Eby says SROs not an acceptable answer
Katie Derosa
The Province
Says they must be phased out, but critic charges he did nothing about that as housing minister
Hastings Tent City residents and allies prepare for a news conference earlier this week in front of the abandoned site of the city-owned Balmoral Hotel.
Activists decry the displacement of people living in tents in the Downtown Eastside, but David Eby says as premier, he would bring together all levels of government to address the problems in the neighbourhood.
The B.C. NDP leadership candidate told Postmedia that problems have been neglected for too long, and that he would phase out single-room occupancy buildings, as they are an inadequate solution for housing people.
“These are not acceptable government housing services, which is essentially what these residential hotels are,” Eby said. “So we need to phase them out.”
But Green party MLA Adam Olsen slammed the former housing minister for not spearheading such an approach when he had the power to do so.
“It’s fine for the former minister of housing to say, `This is what should happen.’ The question that I have is, `Why hasn’t this happened?’” said Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands. “He’s been the minister of housing up until just a few weeks ago.”
Last week, City of Vancouver staff began the process of removing tents and structures from the sidewalk on East Hastings Street.
Eby, who resigned as housing minister and attorney general to run for the leadership, suspects many of the people living in tents right now have single-room occupancy hotel rooms “that the government is paying for, that are unlivable.”
Many of the rooms, he said, have no windows or windows that don’t open, conditions that are unbearable in hot temperatures.
“We need to replace them with appropriate housing. We need to find a way to increase housing options in the neighbourhood for low-wage workers as well.”
Eby said when he worked in the Downtown Eastside during his time with Pivot Legal Society, the federal government, the province, City of Vancouver and community groups worked together to address the neighbourhood’s challenges through the Vancouver Agreement which began in 2000 but expired in 2010.
Since the collapse of that agreement, “there really hasn’t been a co-ordinated strategy or a plan about how we get out of the problems of the Downtown Eastside,” he said.
“I think essentially putting an invisible fence around the neighbourhood and saying `this is the best we can do’ and just hope that things work out, it’s a strategy that will no longer carry us forward.”
Eby said if he’s successful in his bid to replace Premier John Horgan, who is retiring, he’ll co-ordinate a long-term response to the issues in the Downtown Eastside with the help from the federal government, the city and concerned groups.
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