FALSE PROMISES on FALSE CREEK
Mayor Gregor Robertson’s 2010 commissioned homeless count shows a 12% increase in homelessness since 2008, the year of his election to office. Robertson and the Vision caucus have responded to this increase with the unaccompanied strategy of millions of dollars for increased policing. In April of 2010, the social housing component of the Olympic Village was handed over in its entirely to the police and other Vancouver “public safety” workers. The original promise of 33% low-income units has dwindled to 0%.
BACKGROUNDER:
Under the City’s original housing legacy commitments for the Olympic Village, 2/3rds of the homes were to be affordable (that’s 800 out of 1200 units).
Half of these affordable homes (a full 400 homes) were supposed to go to low-income residents, including the homeless. Only 1/3rd of the total homes were to be unaffordable market condos.
In 2006, the commitments were reduced by Mayor Sam Sullivan and in March of 2007, city council approved a reduction from the promised 66% affordable down to 20% (250 out of 1200 instead of 800 out of 1200). Under this new plan, amidst a sky-rocketing homelessness crisis, only 8% of the total would be low-income.
Gregor Robertson was elected in the Fall of 2008 with a mandate to “end homelessness,” but has instead continued the NPAs strategy of criminalizing the poor and abandoning housing commitments. To meet the staffing demands of Project Civil City and the ticketing quota and warrants system, Gregor has hired 100 extra cops, giving an extra $13 million to the VPD in 2009 alone.Now, in order to house these new cops, Gregor has, as of April 20, 2010, announced the elimination of all promised dedicated low-income social housing in the Olympic Village.
With his announcement on April 22, Gregor has now reduced that 8% of units that might house the homeless down to 0%, which means zero units as opposed to the original 400.
Between May 15th to September 2010, a total of 26 “broken promise” unit deals closed. Currently, the majority of units in the Athletes’ Village sit empty, and will continue to do so, making the Village feel like a creepy ghost town. In the midst of a continuing homelessness crisis, and with the City and Province shutting down 4 of 7 emergency shelters, we demand that government does the right thing, and that the units be used as social housing immediately.
