Vancouver’s Last Sex Worker Drop-In Centre May Shutter in Spring

Vancouver’s last drop-in space for sex workers is facing an uncertain future as the city changes how it funds the non-profit.

The Kingsway Community Station, currently located at Kingsway and Windsor Street, has been supporting street-based sex workers by running a nighttime drop-in centre for the last five years.

The location is important because it’s home to the largest concentration of street-based sex workers in the city, Amelia Ridgway, program director with RainCity Housing, which runs the Kingsway Community Station, told The Tyee.

The space is trans-inclusive. Women and gender-diverse sex workers can visit the drop-in from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. six days a week to access a washroom and a warm and welcoming space to get a cup of soup or get ready for the night, to nap or to access supports, she said. Supports can include speaking with peers with lived or living sex work experience, getting connected to housing or health-care supports, accessing harm reduction supplies or reporting a bad date.

In the 1980s and ’90s, serial killer Robert Pickton preyed on sex workers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Several reports since have recommended using third spaces, where people can gather, connect and form community, as protection against violence against Indigenous women and women and girls in general.

Ridgway said she found out a couple of weeks ago that the City of Vancouver was ending its existing service agreement for the Kingsway Community Station and moving to grant-based funding.

She worries this will affect what services they can offer vulnerable sex workers, because it might reduce their overall funding and make RainCity’s search for a long-term location harder. The drop-in centre’s current location is slated for redevelopment, and RainCity is working with the city to find a permanent location.

In an emailed statement to The Tyee, the City of Vancouver confirmed that it is considering shifting to a grant process for sex worker support in the Kingsway corridor.

“This will align more closely with how the city supports similar services and may provide more options for responding to the needs in this area,” the statement said.

“No decisions have been made about future funding levels for Kingsway Community Station,” the statement continued. “Staff are still in discussions with RainCity to understand service needs and delivery options in the Kingsway corridor. Any future funding decisions would be based on service needs, alignment with city priorities and available funding sources.”

The statement continued that the city has been looking into these changes for about a year. If the city decides to make changes, those would happen in 2026 and “would be brought forward for Council’s consideration as part of the regular social grants process.”

Ridgway said the city has provided 100 per cent of the Kingsway Community Station’s funding since 2021 when they opened. She added that she’s confused as to why the city would want to change anything when their drop-in is full every night they’re open.

She said grant-based funding concerns her for two reasons.

First, she has heard grants tend to be capped at $100,000, which could reduce their annual funding by about three-quarters. Second, she’s worried a lack of core funding will make it harder to find a long-term location to rent.

When asked if grants are capped at $100,000, the City of Vancouver said that “there is no fixed maximum for city grants. Many grants exceed $100,000 and vary based on the scope of services, community needs and available funding.”

At the drop-in’s current location, which is pink-themed, Ridgway said the sex workers they support helped design the space. There’s a large central table where they host art nights, comfy chairs to rest in, three tables with mirrors and bright lighting to do makeup, and empowering slogans hung on the walls. In one corner a glittery purple skeleton is cheekily pole dancing on a lamp.

In its emailed statement, the city said its search for a new location hasn’t been successful.

Bill Briscall, manager of communications and fund development with RainCity, told The Tyee they have confirmed operational funding until March 2026. That’s also the month their current lease ends, which makes the future of the drop-in past then up in the air.

It would be “devastating” if the drop-in centre had to close, Ridgway said.

“It would mean there would be very little to no services left for sex workers in Vancouver,” she said.

Shuttering sex worker services in Vancouver

In December 2024, WISH Drop-In Centre Society, which supports street-based sex workers in the Downtown Eastside, closed its drop-in centre, kitchens and daytime MAP Van services, which offer harm reduction and outreach, and cut back on its programs.

In an email, a WISH spokesperson said the organization is in the process of reopening its drop-in centre but didn’t have a date yet. It is still running several programs, including InReach, Indigenous Health and Safety and Bad Date Reporting.

The WISH shelter is still open 24-7 with 20 beds and three short-term “crash beds,” they added, and the MAP Van is running Thursday to Tuesday nights from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m.

A woman who works for WISH, who asked to not be identified, told The Tyee the MAP Van is going out only on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and is staffed by just two people, while before this summer it would always go out with three.

The Collingwood Neighbourhood House also has an outreach vehicle as part of its Sex Work Awareness for Everyone, or SAFE, program that goes out Sundays and Wednesdays to offer supports for street-based sex workers, she said.

The SAFE outreach vehicle parks near the Kingsway Community Station on Sunday nights to offer the supports it can on the one night of the week the drop-in centre is closed, she said.

In February 2025, PACE Society, which also supports sex workers in the Downtown Eastside, said it would also have to close its drop-in centre and suspend all services and programming because its charity status had been revoked due to a late Canada Revenue Agency filing.

It closed its doors in July 2025.

However, in an October 2025 social media post, PACE said it had gotten its charitable status back and would be “hopefully continuing the work our community believes in.”

The Kingsway Community Station is the only drop-in centre for sex workers currently open in Vancouver, which makes it all the more important for the city to support it, Ridgway said.

Over the past two years they’ve seen the number of sex workers using the Kingsway drop-in space double, which is likely due to the overall reduction in services for sex workers in Vancouver, she said.

“For the funding to be at risk in this moment in time feels particularly dangerous to me,” she said. “I use that word intentionally. When we don’t have an overnight drop-in like this it really does put women at risk.”

A safe place to go

Street-based sex workers in Vancouver were preyed on by serial killer Robert Pickton, who was convicted in 2007 of killing six women but claimed to have killed 49.

As part of a government inquiry after Pickton’s trial, commissioner Wally Oppal wrote a report that highlighted how a lack of social services made sex workers vulnerable, and recommended the province fund 24-hour services that support sex workers to improve safety.

Vancouver has also signed on to the United Nations’ Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces for Women and Girls, and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls highlighted the need for better protections for Indigenous women involved in survival sex work.

Many women and non-binary sex workers who rely on the Kingsway station are unhoused, using drugs and extremely vulnerable, Ridgway said.

The city doesn’t need another report, she said. It needs to read the ones it already has and support the successful work they’re already doing.

Green Coun. Pete Fry told The Tyee he wants to see ABC Vancouver, which holds a majority on city council, invest in proactive protections for women, rather than reactive protections like policing.

Under the current proposed 2026-27 budget, the Vancouver Police Department would get a 10 per cent increase in funding, which adds up to about $50 million, while arts, culture and community services would get a 12 per cent reduction.

The Kingsway Community Station falls under arts, culture and community services.

“The size of our police budget is disproportionately huge,” Fry said. “We're close to half a billion dollars for policing.”

“It’s all well and good to have police investigating missing women after the fact, but what are we doing to prevent women from going missing in the first place?” Fry added.

Ridgway said drop-in services are community hubs that allow sex workers to create community and access supports when tragedy strikes.

In March 2024, 37-year-old Tamara Redman, who accessed the Kingsway Community Station’s services, was killed by a vehicle at Kingsway and Victoria Drive.

Ridgway said Tamara’s death “devastated” the community and had a “big impact.”

Kingsway Community Station’s role was to be present for those grieving her death.

“We make ourselves available; our doors are always open,” Ridgway said. “That’s a big part of what we do. We’re just here, we’re present, we’re available. That’s how you build trust, over time with consistency.”

The ongoing toxic drug crisis is “devastating and heartbreaking” and has also affected the community, she said.

As well as offering a space to use the bathroom, get ready for the night or use a computer, the drop-in space also hosts birthday parties for women.

“It’s a big deal when folks haven’t had that connection to community in a long time,” she said.

“Most importantly, we’re a safe haven. We’re a place where women can come in and feel safe and supported and have a sense of community.”