Vancouver mayor rejects new supportive housing projects, promises ‘crackdown’ in Downtown Eastside

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim is seen in a December 2024 file image. (Credit: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile/Getty Images) (Ramsey Cardy/Photographer: Ramsey Cardy/Sport)

Vancouver’s mayor intends to reject any new supportive housing projects proposed in his city.

Ken Sim made the major policy announcement Thursday at a public safety forum organized by the Save Our Streets coalition of community and business groups.

“I’ll be bringing a motion to council to pause any net new supportive housing units in the city of Vancouver until we see increased housing availability across the region,” he said. “It’s also time for other communities to step up and develop supportive housing in their communities as well.”

He said while Vancouver has 25 per cent of the region’s population, 77 per cent of the supportive housing, 67 per cent of shelter spaces and more than half the social housing is in the city.

“Despite the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in (the Downtown Eastside), this approach has failed,” he told attendees. “We need to rethink the hyper-concentration of services in the Downtown Eastside.”

He suggested there is a “poverty-industrial complex” in the neighbourhood, describing the area as a hub for gangs and drug activity, and promised a Vancouver police “crackdown” on organized crime.

“We’ll support the Vancouver Police Department (in) launching a city-wide crackdown on gangs, equipping law enforcement with the tools to target these criminal networks that prey on our most vulnerable residents” he said. “To be clear, this will not be an easy fight, but is one that’s necessary.”