly—were available. Now only principal‑residence Airbnbs remain, and they are scarce.
The solution is not to reverse STR regulations but to create a provincial exemption allowing residential use for temporary patient housing. This exemption is crucial for future developments and for creating legal, stable inventory for patients.
Developments near Vancouver General Hospital would be ideal—but they are zoned residential and cannot legally operate as patient housing without this exemption.
Patients are not tourists. They deserve appropriate, affordable accommodations, not overpriced hotel rooms or illegal rentals.
The Role of Hotels—and Their Limitations
Partnerships with residential developers must be explored because hotel developers have shown little interest in serving patient needs. Some hotels located mere blocks from the hospital have explicitly told city planners they are not interested.
Ideally, hotel developers—especially those adjacent to hospitals—would engage if offered incentives. For example: A 20‑year lease on three floors for patient housing in exchange for additional height variance. This would benefit both parties.
The City of Vancouver could design policy incentives for future hotel developments, which is essential if patients are expected to rely on hotels.
Examples worth exploring include Bosa Properties and Dunna’eh.
Zoning Barriers
There is no official zoning category for patient housing. Ronald McDonald House had to work with the City to create bespoke zoning, which only applies to non‑profits that own and operate the entire building and land. This model is not the most affordable when solving the need of the broader patient population.
The Path Forward
BC needs housing associated with healthcare visits, and the provincial government must:
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Integrate patient housing into the healthcare system
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Fund the cost so patients no longer pay out of pocket
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Create provincial policy exemptions for temporary patient housing
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Work with the City of Vancouver on hotel‑related incentives
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Secure travel funding as an umbrella approach for all patients—not just oncology patients or families served by Ronald McDonald House
This will improve patient experience, improve health outcomes, and strengthen the entire system.
How Much Space Do We Actually Need?
The demand for temporary patient housing is already visible in the existing market, where hotel rooms and short‑term rentals are being used—inefficiently and expensively—by:
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MSDPR — funding hotel stays that could be redirected
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FNHA — funding hotel stays that could be redirected
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Yukon patients — funding hotel stays that could be redirected
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Middle‑income patients — receiving no support
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Caregivers and hospital visitors
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Ronald McDonald House overflow — funding that could be redirected
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Canadian Cancer Society overflow — funding that could be redirected
The Canadian Cancer Society has already leased 20 apartments to try to meet demand—an improvised solution that shows how large the need truly is.
The Scale of the Problem
More than 500 patients per day are in Vancouver for medical care. See data.
The existing accommodations illustrate the pressure as every patient‑focused housing model in BC is at capacity.
If JoeAnna’s House, an example of caregiver housing associated with Kelowna General Hospital, can sustain 30 rooms, RMH sees demand for 150 rooms, and the Holiday Inn fills 197 rooms almost entirely with medical stays, then Vancouver’s patient‑housing need clearly falls within this range—and likely exceeds it.
A realistic starting point could be:
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A purpose‑built facility sized anywhere between 150–250 rooms
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Or an initial phase of leased apartments or hotel floors, scaled up over time
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Or a hybrid model, combining purpose‑built units with leased inventory
The key is to start building capacity now and expand as data continues to confirm demand.
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)
Advocacy + Research continues...
While we are committed to creating a solution for temporary patient housing in Vancouver, we also recognize that another isolated initiative would amount to yet another Band‑Aid on an already strained system. What British Columbians need is a redesigned, integrated framework—one that provides umbrella funding and coordinated support for equitable access to care. This must include accommodation, travel assistance, and system navigation for anyone who cannot receive the healthcare they need in their home community. Without this systemic remodeling, temporary fixes will continue to fail the very people the system is meant to serve.
System savings and overall benefits to timely care through accommodation is important to illustrate; we will dive into this as we approach 2027.
