Sun
There is still a long way to go, but Vancouver’s seemingly insoluble homelessness problem is now one small step — or even one giant leap — closer to being solved.
The provincial government announced Tuesday that, as part of an $80-million initiative to preserve and increase affordable housing, it has agreed to purchase 10 single-room occupancy hotels in Vancouver with a total of 595 rooms.
The deals were struck during secret negotiations with hotel owners over the last 60 days. Some units will require renovations, at an additional estimated cost of between $5,000 and $15,000 per unit.
In addition, Premier Gordon Campbell said the province will purchase one SRO hotel in Victoria, four other housing units in Vancouver and Burnaby, and fund 287 planned social-housing units in Vancouver, which means Victoria will purchase or fund a total of 996 units.
Just how momentous this development is becomes clear when it’s compared to the city of Vancouver’s commitment to acquire one SRO hotel a year. The provincial government’s announcement means that, as Mayor Sam Sullivan put it, “In one day, we’ve done 10 years’ worth of effort.”
This also means that the many people who were at risk of being evicted from SRO hotels will now be able to stay put, even during renovations.
However, despite all this good news, there is more that needs to be done. The governments must, for example, not merely commit to housing the homeless. If we don’t address the factors — such as mental illness and addictions — that lead to people losing their homes, then housing becomes warehousing, with residents condemned to live out their lives in social housing, and the city and province condemned to pay for it.
With proper supports, on the other hand, many people who currently need help could well achieve self-sufficiency. Fortunately, the province seems aware of this.
Rich Coleman, the provincial minister responsible for housing, said the goal is to provide the necessary supports, including health care and addiction services, so that people “can move on to other housing types.” To this end, the province plans to involve non-profit groups with experience in the operation of such hotels.
Further, the total number of new housing units — 287 — falls far short of the estimated need. Campbell seems aware of this as well, as he promised additional measures, saying, “This is not the end of this.”
If there’s one sore point in all of this, it’s the reaction of some politicians and activists. While many activists expressed their support for the housing initiative, several instead focused on blaming the provincial government for the current state of affairs.
Provincial New Democratic Party leader Carole James used the occasion of the announcement to issue her own, in which she said, “Gordon Campbell can’t be trusted to deal with growing homelessness on our streets.” Then she went on to attack the number of promised new units, the level of child poverty in B.C., and even cost overruns at the Vancouver Convention Centre and the Canada Line.
This is politics at its worst. To be sure, successive provincial governments, including this one, haven’t done nearly enough to address homelessness. But this latest step is one that should be applauded, rather than used to score cheap political points.
And rather than attacking the government for what it hasn’t done in the past, activists and opposition politicians should focus on pressuring the government to follow through on Tuesday’s promise, and to continue developing more initiatives that will finally make homelessness history.
