Chantal Eustace
Sun
VANCOUVER – A proposal aimed at building housing for Vancouver’s poor is too little too late, several speakers told a special Vancouver city council meeting Wednesday night.
“I would really encourage you to move sooner and further than you have today,” said Linda Thomas, director of housing services for Vancouver Coastal Health, who was among more than 100 people who signed up to speak.
The proposal would create 1,100 to 1,200 new homes over the next five years. The city would lease 12 sites — valued at about $50 million — to non-profit sponsors of social and supportive housing for 60 years.
BC Housing would cover the approximate $300 million cost of building the housing units, said Vancouver‘s housing manager Cameron Gray.
“Twelve hundred units is better than nothing,” said NDP MLA Jenny Kwan. But she said as these new homes are created, other low-cost options like Downtown Eastside hotels, are closing. She criticized the city’s “one-to-one” replacement strategy, calling it outdated in light of increased homelessness.
Andrew Pillar, a spokesman for Vancouver Public Space Network, an advocacy group on public space, said the plan is “going in the right direction. The concern is that it doesn’t go far enough.”
Seven of the 12 locations are downtown while five are spread out around the city — including Dunbar, Kitsilano and East Broadway.
Gray acknowledged some people in neighbourhoods like Kitsilano — where a third of the 80 units planned for three lots on 1607 West Seventh would be occupied by the mentally ill — have voiced concern. “That’s the site that’s generated the most concern.” Gray said.
The meeting on the proposal will continue tonight, and another will be scheduled if necessary. For more about the plan, along with minutes from Wednesday’s meeting, go to www.vancouver.ca.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007