City council scraps social housing plan

Businessman balked at '20 per cent' requirement
Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier
Published: Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Businessman Toby Barazzuol wants to make it perfectly clear that he is not opposed to more social housing built in the Downtown Eastside.

But Barazzuol, owner of Eclipse Awards International, does not think small businesses such as his should also have to be in the social housing business.

That was the situation he faced four years ago when he wanted to add a second storey to his business at Heatley and Alexander streets. He discovered that a city requirement under the Downtown Eastside Oppenheimer District plan dictated that 20 per cent of the addition had to be devoted to social housing.

He said the requirement effectively would make him a landlord with tenants. The thought of needing to hire a non-profit to operate the units or managing it himself led him to scrap expansion plans.

Read the rest

Housing is 'real' 2010 legacy

Twelve-site housing project is underway
Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, December 21, 2007
VANCOUVER - It took more than 15 years to assemble the property and three nights of public forums to let everyone have their say, but council finally passed a motion this week to create 1,200 social and supportive housing units on 12 city-owned properties.

"It really is a miracle to have development get underway on all 12 of these sites at the same time," Mayor Sam Sullivan said.

The City of Vancouver has stepped up with $50 million worth of land and forged a partnership with the provincial housing authority to fast-track design and construction of the buildings.

Half of the buildings could be completed before Vancouver hosts the 2010 Winter Olympics and nearly all will be under construction by then.

"I think this project is going to be the real legacy of the 2010 Olympics," said Sullivan, who's made homelessness one of his top priorities since becoming mayor two years ago.

"I have told the federal and provincial governments that Vancouver is going to represent the country [in 2010] and I don't think you want the world to see what we've got right now."

The mayor's civil city project to reduce public disorder set a goal of reducing homelessness by 50 per cent before 2010. In 2005, the city's homeless action plan set a goal of creating 3,600 supportive and transitional housing units over 10 years.

The most recent figures on homelessness estimate over 2,000 live on the streets of Vancouver.

Read the rest here

See also City approves as many as 1,200 units of social housing from The Province

BC Housing Plan

This BC Housing site provides basic info about the Memo of Understanding between the City of Vancouver and the province around the building social housing on the 12 city-owned lots.

Lawsuit won't help homeless, Plant says

Pivot Legal's challenge against city is a waste of energy, Civil City commissioner adds

SHANNON RUPP
Special to The Globe and Mail
November 8, 2007

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver's Civil City commissioner believes that a lawsuit against the city for damages due to its reluctance to enforce building and maintenance bylaws distracts government from solving the real problem - a lack of affordable housing that forces tenants into substandard buildings.

Geoff Plant was commenting on a lawsuit filed by David Eby of Pivot Legal Society on behalf of James McQueen, who lost his possessions and was left homeless when the city closed the Downtown Eastside hotel he occupied Feb. 28.

The city argues there is no legal basis for the suit because the Vancouver Charter states that: "The city ... inspecting buildings, utilities, or structure ... has no legal duty on which a cause of action can be based ... to ensure buildings ... comply with the bylaw."

Read the rest here

City shrugs off responsibility for rentals

City of Vancouver argues it doesn't have to inspect or order repairs for rental buildings, court told

SHANNON RUPP
November 6, 2007

The City of Vancouver is mystifying renters and at least one councillor by taking the position that it doesn't have to inspect or order repairs for rental buildings that don't meet safety standards.

The argument is part of Vancouver's defence in a B.C. Supreme Court case by James McQueen, a former resident of one of the single-resident-occupancy hotels on the city's notorious Downtown Eastside.

Mr. McQueen, who is represented by David Eby of Pivot Legal, is suing for damages, including the possessions he lost, when the city closed the Picadilly Hotel abruptly on Feb. 28. According to Mr. Eby, his client had been living in a substandard building for about a year and a half due to the lack of regular inspection and bylaw enforcement by the city.

"The city should have been there way earlier," Mr. Eby said.

Read the rest here.

Project Civil City

Just a reminder of our link to Vancouver Public Space Network's informative page dealing with the Project Civil City initiative.

Province, city strike deal to fund new social housing projects
Frances Bula, Vancouver sun
Published: Saturday, July 14, 2007

Revenue from the sale of provincial land in Vancouver would be used to build new social housing in the city and the rest of B.C. under a proposed deal struck by Mayor Sam Sullivan and B.C. Housing.

B.C. Housing is preparing to ask for bids from private developers on the six-hectare Little Mountain housing site in the centre of Vancouver.

The Little Mountain deal, which Sullivan says could be the first of many, would take profits from redevelopment deals used to replace existing stock and finance new social housing.

Read the rest here.

The Responses

(Read The Offer here.)

House Swap offer: What Vancouver councillors say:
Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, July 06, 2007

NPA Councillor Suzanne Anton:
- What do you think of the Power of Women Group's proposed house swap?
"I think it's a very smart way to get attention to the issues that they're talking about," she said. "It's interesting that they decided to go after the city. . . at the end of the day though, the dollars for housing have to come from the provincial government."

- Are you going to take the group up on the challenge?
"An eight-week swap? The answer is no,"

Read the rest here.

The Offer

Invitation to Misery
Poverty-stricken women want mayor, councillors to walk a mile in their shoes
Chantal Eustace, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007

Downtown Eastside resident Paulina Walton said she doubts any city councillor will take up an offer to swap houses with her.

She is one of 40 women living in extreme poverty in the troubled neighbourhood who have challenged councillors to take part in an eight-week-long house swap.

That means living and working in the Downtown Eastside on $610 per month with access to only "basic necessities."

No cars. No credit cards. No cheating.

Read the rest here.

Tick Tock

The Clock is Ticking: Funding the Inner-City Inclusive Housing report
By Marc Lee

Over at the Art Gallery is the official countdown clock for the 2010 Olympics: there are now less than one thousand days left until the opening ceremonies. That may seem like plenty of time, but for folks concerned about the crisis in affordable housing, there is a lot of work to be done to get the place in shape.

Read the rest here.

Marc Lee is a Senior Economist with the BC office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He blogs with the Progressive Economics Forum .

Homeless to Housed

Homeless to Housed in One Day
BC's new way of finding people shelter will fail if new housing isn't built.
By Monte Paulsen
Published: June 1, 2007
TheTyee.ca

Judy Graves has spent much of the past two years waking the homeless and asking them a simple question: "If I got you on welfare today, and got you a room today, would you move in tonight?"

"They'd say yes," Graves described. "But I could see that what they were really thinking was, 'Bullshit, Lady.' Sometimes they'd say it out loud. They'd say, 'Nobody can do that.'"

Graves, who coordinates the Tenant Assistance Program for the City of Vancouver, was ready to reply.

"Nobody else can do that," she'd tell her newfound client. "But I can do that. And I'm going to show you. So pick up the blanket and tie up the pit bull, 'cause I'm taking you for breakfast."

Graves did show them. In less than two years, she and her small team of outreach workers have ushered more than 700 people from the streets of Vancouver into affordable housing -- not shelters, actual housing.

Read the rest here.

Strategy: Supportive Housing

The City of Vancouver will be holding community meetings in March and April in various neighborhood centres to discuss their Supportive Housing Strategy and how to successfully integrate new supportive housing projects into neighborhoods. Supportive Housing is affordable housing that provides links to support staff that assist tenants to stabilize their lives, enhance independent living skills, and re-connect with the community. The City's strategy partners with Vancouver Coastal Health in focusing on housing for people with mental illness and/or addictions.

The community meetings will be an opportunity for you to participate in the discussion, learn more about supportive housing, and to voice your support for housing for people with mental illness and addictions. Attached is a schedule of the community meetings. Please contact the City of Vancouver directly if you have any further questions regarding the community meetings or Housing Strategy by email at housing.centre@vancouver.ca

For more information, please go to the City of Vancouver website at http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/housing/supportivehousingstrategy/meetings.htm

Also, a group of consumers, family members, and staff will be organizing a meeting on Wednesday February 28th, 5-7 pm,to provide more information about the community meetings and Supportive Housing Strategy for those who are planning to attend the public meetings to support the City's Supportive Housing Strategy. For more information please contact:

Otto Lim, MSW
Coordinator, Family Support & Involvement
Vancouver Community Mental Health Services
#200 - 520 West 6th Ave
Vancouver, BCV5Z 4H5
TEL: 604-708-5289
FAX: 604-874-7661