Its staff support thousands of supportive housing rooms and operate North America's first legal supervised-injection site, Insite,[1] a Downtown Eastside credit union branch (Pigeon Park Savings),[2] a food service that feeds people in single-room occupancy residences (Downtown Eastside Central Kitchen), and other social services and enterprises.
[6][failed verification] On August 13, 2007, the Portland Hotel Society and two citizens filed suit in the BC Supreme Court to keep the centre open, arguing that its closure by the federal government would be a violation of the Charter right of Insite users to "security of the person".
[10] In early 2014, the provincial minister responsible for housing Rich Coleman disclosed that an external audit by accounting firm KPMG found concerns about administration costs.
[12] As a result of the audit's findings, the nine-member board and (husband and wife) co-executive directors Mark Townsend and Liz Evans resigned in March 2014.
Replacement board members included Vancouver Coastal's former CEO Ida Goodreau and current Chief Medical Health Officer Patty Daly.