Victoria supportive housing provider says concerning levels of fentanyl found in air-quality tests

A Greater Victoria housing provider is introducing new safety measures at one of its supportive housing sites after air-quality testing found fentanyl concentrations inside.

A Greater Victoria housing provider is introducing new safety measures at one of its supportive housing sites after air-quality testing found fentanyl concentrations inside.

In a memo to external service providers and contractors, Victoria Cool Aid Society’s senior leadership team says the fentanyl in the air at its 3020 Douglas Street site showed up in concentrations “of concern and exceeding the occupational exposure limit.”

“We don’t want anyone to be exposed who doesn’t choose to do so,” says Cool Aid’s director of housing and shelters, Don McTavish.

He says Cool Aid was getting reports from workers about second-hand smoke exposures at the site at a rate it hasn’t seen before. Staff were getting sick with symptoms, such as vomiting and headaches.

McTavish says the non-profit started exploring some of the reasons why and hired a company to do air-quality testing, which generated the results.

“We’re really trying to make sure it’s a safe environment for people,” he says. “Residents who don’t smoke in the building, we’re trying to work with to find avenues to keep them safe as well. And the ones who do smoke, they’re really understanding and working with us all on this. Honestly, at the end of the day they’re medicating to try and address trauma they feel so they don’t want to harm anyone else either.”

Cool Aid suspects there are a few reasons for the positive results, including more people shifting to smoking drugs as opposed to other methods, such as injection. It believes fentanyl’s rising toxicity is to blame and it says the housing facility is running in an old motel with sub-par ventilation.