Vancouver city council voted 11-0 Thursday night in favour of Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s $30 million COVID-19 housing action plan to support unsheltered residents in all areas of the city.
“Tonight a majority of Councillors had the courage to take action and support my plan to allocate up to $30-million to support rapid-housing action and get hundreds of our neighbours off the street,” said Kennedy in a statement. “I would like to thank Councillors for their thoughtful interventions and amendments that helped strengthen my original motion.”
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Housing protest disrupts special city council meeting in Vancouver
“COVID-19 has reduced shelter capacity, forced people from SROs, eliminated incomes, and as a result pushed so many of our neighbours onto the street,” said Stewart. “The fastest way to help and get people back into safe housing with the wraparound services to stabilize people’s lives and communities is through securing spaces in hotels, vacant buildings, and SROs. This is the path that Council chose and I am grateful.”
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‘It’s moving in the opposite direction’: City of Vancouver to consider sanctioned tent cities
Council had approved a motion put forward by the mayor on Sept. 14 directing city staff to explore several options from permanent housing to managed encampments on vacant land.
In an Oct. 2 memo to the mayor and council, Arts, Culture and Community Services general manager Sandra Singh identified eight city-owned sites that could potentially support sanctioned temporary encampments with physically distanced tents and services – including two parkades, four empty lots, the lawn at city hall and a public plaza on the north side of city hall.
List of potential temporary sanctioned encampment sites:
180 Keefer St. – Chinatown Parkade
107 East Cordova St. – parkade
800 Quebec St. lot
1500 Main St. lot
987 East Cordova St. lot
2132 Ash St. lot (next to temporary modular housing)
City hall lawn
Helena Gutteridge Plaza – city hall public space
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City of Vancouver staff outline potential sites for sanctioned homeless encampment
Staff estimate about 750 people are sleeping outside in Vancouver. An unsanctioned encampment at Strathcona Park has grown to nearly 400 tents since activists established it in June after being evicted from a Port of Vancouver parking lot near CRAB Park. BC Housing believes about 200 people at Strathcona are currently homeless.
The estimated annual operating costs for a partially supported 40 tent encampment with 24/7 security and daytime staff seven days a week would be upwards of $2.1 million. A fully managed 40 tent encampment with 24/7 security and staffing is expected to cost in excess of $2.6 million per year.
