Jeff Lee
Sun
VANCOUVER – The New Democratic Party opposition wants the auditor-general to monitor any loss of low-income housing in Vancouver as the city gets ready for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In a motion brought in the legislature on Monday, Vancouver-Mount Pleasant MLA Jenny Kwan said she’s worried that owners of single-room occupancy hotels will rush to convert their units to market housing to take advantage of the demand for accommodation for workers and tourists.
She said the province and the city, along with the 2010 bid committee, gave the International Olympic Committee assurances that people would not be made homeless as a result of the Games.
But since the Games were awarded in 2003, the city has lost more than 700 units of low-income housing, she said. She also cited a Pivot Legal Society report suggesting the number of homeless in Vancouver, now estimated at 1,400, could triple by 2010.
“What better independent watchdog than the auditor-general to monitor the situation and tell the public whether or not the commitment is being met?” she asked. “Certainly people are concerned that the Olympics is contributing to the rate of conversion that is taking place in the Downtown Eastside community.”
Vanoc has already pledged to turn 250 units in the Vancouver Athletes Village over to social housing when the Games are over. It is also working with social housing groups in the neighbouring areas to make sure the Olympics doesn’t displace people.
Last week, city council rejected civic-party opposition demands for a moratorium on the conversion of single-room occupancy hotels. However, as a disincentive to owners, it tripled to $15,000 from $5,000 the per-unit conversion fee owners must pay if they want to change over. Councillors suggested the fee was high enough to prevent most low-income housing from being lost.
Kwan’s motion was rejected by Liberal government MLAs who noted a number of B.C.-funded social-housing projects are being built in Vancouver, including 200 units at the site of the old Woodward’s building. They also said the auditor-general’s powers do not extend to civic government issues.
Joan McIntyre, the Liberal MLA for West Vancouver-Garibaldi, accused Kwan of “an ideological bias that impedes progress and [the] government’s drive to find innovative solutions to age-old problems such as affordable housing.”
Kwan pledged to keep pushing for the auditor-general’s involvement.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007