Solutions for homelessness offered to City

April 29, 2008

Three young authors had plenty of advice to offer the City of Vancouver on how to address the growing issues of a lack of affordable housing and a growing homelessness crisis yesterday.

The authors were winners of an essay contest held by Pivot Legal Society that challenged entrants to think outside the box on how to solve one of the most pressing issues facing the City of Vancouver: the future of housing in the Downtown Eastside.

“These essays represent real and pragmatic solutions to homelessness and the future of the Downtown Eastside,” said David Eby, who heads Pivot Legal Society’s Housing Campaign. “But more importantly they represent the possibility that creative thinking and collaboration could help Vancouver solve some pretty challenging problems.”

A panel of high-profile judges, including Cameron Gray of the City of Vancouver Housing Department, Nick Blomley, Professor of Urban Geography at SFU, and developer Robert Brown, evaluated the entries for creative thinking, the practicality of the recommendations, and whether or not the proposals drew from successful models in other jurisdictions.Key proposals from the essays included:

• A “master lease” program, modeled on a program in San Francisco, where the city pays the capital cost for half of a new build of social housing units, and leases the remaining units from a developer funded by private capital, capital secured by the half of the units paid for by the city. In the alternative, the City could lease existing operating SRO buildings from operators to ensure continued access to those most vulnerable to homelessness. Rents could help offset City costs.
  
  
• A “homeless connect” program, modeled on another San Francisco program, where government and non-government organizations gather in a single location to help homeless people get basic services like replacement identification, eyeglasses and medical care.
  
  
• Employing the recently homeless in building social housing to help build skills and self-esteem.
  
  
• Incorporating economic rights, like a right to housing and a living wage, into our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
  
  
• Considering the issuing of a special development bond by the City for the benefit of the DTES, where individuals could invest in ensuring socially sustainable and mixed income construction, instead of forcing the City to rely on private investment and developers for revitalization of the area.

Download report and read all three essays - (pdf)