B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne says 18 new involuntary care beds in Maple Ridge are the first of their kind in B.C.

Speaking in Maple Ridge Tuesday, Osborne said the Allouette Homes are for people with complex mental health issues who meet the criteria for involuntary care under the Mental Health Act. That includes people with severe and persistent mental-health disorders, often combined with addictions and brain injuries, that are at risk of harming themselves or others.

The facility was part of an announcement last September that also included 10 beds at the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre. Those beds opened earlier this Spring.

Osborne stressed the new beds in Maple Ridge are for those who are not currently in the correctional system. She said the Allouette Homes are intended to provide care in a “safe, home-like setting.”

The homes will be operated in partnership with Vancouver Coastal Health and the nonprofit Connective Support Society.

VCH vice president Bonnie Wilson says it’s a secure facility, meaning the doors and gates remain locked and residents are accompanied if they need to go into the community for any reason, such as medical appointments.

Wilson says the people coming into the facility have already exhausted other options, from living with family or group homes to different areas of the healthcare system. She says it is a unique opportunity to be able to provide people with “long-term, supported, safe and secure care” outside of a hospital setting.

Dr. Daniel Vigo, B.C.’s chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders, said clients will be able to live at the facilities for an indefinite amount of time to get the treatment they need. He said for some that could mean lifetime care, while others could be able to progress to a point that they no longer qualify for involuntary care under the Mental Health Act and would have the option of moving out of the facility.

The health ministry said in a release the first six residents will be transferred into the facility early this month.

The province announced in September it set a three-year goal to introduce more than 400 additional mental-health beds at hospitals in B.C. that would also provide involuntary care under the act. Vigo says his office is working with local health authorities to identify how many tertiary beds each region needs for people with serious and persistent mental illness.

The province said as of April there were a total of 2,100 mental health beds across B.C. that can provide involuntary care.

The announcement comes as the B.C. Supreme Court begins proceedings related to a challenge of the Mental Health Act’s “deemed consent” provisions, which apply to patients under voluntary care. The Council of Canadians with Disabilities has said the provision violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.