By Ashley Shapiro and Emma Juniper
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim recently announced that he will bring forward a motion to Vancouver City Council, canceling the construction of new supportive housing projects. He has also brought forward a plan to amend the Downtown Eastside (DTES) Neighbourhood Plan, focusing on the needs of developers and businesses over providing deeply affordable housing for the community.
These proposed amendments to zoning regulations would cut back on existing exceptional allowances in the DTES for social housing in favour of commercial development.
The mayor’s plans were announced at a forum organized by “Save Our Streets,” a coalition of major retailers, property developers, property management groups and security companies that consistently advocate for policies emphasizing increased police presence and harsher penalties targeting unhoused community members – prioritizing profit over community well-being. Members include Aritzia, Anthem Properties, Save-On-Foods, Blackbird Security and others.
Sim has stated that his freeze on constructing new supportive housing in the city is due to the over-concentration of services on the DTES, asserting that the rest of the province should share in this responsibility. He is correct that other cities and municipalities across BC have failed to address their housing crises through constructing new units. While the DTES maintains a relatively high concentration of social and supportive housing, his proposal to freeze the construction of new projects in Vancouver undermines the actual circumstances.
The current plan for supportive housing in Vancouver falls drastically short of what is needed. Advocates report that there are over 3,000 people on the supportive housing waitlist in Vancouver, while the city’s 10-year plan targets the construction of only 1,500 new supportive housing units – far below the existing demand. Furthermore, over 700 units of temporary modular supportive housing are at risk of being lost, exacerbating the shortage of housing in Vancouver.
While the broader provincial approach to housing is indeed inadequate, shifting the burden away from Vancouver does little to resolve the housing crisis and instead compounds the challenges faced by the city’s most vulnerable populations.
Supportive housing has proven to be one of the most effective ways to prevent homelessness and provide stability for individuals with complex needs. By halting the construction of these units, Sim’s motion risks leaving thousands of Vancouver residents without access to stable, affordable homes with essential on-site services. There is a significant portion of the unhoused DTES community who are from Vancouver and are unable to find housing. Sim’s proposal ignores the reality that many unhoused individuals in the DTES have deep roots in the neighbourhood, relying on its networks of support, culture and resources to survive, find stability and build community.
Furthermore, the proposal to amend the DTES Neighbourhood Plan to prioritize business and market rental interests over housing affordability ignores the historical and cultural significance of the DTES community, which has long been a refuge for marginalized groups. This proposal is to further gentrify the neighborhood through zoning changes that reduce the availability of affordable housing, worsening the housing crisis. It also threatens to limit the true affordability of housing in the neighborhood, where many residents – relying on pensions, disability benefits or income assistance – cannot afford so-called low-end market rental units.
In fact, over 25 percent of renters in Vancouver are already paying more than 50 percent of their income on housing, with the most vulnerable populations facing the greatest burden.
Sim is also proposing further collaborations with the police, including crackdown-style initiatives that disproportionately target marginalized residents, solidify the increasing militarization of the Vancouver Police Department, and heighten the criminalization of poverty and homelessness rather than addressing its root causes. The neighbourhood’s challenges, including poverty and homelessness, cannot be solved by forcefully displacing low-income residents or redirecting resources toward business-centric goals.
Mayor Sim’s argument that other municipalities need to do their part is valid. Communities outside of Vancouver have a responsibility to their residents and an obligation to provide adequate housing, ensuring that individuals can remain within their own communities rather than being displaced to urban centers like the DTES. Whether housed or unhoused, many residents of the neighbourhood have lived there for decades, forming community around affordable housing and supportive resources that were systematically unavailable elsewhere.
What BC needs is an increase across the province in truly affordable, safe, dignified and supportive housing units at shelter rates – not a halt in construction where the need is most critical and increasing attacks on a marginalized population.
Moving forward, city and municipal policies should aim to expand supportive housing in other parts of Vancouver and the province while ensuring the DTES community continues to receive the investments it needs, rather than diminishing its resources.
Freezing the construction of supportive housing is a reckless and devastating decision that will only deepen the housing crisis and leave countless vulnerable individuals without the support they desperately need. Sim’s plans are based on monetary interests, prioritizing profits and gentrification over the basic human right to housing and the well-being of Vancouver’s most vulnerable residents.
[Photo: Community Housing Transformation Centre]
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