Vancouver City Council to debate mayor’s controversial motion to stop building new supportive housing

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim speaks during a news conference for a housing announcement in Vancouver, B.C., Dec. 15, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Vancouver city council is set to debate a controversial motion from the mayor Wednesday.

Ken Sim is proposing that Vancouver halt all net-new supportive housing projects in the city.

Sim first introduced the idea last month at a public safety forum.

He said it was time for the rest of the region to do its part to address the homeless crisis, because right now, his city is doing more than its fair share.

“To put it bluntly, it’s also time for other municipalities to step up and develop supportive housing in their communities, as well,” said the mayor back in January.

Sim says 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.

He argues a pause on building new supportive housing would allow the city to address its current stock until inventory elsewhere in Metro Vancouver increases.

Some housing advocates have said 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.

Recently ousted ABC Councillor, Rebecca Bligh also has a motion on the table Wednesday.

Bligh has said she would like staff to invite a delegation from the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs and BC Housing to speak to council about the implications of the mayor’s proposal.

She says the goal of her motion is to provide a provincial lens on the current supportive housing situation in B.C.

Bligh says the numbers being quoted by the mayor are out of date and updated figures are needed to make an informed decision.

She is not supportive of the mayor’s motion.

“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. 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,” Bligh told CTV News.

The councillor says the city currently has more than 600 people sleeping outside and 3,000 people unhoused. She admits 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.

She says the city also needs to address issues with its aging SRO housing stock and challenges with hotels that were purchased coming out of COVID-19 to help people shelter inside instead of in parks.

Bligh says one of the biggest challenges is a lack of adequate staff needed to provide complex care in those facilities.

“There is no one solution. These are very complex challenges, but taking one’s self 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.

A protest against the motion, organized by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, is planned for Wednesday afternoon outside city hall.