Encampment eviction plan leaked

Good morning,

As I write this newsletter I’m snacking on some nuts and dried fruit from Ayoub’s. I love the idea of supporting local businesses, especially ones that make such great food. Cannot recommend them enough. Get the dried plums and the lime and pepper nuts.

Today’s newsletter features some big stories on housing, a brand new section summarizing local arts news, and a plan to remove Vancouver’s tent encampment. Please reply and let me know if you enjoy the arts section!

Let’s get to it.

Geoff Sharpe, Vancity Lookout newsletter writer

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WEATHER

Wednesday: 12 🌡️ 6 | ⛅

Thursday: 11 🌡️ 7 | 🌧

Friday: 11 🌡️ 7 | 🌧

VANCOUVER BY THE NUMBERS

38%: The percentage of households in Vancouver that rent. Construction of purpose-built rentals is also at a 20-year high. [Urbanized]

10%: The rate of office vacancies in downtown Vancouver. This is the first time it’s been this high in 20 years. [CBC]

42%: How much home sales are down in March from a year ago, yet the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver also sees home prices rising by the end of the year. [CTV]

CITY HALL

Leaked document outlines plan to clear East Hastings encampment

What happened: A leaked document from the City of Vancouver sheds light on how the government plans to remove campers within the tent encampment along East Hastings, according to CTV. The Vancouver Area Network of Drug User (VANDU) obtained the document and sent it to the media.

How it’ll work: The plan has two approaches to removing the tents, according to CTV:

1. What’s called “accelerated structures removal” where staff will “no longer disengage when tensions rise” and communicate shelter options;

2. And targeting high-risk sites, led by the police, to remove the structures.

The problem: Housing currently offered for homeless people is so bad that many people refuse to live in them. Stories of SROs with cockroaches, broken elevators, and filthy living conditions are common. There is also not enough housing supply for Vancouver’s homeless population, which is one reason the provincial government announced 90 new temporary modular housing units for the Downtown Eastside, according to CTV.

• SRO prices also continue to rise, according to CBC.

Rewind: This isn’t the first time the city has tried to clear the encampment. The city tried last August, but most structures still remained, according to CBC. A previous memorandum of understanding was developed in 2021 to end the homeless camp at Strathcona Park, which was conditioned upon housing for the encampment residents, according to CBC.

• The numbers: So far, 570 structures have been removed since last summer. There were 117 people living there, and 90 had found housing, according to CTV.

Reporter Jen St. Denis from The Tyee visited the community to see what residents thought. She also detailed an SRO being emptied.

The province had this to say about the decision, according to reporting by CTV: “We're seeing fires, assaults, this is why we don't support encampments as a response to homelessness and why we feel huge urgency to address this issue.”

The key question: As mentioned above, it’s not the first time the city has tried to clear the encampments. Without adequate and higher-quality housing, it’s unclear if other encampments won’t sprout up elsewhere.

HOUSING

B.C. announces housing measures, including fast-tracking missing middle housing

Premier David Eby announced his government’s plan to tackle sky-high housing prices by expanding the housing supply, according to the Vancouver Sun.

The breakdown: The policy expands the “missing middle” housing. The city has many single-family homes but few multiplexes, townhouses or other multi-unit buildings.

• Currently, building this type of housing comes with a lot of red tape. The plan would see fast-tracked approval for single-family lots to become multi-unit developments, and as long as they meet key requirements, local city councils would have to approve them. Normally, these projects can take up to two years.

The problems: Critics say this may result in higher prices as property values increase with the expectation of redevelopment. Some mayors also expressed reservations about taking away land planning decisions from local decision-makers, according to the Vancouver Sun.

Let’s be real: Municipalities have had decades to fix the problem and little has been done. Maybe it’s time for other levels of government to try something different.

Other policies the government announced, according to Urbanized, include:

• BC Builds, a plan to build 10,000 affordable middle-income homes in 10-15 years;

• Build 6,000 social housing units over 10 years;

• And create 3,900 more supportive housing units

Yes, but: This is not law yet nor has it been introduced as a bill, which won’t happen till the fall. There’s still a chance the policy might change.

Dig deeper: Columnist Rob Shaw breaks down what he believes are misleading home building numbers touted by the NDP. [Vancouer is Awesome]

DREAM HOME

Normally we’d feature three homes, but there are so many housing stories in today’s newsletter we decided to feature one house this week.

Today’s featured home is, like any of our featured places, expensive. But this spacious three-bedroom, two-bathroom in the West End is artfully designed. With lots of windows, a spa-like bathroom, and many other amenities, it’s worth seeing. How could you not love a kitchen like this?

THE AGENDA

🏠 Nature is healing itself, as high-end real estate is making a comeback in Vancouver. [Vancouver is Awesome]

🏗️ The Downtown Eastside Market will need to find a new location after the city decided not to demolish a heritage building, after public feedback. [Global]

🏒 Who are the best Canucks prospects? Elias Pettersson, Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Aatu Räty top the list. [The Athletic]

📊 A deep-dive into social housing in BC shows no standard way to measure affordable housing or data to show if the programs are helping people. [Vancouver is Awesome]

🏳️‍⚧️ A motion was put forth in the legislature to support performers and attendees at drag events. Members from all major parties spoke in favour of it. [Vancouver is Awesome]

🔥 Burnaby firefighters who were first on the scene when Myles Gray was killed gave differing testimony. Two firefighters said they were not allowed to assess Myles’ injuries because he wasn’t under control, while two others said Myles was motionless. [CBC]

🏥 The B.C. government announced $750 million to enshrine patient-to-nurse ratios to improve the nursing shortage. B.C. is the first province to do something like this. [Global]

CITY HALL

Task force assemble

What happened: Mayor Ken Sim announced a Mayor’s Budget Task Force, to review expenses and find efficiencies in city finances, according to CityNews.

• The volunteer group comprises a diverse set of people, including a former Musqueam band member and a former BC NDP MLA.

“These actionable recommendations will empower city hall to make better decisions on the city’s finances, services, and infrastructure, while also noting the opportunities and challenges for consideration in future budget deliberations,” Sim said.

The fine print: The task force won’t look at the Parks Board, Vancouver Police Department (VPD) or the Vancouver Public Library, according to CBC. These also happen to be departments that have the most front-facing services for the city.

• VPD is also the largest spending department.

The key focus: Sim noted the goal is to make citizens’ tax dollars work more efficiently for the city.

Big picture: It’s common for new administrations to focus on finding efficiencies and cutting expenses through comprehensive reviews. The challenge isn’t the report but actually enacting efficiencies, or in other words, cuts.

Thought-bubble: The task force comes as Sim’s ABC team, who made attacks on rising taxes and costs a key part of their election campaign. Once in office, they raised taxes by 10.7 percent, the highest in more than a decade according to Global. Could that be related? Your humble newsletter writer couldn’t say.

ARTS

What’s going on with Vancouver arts

Spring arts guide: Stir has put together a helpful guide to all-things-art in Vancouver.

Pink light: Discover a massive new light-based art installation Pink Apocalypse at 1661 Davie St. [Vancouver is Awesome]

Frida Kahlo: The famous Mexican artist is featured in a new immersive art experience at the PNE Agrodome. It arrives on May 3 and tickets are now on sale. [Stir]

Meat and fire: Ethically sourced? Flame-cooked meat? Bison, boar, elk and so much more? If this sounds like your jam, check out the Brewery & The Beast event. But hurry, tickets go fast. [Stir]

New tour: Psych-pop-folk-punk-et-al is how the band Pink Mountaintops are described. It’s all here in an interview with the band, as they discuss their upcoming tour. [Georgia Straight]

Hard-edge: Check out the showcase of hard-edged abstract paintings from the 60s and 70s. Many are from the permanent collection but are being shown for the first time. [Van Art Gallery]

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• This lovely story explores how this interfaith Vancouver couple observes Ramadan. [Vancouver is Awesome]

• Heck yes, it’s patio season. As of April 1, the sidewalk patios are back across the city. So far 130 permits have been issued. [Vancouver]

• Flights out east aren’t always expensive. You can get one right now for $133. [Vancouver is Awesome]

• Here’s a neat timelapse video of the Port Mann bridge construction. [Ministry of Transportation, BC]

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Ugh…

PHOTO OF THE DAY

How’s this for a view?

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