The lack of affordable housing in Tofino has caused people without medical conditions to seek shelter at the region’s only hospital.

That’s news to the mayor.

“I personally wasn’t aware of that,” said Tofino Mayor Josie Osborne on Friday.

Doctors recently addressed the problem in front of city council, opening a dialogue on how best to serve Tofino’s roughly 2,000 residents as well as tourists and temporary residents.

Osborne says Tofino’s population can swell to around 6,000 on summer days.

“It’s important to understand that Tofino General Hospital services about 5,000 residents, let alone the visitors, and they’re distributed across eight different communities around Clayoquot Sound and down as far as Ucluelet and a little bit farther out from that.”

Osborne acknowledges that, like other remote communities, there is little support in Tofino for people with mental health issues and addictions.

“There’s a bigger dialogue to be had here about how we help people to be the healthiest they can be and how we can work together to achieve that.”

It starts with safe and affordable housing, and those choosing to call Tofino home often have to get creative.

“You’ve got a lot of roommate situations, a bit of couch surfing and then RVs,” Osborne said.

The city has licensed two private campgrounds as a stopgap for the housing crisis, and Osborne warns space is limited with the summer season approaching.

“One of the campgrounds has just recently been licensed and is slowly filling up and I expect it will be full for the summer. And the other campground that we licensed is definitely operating at full capacity.”

As for easing the burden on the hospital, the city is making plans to take advantage of the $7 billion for affordable housing promised by the provincial government over the next 10 years.

“We’ve made applications with BC Housing to support the work we’re doing to supply more affordable rental housing”, said Osborne.

“Unfortunately those things don’t happen overnight so I think it’s going to be some months or a year before we’re in a position with a funding haul that all happens at the right time before we’re able to get some shovels in the ground.”