Oppenheimer Park activists protest secrecy around provincial housing plan
Credit to Author: Zak Vescera| Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2019 01:12:04 +0000
Housing advocates and residents of a “tent city” in Vancouver’s Oppenheimer Park claim a still-unannounced plan to clear out the park won’t address the underlying problem of insufficient social housing.
Chrissy Brett, an advocate for the homeless living in the camp of more than 100 tents, says B.C. Housing, the agency that administers subsidized housing in the province, has been holding onto social housing units for months in preparation for the park’s residents.
She said those currently living in Oppenheimer Park, of which there are currently at least 130, expect to receive notice of eviction as early as Friday.
By keeping rooms vacant, Brett said, the city and B.C. Housing may have been preventing those in need from obtaining housing.
In a statement, B.C. Housing denied there was any “housing freeze” in place, but said the agency and the city had been “taking stock of vacancies” in existing shelters and buildings and had expedited repairs on several vacant units. Some of those repairs were finished on Aug. 12.
Postmedia confirmed some housing providers were asked by B.C. Housing to hold rooms and was told by three sources at B.C. Housing and the City of Vancouver that those rooms are for current Oppenheimer Park residents.
Janice Abbott, the CEO of Atira Women’s Society, said B.C. Housing began holding their units roughly six weeks ago through the central coordinated access process for social housing applicants.
She said this has happened before when shelters or social housing providers expect surges in homelessness, but that in this case Atira was not told why it was necessary.
“We’re not always given a clear reason,” she said. “ And maybe that’s because everybody thinks that everybody knows. We’re hearing the same rumours as everyone else.”
She was not immediately able to say how many rooms were held for how long, but says Atira has a policy of never refusing shelter to someone in crisis.
First United Church executive director Carmen Lansdowne said it is not unusual for B.C. Housing to expedite vacant room repairs in times of crisis. She was not asked to hold rooms.
“They have the ability through their coordinated access program to make those things happen,” she said.
The Vancouver Police Department and City of Vancouver staff have raised concerns about safety in Oppenheimer Park as the site has grown in recent months.
Activists point out some campers choose not to live in single-room occupancy (SRO) units because of unsanitary conditions.
“The city is going, ‘Oh my god, there’s rats in Oppenheimer!’ Well, there are rats in the SROs,” said Brett.
Dawn Severight moved into Oppenheimer last month with her partner. She said living in the park is sometimes difficult because of inadequate sanitation or mental health support, but said it is better than living on the streets.
“The city doesn’t really offer shelters for couples, so we had no choice but to sleep outside,” she said.
The provincial government has opened 720 new social housing units in Vancouver in the past two years.
But Lansdowne said that hasn’t kept pace with rising economic precariousness and the often complex social and medical needs of SRO tenants.
“It can’t just be a housing-only approach. We have to look at poverty reduction — you can’t live on $720 of social assistance in Vancouver at this point,” she said.
Roughly two dozen protestors interrupted traffic on Thursday at the intersection of East Hastings and Gore outside the B.C. Housing offices.
They included Vancouver-Granville NDP candidate Yvonne Hanson, who called for a massive expansion of federal housing construction.
“I think the idea of shuffling them into SROs without asking them first and finding solutions that work for them is the wrong approach,” she said.
Flora Munroe, a member of the Our Homes Can’t Wait housing coalition, says the response won’t add any new units of housing. She is also frustrated that she and other activists heard about the plan through the grapevine instead of being consulted.
“They are trying to put them into SROs. No one wants to live in an SRO,” she said. “I tell the mayor: ‘You go live in an SRO! These are people’s lives.’”