But critics want to see the government commit to building more social housing
Jonathan Fowlie
Sun
Emergency homeless shelters across the province will soon have funding to open their doors 24 hours a day, Premier Gordon Campbell announced Friday as he rolled out details of his government’s new $41 million provincial housing program.
“We want to try to help people remove themselves from [the] cycle of homelessness which is so devastating in all of their lives,” Campbell said, adding the province is also committing money for outreach workers to help people find social and medical services.
With the world’s attention on its way to Vancouver for the Winter Games in 2010, and the shortage of social housing an increasingly volatile issue in B.C., the announcement is another move by Campbell to try to show his Liberal government can better deal with the housing challenge than the rival New Democratic Party.
“We’re not at the end of this but we’ve made real progress in the last year and we are going to continue to build on that,” Campbell said Friday, flanked by Rich Coleman, Minister of Forests, who is responsible for housing.
The two explained that by April, all of B.C.’s emergency shelters will be open 24 hours a day, meaning people who use them will not have to line up for a bed at night, or be put back on to the streets first thing in the morning.
They added there is also $1.1 million to help an extra 750 people pay for rent, and $500,000 allotted specifically for aboriginal outreach.
Coleman said the announcement secures B.C. as a national leader in tackling a homelessness.
“There is not a jurisdiction in this country that you can find that is [as] advanced on housing as we are in British Columbia today,” he said.
Housing advocates across Vancouver were critical.
“There’s not one unit of housing in [the announcement],” said Jean Swanson of the Downtown Eastside’s Carnegie Community Action Project.
“A 24-hour shelter is a commitment to homelessness.”
She said the only way to solve homelessness is to build housing.
David Eby of the Pivot Legal Society offered a similar reproach.
“I’m really disappointed by today’s announcement,” he said. “We honestly believed they would be announcing housing units.”
NDP leader Carole James called the announcement an “embarrassment.”
“We’ve had the premier for a year saying he’s going to put together a housing strategy and here we are again with no housing,” James said. “There was nothing in this announcement on bricks an mortar for housing. It’s all temporary once again.”
In response, Campbell said the plan includes $10 million to fast-track developments for social housing in communities throughout the province — a contribution he estimates will eventually translate into 1,500 social housing units.
He said the government is speaking with municipal governments in Surrey, Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna about potential sites, and that the province will help get those ready for development.
Beyond that there were no commitments on funding to build any of the projects, only suggestions the province would work with municipalities and non-profits to ensure the job gets done.
That was where the critics pounced. But Campbell and Coleman were ready.
“There are going to be people that never think it’s enough and I understand that,” Campbell said.
“This is the beginning of the line,” added Coleman. “There’s more to come. Wait and see.”
