Without services and support, putting 140 people with mental health and addiction issues in one building is a recipe for failure and chaos: Kitsilano Coalition.

Vancouver, B.C. (March 1, 2022): Families, seniors, small businesses, stratas, and local schools in Kitsilano want Vancouver City Council to turn down BC Housing’s proposed 140 single room occupancy tower at 7th and Arbutus, and want the community actively involved in finding a better supportive housing model that fits into the residential neighbourhood. The rezoning application for the proposed BC Housing development is expected to come before council this spring.

“What’s being proposed is a low barrier 13-storey tower with 140 single rooms for people with serious mental health and addiction issues, but without the services and supports they desperately need,” said Karen Finnan, a Kits resident and one of the spokespeople for the Kitsilano Coalition. “The reality is this is a failed model that doesn’t work, but it’s being exported to neighbourhoods across the city. It forces the people living in the tower to fend for themselves, and it leaves the neighbourhood to pick up the pieces when things go wrong. We have many supportive and social housing projects in Kitsilano and they work, mostly because they fit into the neighbourhood and are properly scaled for this community. The project being proposed by BC Housing is too big, too dense, and it doesn’t come with the help and services these individuals actually need. As a result, we’re asking city council to reject BC Housing’s rezoning application in favour of bringing BC Housing and the community together to look at alternative projects. A better option might be housing for women and children, which would be a more natural fit for a residential and family neighbourhood like ours. In fact, the City of Vancouver’s 2020 homeless count showed 21 per cent identified as women, and women and single parent families are more likely to be among the hidden homeless population post pandemic. So there is an obvious and growing need that’s not being met right now.”

The coalition is also hearing growing public safety concerns from local families, seniors, and neighbourhood businesses. The coalition is concerned about the rise in crime, particularly the increase in random or stranger attacks in Vancouver. The BC Housing proposal for 7th and Arbutus has neighbours worried about public safety because the development concentrates 140 people with mental health and addiction issues into a single building across the street from an elementary school, and doesn’t provided help or support services to the people living in the development.

The coalition is also raising concern about the BC Housing proposal’s serious lack of genuine community consultation. Through Freedom of Information, documents show the community is opposed to the proposed development and core questions were not answered, and continue to go unanswered, including safety for children and residents.

“The City of Vancouver is providing BC Housing with a 60-year lease for the development of a tower which will significantly impact Kitsilano,” said Cheryl Grant, local resident and a spokesperson of the Kitsilano Coalition. “BC Housing has skewed the response of its early engagement sessions that were run in March 2021. Significantly, more than 75% of responses in that early consultation opposed the plan and expressed concern for the tower’s height and its use as supportive housing in proximity to vulnerable children. The community has to ask why BC Housing, city staff and David Eby are trying to rezone the property to a 13-storey tower for supportive housing including an on-site drug injection site for its residents. This after Vancouver City Council amended the zoning in 2021 for a six-storey building for social housing which can house seniors, and single-parent families and could already be under construction.”

“The community consultation process around this project is virtually non-existent, and simply dismisses the real concerns of the community,” added Finnan. “BC Housing and city staff don’t like what they’re hearing from the neighbourhood, so they sideline the residents and downplay what are genuine issues and serious concerns. BC Housing, the province and the city need to sit down with our neighbourhood and work with us to find a better model and project. They also have to know that when it comes to people with serious mental health and addiction issues, housing on its own is only part of the answer. Services and support need to be there as well.”

About the Kitsilano Coalition:

We're a community-based coalition of individuals and organizations that care about their neighbourhood and city. The coalition is focused on promoting and protecting a safe, friendly, and inclusive living environment within the Kitsilano community through initiatives that address proposed developments, housing, transportation, and infrastructure. In addition, the coalition also believes residents and neighbourhoods need to be consulted and heard, particularly when it comes to issues such as development, housing, transportation and other issues important to our city. As a forum for community input and expression, we come together to give stakeholders a voice and believe that compassion and empathy need to be coupled with intelligent, proven, and well thought out solutions that can help make a real and positive difference.

Media contact:
Trevor Pancoust
tpancoust@pacegroup.com
778.386.0843