Vancouver council approves mayor’s proposed freeze on new supportive housing

Critics of Ken Sim’s proposal to “pause” new supportive housing units gathered inside and outside of City Hall.

Vancouver city council passed a controversial motion from the mayor Wednesday, during a meeting that drew a crowd of protesters outside.

Ken Sim proposed a freeze on net-new supportive housing projects in the city, pushing forward an idea he introduced at a public safety forum last month.

The motion notes that it “does not encompass nor impact” supportive housing for seniors, women, families or youth aging out of care.

“We’re still going to be, you know, pursuing that,” Sim said. “What we’re saying is, you know, those are going to be the focus.”

The mayor also reiterated previous statements that other cities in B.C.’s Lower Mainland need to do more to address the region’s homelessness crisis.

“We already have enough challenges in the City of Vancouver,” Sim said. “We have crumbling SRO stock that is uninhabitable – we need to repair that.”

Despite representing only 25 per cent of the regional population, Vancouver is home to over 77 per cent of the region’s supportive housing and more than 67 per cent of its shelter spaces, according to Sim.

A group of protesters rallied outside city hall to express their support for supportive housing, and most of the 95 residents who registered to speak at Wednesday’s meeting opposed the mayor’s proposal as well.

Some housing advocates have argued Sim’s strategy will only make the problem worse.

“This is a regressive move because we know that Vancouver has a severe housing shortage, and we need housing of all types,” said Peter Waldkirch, with Abundant Housing Vancouver.

Coun. Rebecca Bligh, who was recently ousted from Sim’s ruling ABC party, also had a motion on the table Wednesday, calling for council to hear from provincial representatives about the potential implications of the mayor’s plans.

That motion was defeated.

The main motion passed with Bligh, Green Party Coun. Pete Fry and ABC Coun. Lisa Dominato opposed.

Bligh suggested the numbers being quoted by Sim are out of date, and that updated figures are needed to make an informed decision.

“It shows very poor leadership as a city, the biggest city in our region, to sort of shut our doors and say we’re not going to be part of the solution anymore, and everyone else has to pick up the slack,” said Bligh ahead of the meeting.

“It’s not a very inspiring message to those (in) Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, other big cities in our community that are trying to pull their weight as well.”

The councillor said Vancouver currently has more than 600 people sleeping outside, and 3,000 who are unhoused.

She acknowledged there isn’t a simple solution to address the homeless crisis.

“I think that’s part of the challenge with this motion. It’s conflating issues of criminal activity, organized crime, gang-related activity, with supportive housing. That’s simply not true. Supportive housing is simply housing with wraparound supports of some form,” said Bligh.

One of the biggest challenges is a lack of adequate staff needed to provide complex care in those facilities, she added.

“There is no one solution. These are very complex challenges, but taking oneself as a municipality out of the conversation to get to those solutions is, is, is an untenable place for us to be as a city of Vancouver,” said Bligh.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Yasmin Gandham