Update: Council voted 6-3 Wednesday night to support Mayor Ken Sim's motion.
More than 300 people held a rally outside Vancouver city hall Wednesday to protest Mayor Ken Sim’s proposal to pause the construction of the type of housing that currently houses some of the city’s most vulnerable people.
Sim announced Jan. 23 at a public safety forum that he wanted to pause construction of any “net new” supportive housing until neighbouring municipalities started to build more of the type of housing, which connects tenants to health care and social services.
At city hall Wednesday, 95 people were registered to speak to council, with all but four citizens who spoke in the afternoon session opposed to Sim’s motion, which was expected to go to a vote in the evening.
Jill Atkey, CEO of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association, said if the motion were to pass, there will be more unsupported, vulnerable people on the streets of Vancouver, not fewer.
“I’m not frankly sure how we arrived at a place where an effective, evidence-based solution to homelessness that has long had cross-partisan support has been characterized as the problem, rather than the solution,” Atkey said.
She said the association she leads has long advocated for a regional approach to homelessness, but that push should not mean Vancouver “hit pause” on the construction of supportive housing while waiting for other municipalities to act.
“Supportive housing plays a key role in preventing trips to emergency departments in this city and serves as a connection point to health-care services,” Atkey said.
“With five hospitals to Surrey’s one, Vancouver has a responsibility to provide more supportive housing and more access to health services than other municipalities.”
'Imbalance is unsustainable'
Sim has said that while Vancouver accounts for 25 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s population, the city has more than 77 per cent of the region’s supportive housing units. In addition, more than 67 per cent of the region's operating shelter spaces and over half of the region's social housing is in Vancouver.
“This imbalance is unsustainable, especially when much of our existing supportive housing, including our extensive SRO stock, is aging and frankly, falling apart,” the mayor said when he announced his plan at a public safety forum organized by Save Our Streets coalition.
“We can't expect people to rebuild their lives in environments that are crumbling around them. Replacing our aging, temporary, modular, supportive housing with permanent units is a critical first step.”
He said his plan would not affect supportive housing in the development pipeline, or housing that is being built to replace aging stock.
'Barrage of housing'
At the rally on the plaza, former city councillor Jean Swanson said the mayor wants to stop providing land and funding for new supportive housing for people with severe mental health issues and people that use substances.
“This is even though he's been saying that people in these groups are 18 to 23 times more likely to be crime victims,” she said, referencing the police’s “project barrage” plan supported by the mayor to crack down on gangs in the Downtown Eastside.
“Then he says he's been talking to people in the Downtown Eastside, people like London Drugs, and they evidently want a barrage of cops to deal with this issue.”
Added Swanson: “We want a barrage of housing.”
Chinatown organizations support Sim
Sim has received support for his motion from the Chinese Benevolent Association, Chinese Freemasons, Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association and the Vancouver Chinatown BIA Society.
In a letter to mayor and council, the organizations said Chinatown has “long felt the impact of rampant growth of low-barrier supportive housing” in the community.
“Since the adoption of [the] Downtown Eastside local area plan more than a decade ago, supportive housing has proliferated but has not led to the desired outcomes in alleviating homelessness or reducing street-level issues,” the letter said.
“In fact, with the increase of available services there has been an increase in the number of individuals facing addiction and chronic homelessness, as well as challenges related to criminal behaviour.”
The organizations urged council to consider the motion “as an opportunity” to re-examine the suite of policies including housing, mental health, addiction and law enforcement that affect the community.
“We are hopeful that through thoughtful dialogue and collaboration with senior levels of government, we can continue to work together toward solutions that support both those experiencing homelessness and the communities that have long been the fabric of this city,” the organizations said.
'Problematic places'
Sim told BIV last Thursday that his call for a pause on “net new supportive housing” is not connected in any way to complaints or behaviour of tenants, many of whom are living with a mental illness, substance use disorder, or both.
“There are supportive housing units that work incredibly well,” he said, pointing to Naomi Place, a temporary modular housing building on Copley Street.
“So what you need to do is decouple the two comments. First, the general comment is, we have crumbling stock, and we take on 77 per cent of the region’s supportive housing, and we only represent 25 per cent of the population. The second part which you need to decouple is there are problematic places that need attention, but that's independent of this.”
Earlier in the day, Coun. Rebecca Bligh attempted unsuccessfully to get council support to invite B.C. Housing and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon to city hall to provide an update on the government’s plans for supportive housing in the province.
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