Jean Swanson
Sun
How many of you know that the B.C. government has a $250 -million Housing Endowment Fund sitting in a bank collecting a measly $10 million or so a year in interest? And did you know that the government is refusing to spend this money (except for the interest) on housing for homeless people? How many of you know that it would cost the province about $33 million a year less to provide housing and supports for homeless people than to leave them on the streets? If you don’t know all this, you can be forgiven. But the government can’t. It funded the Simon Fraser study that tells them this fact.
My lawyer friend tells me that the provincial government could easily pass an act converting the Housing Endowment Fund to cash. That cash could build about 1,250 units of housing outright or provide a down payment on enough housing to make a serious dent in homelessness. If the government built this housing, jobs would be created to help with the recession. Vulnerable and sick people could have stable, even nice lives. Businesses and residents who don’t like homeless people in their areas would be happy. And taxpayers would save money. To me this seems like a win, win, win, win.
So my question is: What is stopping the province from using the Housing Endowment Fund to build housing for homeless people now?
I know what they’ll say. First, they’ll say, “We’ve bought hundreds of hotel rooms.” But those hotel rooms, while better than nothing, were mostly full when they were purchased. They are not additional housing. And they are still one tiny room with a shared bathroom down the hall and no private kitchen.
Then they’ll say, “We’re building housing on 14 sites in Vancouver.” True, 12 of these sites have been bragged about since 2007. But shovels have only gone into the ground at two. Housing for the homeless is not as great a priority as Olympic venues are. One of the projects that has finally begun is at 1005 Station St. in the Downtown Eastside. The province cancelled that one back in 2001 and has now revived it. And, at least six of the 14 sites don’t even have committed funding.
Then the province might say it can’t build the needed housing because it is in a financial crunch because of the recession. But I would think that would give them an extra reason to save the $33 million a year that could be saved by building the housing, especially if they use the HEF, which is just sitting there.
If the 14 sites are built in Vancouver, that will be about 1,400 units of housing. About 8,000 to 15,500 people with illness and addictions are living on the streets or in shelters throughout the province.
Jean Swanson is a community activist in Vancouver.
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