B.C. Housing defends Oppenheimer strategy, is 'confident' most can be housed
Credit to Author: Zak Vescera| Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 23:07:05 +0000
B.C. Housing is defending its plan to house homeless residents of Oppenheimer Park, though it acknowledges it may not be able to find permanent homes for them all.
The tent city was given notice of eviction Monday morning, ordering them to remove their tents and leave by Wednesday evening.
A Vancouver city release says B.C. Housing has identified “approximately 140” units of supportive housing in recent months to accommodate residents, some of whom have been in the park since winter. They include addictions services and 24/7 support from staff, though B.C. Housing regional director Brenda Prosken acknowledged there was a need for more units for mobility-restricted tenants.
The camp’s population is ever-changing, but on Monday afternoon there were roughly 110 tents, which could hold as many as 200 people. As of Tuesday afternoon, the city said roughly 50 people had accepted housing offers.
Prosken acknowledged it’s possible not everyone who wants a permanent home will get one, especially after a “surge” of recent arrivals. But she’s confident everyone who wants to move indoors can do so.
“If those numbers continue to escalate in terms of those people who are at the camp demonstrating continuous need, we may have some shelter options available to those individuals,” she said.
B.C. Housing’s strategy has come under attack from activists who say the strategy of “holding” rooms for residents unintentionally leaves people without shelter.
“It’s just moving the problem around and not offering any new housing,” Fiona York, Carnegie Community Action Project coordinator and administrator, said Monday. “It’s dispersing people for optics.”
Prosken says housing is assigned based on need and not a first-come-first-serve basis, noting 35 Oppenheimer residents were housed before Monday.
“Because they were in immediate need of accommodation, they would and could fall under that prioritization category,” said Prosken.
She says the agency co-ordinated “natural vacancies,” and expedited repairs on units that were uninhabitable.
“Obviously, we never like rooms to stay empty for any long period of time,” said Tanya Fader, Portland Hotel Society interim executive director. “But … a lot of them weren’t ready before now repair-wise.”
Fader says a “housing freeze” was in effect for roughly two months, but PHS still housed new tenants in “extraordinary” circumstances.
PHS has 35 units for Oppenheimer residents, 17 of which were filled by Tuesday morning and some of which were still undergoing repairs. Most other units are in buildings operated by the Atira Women’s Resource Society, Lookout Housing and Rain City Housing, most of whom say they have more vacancies than is typical for this time of year.
Fader says that despite speculation most Oppenheimer residents are already on B.C. Housing waiting lists and aren’t “jumping the queue” to get a home.
“Some of them have been homeless for five years,” she said.
Activists and some Oppenheimer residents say they intend to disobey the eviction time of 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Asked Monday, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart didn’t say whether the city would pursue an injunction to clear residents who remain. A city release says police will keep a presence in the park but will not immediately remove people after the deadline expires.
Michael Edward, a downtown resident who helped raise the first tent at Oppenheimer in 2014, said he doubts any clearance will be permanent.
“So long as you have people living in those SROs, there will be people willing to stay in the park,” he said Monday.
Deputy city manager Paul Mochrie and York said it comes down to the larger issue of a housing shortage.
“It’s way beyond the capacity of local governments … The housing mandate really sits with the province and the feds,” said Mochrie on Monday. “Obviously, finger-pointing between governments doesn’t solve any problems here, but the city is definitely looking to play a role, but it has to be a much broader solution.”
-With files from Dan Fumano