'Deeply ashamed': Body sat for 11 days after overdose death in 'first-of-it's kind' supportive housing complex

When Diane Chandler found a unit in Surrey's Foxglove supportive housing building in 2023, the main thing her children hoped for was safety.

The 60-year-old had spent years battling depression and addiction, surviving on disability payments as she moved between temporary shelters and her car.

And the Foxglove — a multi-use building designed to house people living with complex mental health and substance use problems — came praised by municipal, provincial and federal politicians, including former Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum and B.C. Premier David Eby.

But none of those protections would save Chandler, who died from an overdose of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl in her room in the Foxglove almost a year ago.

Adding to the pain of their mother's loss, Chandler's children say they discovered weeks after she died that her body wasn't found for 11 days — overlooked in what the CBC has learned was a case of mistaken identity.

"I just hoped that she was safe," Chandler's son, Tyler Gibbs, told the CBC.

"If she was struggling with something, there'd be someone to help her. Just to talk with her and help her out with that. I think the main thing for me is just making sure it was a safe place, is what it is for me. That was what was most important — that it's safe."

Diane Chandler's death is one of eight Foxglove overdose deaths described in critical incident reports sent to B.C. Housing obtained by CBC through freedom of information.

Beyond the shocking revelations regarding the delay in finding Chandler's body, the documents detail the housing agency's concern that the deaths might make their way into the media.

Chandler's family say the tragedy also raises important but thorny questions as to when a permissive approach to housing the most vulnerable people in B.C. communities borders on enabling addiction.

Although a manager with RainCity Housing and Support Society — the nonprofit organization which operates the Foxglove — told Tyler Gibbs in an email that the agency was "deeply ashamed" by what happened, Gibbs and his sister say B.C. Housing has never reached out to them.

Carley Gibbs says her mother — a Canucks fan who was devoted to her children — deserved better.

"It makes her life seem worthless. People who have mental health problems and who have drug addiction are not worthless," the 29-year-old said in an interview.

"And the way that our systems put them into these housings and just let them live is not how people get better. People need action and counselling, and active support, not just a roof over their heads. Just because they're in the building doesn't mean that they're safe."