Vancouver hard-pressed to end homelessness by next year
City continues to make progress, but enormous challenges remain
Amyfaith House pokes her head out of a tent in Oppenheimer Park with a message for Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson: “I’m telling all my friends not to vote for him because he said he was going to end homelessness in the year 2015.”
House is one of dozens of vulnerable Downtown Eastside residents living in tents in the park and demanding solutions for homelessness — expected to be a key issue in the campaign leading up to next month’s municipal election.
In a bold move during his first election race in 2008, Robertson pledged his Vision Vancouver party would eradicate street homelessness in the city by 2015.
But, as the deadline looms, the lofty goal remains elusive. The annual homeless count in March found the number of people sleeping on the street had increased to 536, up from 154 in 2011. And the homeless ranks may have increased by as many as 50 people since March, the city says, because of rents in private SRO hotels constantly rising beyond what those on welfare can afford.
Robertson and the majority of Vision councillors at City Hall have made inroads on the issue during the last six years, working with the provincial government to provide more housing and services to bring down the number of unsheltered homeless from a high of 811 in 2008.
But will that work be overshadowed during a hard-fought election campaign when the main question facing Robertson may be: Will you fulfil your promise by 2015?
While advocacy organizations like the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) believe it will be impossible to shelter all the homeless in the next few months, Robertson remains optimistic.
“We do have the opportunity to achieve that goal. It is within our reach. But it means a concerted effort, for the rest of the year, getting shelters, interim housing and permanent housing opened,” he said in a recent interview with The Sun.
NPA mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe believes the system to address homelessness in the Downtown Eastside is broken. The NPA has not yet released its housing policies, but in a recent blog post LaPointe said the city needs to improve the safety and quality of the existing SRO stock.
COPE mayoral candidate Meena Wong has pledged, if elected, to protect rental housing stock, build public housing and ban evictions of tenants during Downtown Eastside hotel renovations.
After the shocking results of this year’s homeless count, Vancouver city manager Penny Ballem issued a report in July outlining a series of events that would need to occur for Robertson to fulfil his goal in 2015.
The plan, though, faces significant challenges, such as big construction projects being completed on time, the provincial government to kick in more money for shelters and rent supplements, and the homeless numbers not skyrocketing.
“We’re in striking distance, but it means all the partners stepping up, and it means the city continuing to take a leadership position. We have to advocate vigorously to ensure that this happens,” Robertson said.
The Sun asked City Hall and
We’re in striking distance, but it means all the partners stepping up,and it means th ecity continuing to take a leadership position.
GREGOR ROBERTSON
VANCOUVER MAYOR
B.C. Housing for updates on Ballem’s itemized plan, to determine if enough rooms could truly be created before the next homeless count in March 2015.
A Sept. 16 city staff update, provided to The Sun, indicates that since the homeless count found 536 people living unsheltered, rooms have been located for 200 of them in newly available buildings.
That should reduce the March homeless numbers to 336 people — except, the staff report says, there continues to be an erosion of privately owned SRO hotel rooms available at the welfare shelter rate of $375.
So, city staff concluded, the number of current street homeless in the city is estimated to be between 336 and 390.
In November and December, three new social housing buildings are scheduled to open, offering 249 rooms — which would leave between 90 and 140 street homeless.
The only other building nearing completion (the 149-room Budzey) is not guaranteed to be ready by March 2015.
City Hall announced Sept. 24 that starting in November it would lease the former Quality Inn hotel on Howe Street, to provide 157 units of interim housing for about two years while better, more permanent homes are created. That could house the final 90 to 140 people, assuming there is no increase in homeless numbers between now and next March.
With winter approaching, the city has spoken with B.C. Housing, Vancouver Coastal Health and the non-profit Streetohome Foundation about keeping two interim housing buildings open, as well as increasing the amount and start date of temporary winter shelters.
But the future of one of those interim housing buildings, the 100-room Bosman, is very precarious. B.C. Housing told The Sun it had provided funding for the Bosman only until this October, and that the residents will be moved into a new location this fall.
When asked by The Sun, B.C. Housing did not commit to funding more winter shelter beds or to increasing its rent supplement program for the homeless — another measure identified by Ballem to subsidize housing options for the city’s most needy.
“When I read (Ballem’s) report I thought, ‘ Here we go. The city thinks we need to pay for everything again’,” B.C. Housing minister Rich Coleman said in an interview.
Coleman, whose ministry has made significant investments to increase and improve housing in the Downtown Eastside, said homeless numbers are a constant “moving target” fuelled by many factors, such as the fluctuating stability of people with mental illness, support services for addicts, and the supply of safe housing. Predicting homelessness will end by a certain date may not be practical.
“I think a goal is important, but be realistic about the population you are trying to help and know they may struggle, and be realistic about your solutions,” Coleman said.
Ballem’s report also relied on actions by the city, such as introducing a new bylaw to force the private owners of 4,000 SRO rooms to improve maintenance to address issues such as bedbugs, damaged and unsecured doors, plugged toilets and broken windows. That bylaw has not yet been passed.
CCAP co-ordinator Tamara Herman said the city should also use its bylaws to stop rents in privately owned SROs from continuing to increase.
“Take a walk in the Downtown Eastside at night, go to Oppenheimer Park, and tell me this government is doing everything it can for housing. It isn’t,” Herman said.
Before moving to Oppenheimer Park when the tent city was started in July, House — who is known on the street as Yesterday — slept outside or in the Hazelwood Hotel, an old SRO awaiting renovations.
She joined other protesters at Vancouver City Hall in July, where a group of angry Downtown Eastside residents claimed the mayor had reneged on his promise to find safe homes for everyone on the street.
“I told Mayor Gregor Robertson to spend one night at the Hazelwood Hotel with the bedbugs, and the mice and the cockroaches. ... My tent is better,” said House, who used to work in construction but fell on hard times in recent years. “He lost my vote.” Since pitching her tent at Oppenheimer, House said she has been told she will be offered a new home. City Hall said recently that 40 people from the tent city had been given housing, and that 70 shelter beds had been created to offer temporary spots now that the weather has worsened.
In late September, the Parks Board went to B.C. Supreme Court to seek an injunction to clear the squatters out of Oppenheimer, arguing there is sufficient shelter for the homeless elsewhere in the city. Last week, a judge allowed the campers to stay until Monday so their lawyers had time to prepare their defence.
Robertson acknowledges that, if re-elected, his party has more work to do beyond finding homes for everyone on the street: there are another 1,200 Vancouver residents living in shelters.
This week, city hall adopted a capital plan that includes creating 2,500 units of social and supportive housing over the next four years.
“Street homelessness is the first milestone and eradicating homelessness overall is our longer-term goal,” Robertson said.
“That is still an enormous challenge.”