Vancouver council voted 6-3 Wednesday to support Mayor Ken Sim’s motion to temporarily pause the construction of any new supportive housing that isn’t already in the development pipeline or connected to replacement or renovation of an existing building.
Prior to the vote, more than 300 people outside city hall to protest Sim’s proposal, while another 95 people registered to speak to council, with the majority opposed to the mayor’s move.
The mayor said he wants other municipalities in the region to supportive housing, noting Vancouver accounts for 25 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s population, but has 77 per cent of the type of housing stock.
He wants this pause, he told BIV after the meeting, to allow for repairs, renovations and replacement of single-room-occupancy [SRO] buildings and supportive housing — which gives tenants access to health care and social services — while still approving social housing and below-market rental buildings.
Where will the money come from to address current concerns regarding SROs and existing supportive housing?
“We need support from senior levels of government,” said Sim, repeating a common refrain of his predecessors over the past two decades. “We’re going to be working really hard to get [the money], for sure.”
Sim and seven councillors all provided closing remarks before the vote was cast.
Here is a condensed and edited summary of what they said:
• Green Party Coun. Pete Fry (opposed):
“Humans make mistakes, and I think that this motion respectfully is a mistake. We heard real people, real lives, real stories today. And I know you all care, and I know you do not want to cause harm. Perhaps the intentions of this motion were well meaning in the sense that, yes, the status quo is not great, but I think not giving people housing and options for housing is not going to solve a lot of the problems with street disorder and a lot of the struggles in the Downtown Eastside. I think it's only going to make things worse. And sadly, people will die.”
• ABC Vancouver Coun. Mike Klassen (in favour):
“We are literally having a very strong disagreement about something that truly doesn't exist [in other municipalities]. Those so-called supportive housing units that we're talking about pausing, they don't exist. They're a fiction because right now BC Housing is not bringing those things forward. We can wait, and we can keep asking to meet with them and talk to the province, but the fact is, the province, for all their good intentions, have not been able to deliver on those units.
As the mayor's designate for the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus, we've been trying to meet with BC Housing for five months, and we're not getting very far. These are the mayors of all the major cities around the province, and the ones who would also be looking to put in supportive housing in their cities. So the strong words and the strong feelings that were expressed in this chamber today, the City of Vancouver doesn't have a huge piggy bank to pay for a bunch of housing units.”
• ABC Vancouver Coun. Lisa Dominato (opposed):
“We know from this motion that it will likely exacerbate homelessness, disrupting the pipeline of housing stock. I've spoken with mayors and councillors across the region. This motion will not compel other cities to step up. They've just said that many of them have land or projects on the books that weren't funded by the province. It will not distribute supportive housing across the city. It will not enable step-down housing after people leave treatment and recovery.
It has created uncertainty for housing providers and tenants. It's still unclear which supportive housing projects will go ahead. There was no consultation with the non-profit housing sector or providers. And the narrow scope of this motion … it's actually stigmatizing. It's now focused on no net new supportive housing for people who are the most vulnerable and struggle with mental illness or substance use disorders.”
• ABC Vancouver Coun. Lenny Zhou (in favour):
“I think there is some myths and disinformation about this motion. Of course, this motion is not to stop building housing. It is actually about prioritizing, replacing unlivable housing with dignified, stable homes, ensuring that we are not just adding new units, but improving the conditions for people who already live there.
Many of our SRO buildings are in deep disrepair, infested, unsafe and unsanitary, and without urgent actions, we risk pushing even more people into homelessness. Yes, there are 80 people opposing this motion, but one thing I want to highlight is that many people who support this motion do not always come out to speak, perhaps because of their work obligation, availability or language barriers. However, their voices matter just as much as everyone.”
• Coun. Rebecca Bligh, who was recently expelled from ABC Vancouver (opposed):
“So we've got some folks saying that this housing doesn't even exist. I don't even know how you would even square that with bringing forward such a divisive motion, if that is the truth. I certainly am not going to spend my precious five minutes here throwing the province under the bus. This is about partnership. I don't want to make this any worse than it already is.
Any signal to the province to say that they're not doing enough, and so we're going to pick up our toys and go home, that's not leadership. Don't get me wrong, I know the Downtown Eastside has its unique challenges, but I've also seen how neighbourhoods can be transformed, can be lifted up, and can become the reflection of the city's heart and soul, and that's what I believe is possible.”
• ABC Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim (in favour):
“There's a lot of emotion on both sides of this. Look, we were elected to make tough decisions, the hard decisions that will shift the status quo, and set the city up on a path to long-term success. We're talking about solving big problems — big problems that have not been solved with the status quo thinking of the last 40 years.
I did have a conversation with Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon this morning, and I can tell you the province is committed to providing funding for supportive housing throughout the region, and I think that's great because there are other mayors in the region who have said they're more than happy to step up, but for the fact that the province hasn't provided funding.”
• ABC Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung (in favour):
“I was really struck when we were listening to all the speakers that came to speak today by how passionate everybody is. But the one thing that stood out for me was that we have failed people. We have really failed people to have gotten to this point, and there are a lot of inhumane conditions.
I think one of the speakers also described the Downtown Eastside as a place of healing. It may be relatively or potentially a healthy community. That's not my litmus test. I'm sorry, but I think we need to aspire to an awful lot better. There's nothing wrong with having some market rental and having social housing, supportive units, and having everybody live together.
That's a healthy, balanced community. It's not relegating people like Bartholomew did back in the day, where only certain types of people could only live in certain neighbourhoods. That's discriminatory. That's not a healthy community.”
• ABC Vancouver Coun. Peter Meiszner (in favour):
“I want to reaffirm that I truly believe in the power of well-operated supportive housing to transform people's lives. There's tons of evidence in our own city of this happening, and we heard that from many speakers today about the positive impact that supportive housing has made in their lives. The temporary pause contained in this motion does not mean that supportive housing doesn't work. It does work, but we can do better.
We can't deny that there's also some supportive housing in our city that is not operating well, that is in poor condition and in desperate need of upgrades or all-out replacement for life safety reasons to protect the people from fire, seismic risk, and frankly, because the residents that live in some of these buildings deserve better.
I see this motion as an avenue to strengthen our relationships with the province, and BC Housing and our neighbouring municipalities across the Lower Mainland on the need for a regional approach, as well as redirecting our efforts to renovating and upgrading the supportive housing that we have that isn't in good condition, and replacing the temporary modular housing in our city with permanent, new supportive housing buildings with robust wraparound services.”
ABC Vancouver Coun. Brian Montague supported the mayor’s motion, but didn’t provide any closing remarks.
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