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I'm following along with Vancouver city council this morning on a discussion on this report, options to housing people experiencing homelessness: https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/10/06/750-People-Need-Homes-Vancouver/
Mayor @kennedystewart has also introduced this motion, suggesting the city free up $30 million to purchase hotels/apartments/SROs https://council.vancouver.ca/20201008/documents/spec2.pdf
Coun. @christineeboyle is asking about the timeline for buying/leasing hotels, apartments and SROs. Staff tell her it would take 6-8 months to negotiate.
Andrew Newman with the city's real estate dept. says staff have identified several sites. The properties are not for sale right now, but the owners are interested in selling.
Coun. @JeanSwanson_ says the timelines are so long, could we do a "COVID response, only for homelessness?"
Dep. city manager Paul Mochrie says city staff do speed up permits for renovation and construction, gives as an example city's work on building modular housing buildings.
Andrew Newman of real estate dept: we are in full throes of talking with owners of sites, but we need federal dollars to flow to proceed quickly.
Mayor @kennedystewart asks about leasing. Real estate dept. says leasing timeline wouldn't be any faster than purchasing. Stewart asks why could BC Housing do it so quickly? Newman says BC Housing was willing to spend pretty big to acquire the hotels
Coun. @rebeccaleebligh asks how city staff are sure 200 people are in Strathcona Park encampment. Staff saying that data is from @PHScss who have been doing outreach work, city staff have not been able to get access to the camp - camp leadership doesn't want them there.
Dep. VPD chief @DeputyChow says there have been violent incidents in Strathcona Park - a man shot in the foot, another man beaten with a pipe - & police have experienced "resistance" when they try to go into the tent city. Park board staff, ambulance are also fearful, Chow says.
Coun. @PtFry asks @VCHhealthcare's Chris Van Veen about whether there is contact tracing for COVID in Strathcona Park. Van Veen is dancing around this, but PHS has been working with VCH on COVID testing. In this story: https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/10/08/Jennifer-Allan-DTES-COVID-Case-Story/
Coun. Hardwick asking about tiny homes, says she'd like to see this model explored as a temporary solution. Staffer Celine Mauboules says staff is used to the hotel lease/purchase, and using buildings for shelters, options and could do those quickly. https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/10/07/Tiny-Homes-By-City-Hall-Official-Interest/
... but would need to change zoning and building codes to allow tiny homes, so that would take longer, Celine Mauboules says.
Coun. @sarahkirby_yung asks staff what their concerns are re: Strathcona Park encampment continuing as-is. City manager Sadhu Johnston says staff have safety concerns around fire, but @VCHhealthcare has told staff that moving people could be harmful in COVID-19 pandemic
. @DeputyChow says VPD has a lot of concerns about people in the camp being victims of violence. Says 98% of people living in previous encampment had mental illness and/or addiction issues, and ppl with mental illness are 23X more likely to be victims of violence.
Before council goes on a short break, mayor @kennedystewart says his notes from BC Housing say the agency took just 7 days to complete leasing agreements for hotels, wants city staff to tell him why they're estimating it would take longer.
Council resumes, mayor @kennedystewart introduces his motion to allocate $30 million to spend on leasing/buying hotels, apartment buildings or SROs. He says it's a "tested" solution and he's basically guaranteeing senior government will come on board with funding.
An exchange between Coun. Hardwick and mayor @kennedystewart on the proposed $30 million to address homelessness
Time for speakers - there are 34 speakers signed up to speak. The first speaker is the owner of a cross-fit gym in the Downtown Eastside. Says the creation of an encampment across the street (proposed location in staff's memo) will destroy her business.
A Stathcona residents is talking about a gun she found in a bag (she later found out it was a replica but it was very scary) and another incident where she and another resident responded to a man yelling for help, another man was chasing him with a "running chainsaw"
The Strathcona resident says she'd be happy to see a temporary disaster relief shelter in the neighbourhood as long as it has supports to help vulnerable people.
"This is not something I want to see moved, I want to see it managed from a safety and violent crime perspective" says the Strathcona resident, Marie Willcock.
Willcock said she and neighbours, particularly elderly people, are afraid of getting COVID-19 from the Strathcona Park tent city residents because she can't imagine what social distancing or other measures are in place.
Council is now recessed, back at 1:00 to continue hearing speakers.
Council is back! We're hearing from Theodora Lamb, the executive director of the Strathcona BIA. Says business owners/residents should be consulted when tent city residents are moved into housing and shelters, in the past there has been an increase in street disorder.
Katie Lewis of Strathcona Residents Assoc. says she's supportive of the motion to spend $30 million to house homeless people, but can't wait 6 months, need action now. Says there have always been tents in the park but the encampment is too big and is "out of control"
Lewis says there are 200 "truly" homeless people in the park, but questions the motives of the activists who have been supporting the camp.
Lewis says there have been multiple GoFundMe campaigns to pay for things like showers and laundry, but questions where that money is going.
Quite a few Strathcona Park residents have said they support Coun. @rebeccaleebligh's suggestion to create a temporary disaster relief shelter.
Jamie Maclaren, a Strathcona Park resident, says if council picks the option of buying hotels & apartments as the only solution, it's not enough - won't help the situation fast enough.
Jamie Maclaren says Strathcona Residents Association supports buying hotels in conjunction with disaster relief shelter.
. @kwardvancouver is telling Vancouver city council that "now that it's exploded to other neighbourhoods, people suddenly care." She says, "living in the Downtown Eastside, it feels like a forever emergency."
. @kwardvancouver is asking council why one lane of E. Hastings can't be closed to reduce crowding. And couldn't the empty storefronts be put to better use right now? Seeing as how we're in an emergency (COVID-19)
. @kwardvancouver is asking councillors to think about the root causes of violence (people feel trapped, have nowhere to go) using drugs (people don't have access to a doctor) feces on the streets (no bathrooms for ppl to use)
Here for the long haul #vanpoli https://twitter.com/VanCityClerk/status/1314340589341741056?s=20
John Irwin, a park board commissioner who has voted against applying for an injunction to clear the Oppenheimer Park encampment, says he would not vote in favour of an injunction to clear Strathcona Park, even if the city has a bunch more housing (not shelters) available.
But park board commissioner John Irwin says he thinks if enough high-quality housing is available, tent city residents will move into it voluntarily. He says injunctions just push the problem from site to site.
A supporter of the tent city at Strathcona Park says the city should use its emergency powers under the current state of emergency (because of COVID-19) to expropriate hotels to house people.
Christine Kennedy, a resident of the Strathcona Park tent city, cooks for the encampment and gets paid $100 a week. She questions why people in prison gets more space than people who need housing. "We're not a bunch of crazed lunatics who run around with arsenals of weapons"
Kennedy says the SROs that are being offered are not acceptable. She says many of them are unhealthy, have black mold and cause health problems.
Kennedy says: "I don't think we need to be shoved into something resembling a FEMA camp." She says she's really tired of being robbed daily. The other camp residents are like family and if she's separated from them it's going to be really hard to adjust.
Councillors have no questions for tent city resident Christine Kennedy.
A speaker who has lived in the Oppenheimer Park tent city and lived in SROs and shelters says it's common for people to be constantly evicted from that housing.
Again, no questions from council.
Again, no questions from council.
A speaker who has been homeless for seven years says she has had conflicts with staff of buildings run by non-profit housing providers and would like to live in a regular apartment building where her tenancy rights would be better protected.
. @JeanSwanson_, who is not at city hall, asks staff to pull "a little blanket" out of a drawer in her office to give to this speaker.
Next speaker, Devon Cooper, says if we build more housing for low-income people more homeless people will move to Vancouver.
Speakers are over. Now council will pose a second round of questions from councillors to staff.
Andrew Newman from the city's real estate dept says it took BC Housing around a week to finalize leases for Buchan and Howard Johnson hotels in. But there was a lot of legwork before. He previously said it would take the city 6 months but now says it would likely be shorter
Newman: we're in discussions with hotel operators to both lease and purchase, hoping to secure 150 rooms through purchase and more through lease. Appetite on both sites (city and property owners) to make a deal happen.
