Opinion: Premier David Eby made big promises in December, but so far there's little progress on his main measure: A visible change in the streetscape in the Downtown Eastside.
VICTORIA — There was a touch of familiarity on Sunday when the New Democrats called a news conference to update Premier David Eby’s rescue plan for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon outlined the latest version of the provincial government plan for the troubled district. Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim attended in a supporting role.
The news release trumpeted “co-ordinated efforts to improve access to housing and supports.”
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Quote from Kahlon: “Everyone in the Downtown Eastside deserves a safe, stable and supportive place to call home.”
Fourteen weeks earlier, there’d been a similar themed event, fronted by Eby himself. In seeking the NDP leadership, he’d committed the province to lead the recovery of the Downtown Eastside
Sim and Eby were both in attendance then, too. The news release declared “housing on the way to support people living on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.”
Quote from Eby: “We need to do more to keep people off our streets, out of shelters, and get them into stable housing, where they can access health and social supports, and stop cycling between the streets and shelters.”
That was Dec. 14. By most accounts, there’s been little evidence of a turnaround since then.
People are still living on the streets. There are still reports of fires, weapons, violence, overdoses and unsafe living conditions of every kind. The fallout continues to ravage the city’s historic Chinatown.
Yet, on Sunday, the housing minister claimed progress.
“We have already provided new homes to 90 people, who have accepted offers and moved into homes,” he told reporters on Sunday.
“There are currently 117 people sheltering outside on East Hastings,” he added and only 70 of those “are still seeking housing.”
Back in December, Eby, quoting Kahlon, said “about 475 people are living outside right now.”
But it is not clear if the two tallies refer to the same locations.
Eby vowed last fall that the encampment at CRAB Park on the waterfront had to go.
On Sunday, Kahlon claimed some success in housing people at CRAB Park encampment. He said the population there was now down to “20 people.”
However when Postmedia’s Sarah Grochowski interviewed volunteers at Crab Park during the December cold snap, she reported the tent city then had “20 or so residents,” suggesting there has been no reduction since.
Not for the first time was it hard to credit a government claim of progress on the DTES.
“I really don’t know a lot of the details about how this exactly breaks down,” housing advocate Fiona York told Michelle Eliot on CBC’s On the Coast.
“I know that there are 89 units of very temporary, modular, dorm-style housing, which are very tiny units — slightly bigger than a jail cell — and then a mix of SRO and supportive house units.”
She couldn’t understand why the government plan made use of notorious SROs — single room occupancy hotels.
Eby started the year by declaring them unfit for human habitation. Now his government seemed to be relying on them as a stopgap measure.
The mixed messaging on SROs obliged Kahlon to ride to the boss’s rescue.
“A lot of SROs are actually in decent shape,” he told Simi Sara on CKNW. “And the new ones we’re bringing on are fully renovated.”
Along with the modest update on Sunday, the government released its plan for “supporting the Downtown Eastside.”
It was subtitled “a working document,” perhaps in hopes of lowering expectations, as the contents were underwhelming.
Most of the 13 pages were given over to rhetoric about what the government hopes to accomplish, bereft of timelines, costing or other specifics.
Goal 1: “Clear, co-ordinated, and regular communication with people sheltering outdoors in the Downtown Eastside, Indigenous partners, advocates and community members, to reduce fears, encourage engagement and bring together the community in support of those most vulnerable.”
Goal 2: “Transition the DTES back to a safe and manageable area where all community members can thrive.”
Goal 3: “Help people sheltering outdoors, and in shelters, with co-ordinated transition to indoor spaces and housing and provide access to integrated health, social and community services, pre-employment and employment services.”
Only on Goal 4 — accessible shelter and housing options — were there measurable indicators whereby one could judge the success or failure of the plan.
Already the government claims to have completed “139 new or renovated SRO spaces since July 2022.”
Looking ahead it promises to open “330 homes between now and the end of June 2023 to support people in the Downtown Eastside.”
Included in the latter tally are two modular housing installations, promised back in December, “that will provide 89 homes by spring.”
That’s it until the next update, presumably due this summer, when all the homes are supposed to be ready for occupation.
If the government can meet the target, it ought to have a visible affect on the streetscape in the Downtown Eastside, as Eby himself noted.
“People who pass through the neighbourhood — or even the tourists who come through — can we see improvement? Can we see it is getting healthier? That will be the big indicator.”
Agreed. And should that happen, Eby will have something to celebrate.
vpalmer@postmedia.com
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