Comments on: Province buys housing units for the homeless all over B.C. http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/ Vancouver city life and politics Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:46:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Dave http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/comment-page-1/#comment-5381 Dave Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:04:10 +0000 http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1073#comment-5381 Does anyone doubt that the BC Liberal government was not aware of this social housing proposal that was presented during an In-Camera Vancouver City Council meeting: Building: Pantages Theatre Address: 150 East Hastings Street Owner: Worthington Properties Status: Worthington Properties is proposing to restore the historic vaudeville theatre and build 136 units of affordable social housing at 138, 134 and 130 East Hastings. - http://www.lestwarog.com/newsArticle-2808.html Worthington Properties, by the way, are the same guys who borrowed $10 million at 42% interest rate to bankroll their dreams of being the owners of the MacKenzie Pulp Mill, without a wood fibre source included and left the plant's chlorine pulp bleaching machinery without heat. Cost to BC Taxpayers: $50 million Does anyone doubt that the BC Liberal government was not aware of this social housing proposal that was presented during an In-Camera Vancouver City Council meeting:

Building: Pantages Theatre

Address: 150 East Hastings Street

Owner: Worthington Properties

Status: Worthington Properties is proposing to restore the historic vaudeville theatre and build 136 units of affordable social housing at 138, 134 and 130 East Hastings.
– http://www.lestwarog.com/newsArticle-2808.html

Worthington Properties, by the way, are the same guys who borrowed $10 million at 42% interest rate to bankroll their dreams of being the owners of the MacKenzie Pulp Mill, without a wood fibre source included and left the plant’s chlorine pulp bleaching machinery without heat.

Cost to BC Taxpayers: $50 million

]]> By: Dawn Steele http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/comment-page-1/#comment-5358 Dawn Steele Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:11:43 +0000 http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1073#comment-5358 Absolutely with you there, Alex, that this is a step, not the whole solution - as per my extended comments re mental health services, etc in the earlier thread. This is aptly illustrated in a not-unusual example from our "virtual rally" for community living this weekend: Govt claims it can't affort $500 - $1,500 a month to fund basic supports like respite and/or treatment to support a family caring at home for a very high-needs child with autism or another developmental disability. The family ends up having to give up the child into government care and they then taxpayers have to pay $150,000 or even over $200,000 a year in some cases for a contract for round-the-clock care for that child. It makes no sense at any level, but it continues to happen and we still have a VERY long way to go before current policies start making sense on any level! Absolutely with you there, Alex, that this is a step, not the whole solution – as per my extended comments re mental health services, etc in the earlier thread.

This is aptly illustrated in a not-unusual example from our “virtual rally” for community living this weekend:

Govt claims it can’t affort $500 – $1,500 a month to fund basic supports like respite and/or treatment to support a family caring at home for a very high-needs child with autism or another developmental disability. The family ends up having to give up the child into government care and they then taxpayers have to pay $150,000 or even over $200,000 a year in some cases for a contract for round-the-clock care for that child.

It makes no sense at any level, but it continues to happen and we still have a VERY long way to go before current policies start making sense on any level!

]]> By: A. G. Tsakumis http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/comment-page-1/#comment-5311 A. G. Tsakumis Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:50:59 +0000 http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1073#comment-5311 Thank you Dawn...but they have reverted rather swiftly to having tin ears. CB is so wonderfully right on the money, I just about leapt out of my chair in joy (a spilled a perfectly mixed libation...) Without any accompanying infrastructure to deal with addiction treatment (a comprehensive series of clinics with residency beds and detox accommodation) and mental health assistance (reopen Riverview and fund it fully now!) then all this rings rather hollow. Just wait for it...after two years (when the original promise was to fix it in five months) they will deal with the 70+ IQ disgrace, just as another election goodie. Otherwise, windbag Coleman and many of the others don't care about you or me. Get it straight. Please. Thank you Dawn…but they have reverted rather swiftly to having tin ears.

CB is so wonderfully right on the money, I just about leapt out of my chair in joy (a spilled a perfectly mixed libation…)

Without any accompanying infrastructure to deal with addiction treatment (a comprehensive series of clinics with residency beds and detox accommodation) and mental health assistance (reopen Riverview and fund it fully now!) then all this rings rather hollow.

Just wait for it…after two years (when the original promise was to fix it in five months) they will deal with the 70+ IQ disgrace, just as another election goodie. Otherwise, windbag Coleman and many of the others don’t care about you or me. Get it straight. Please.

]]> By: Dawn Steele http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/comment-page-1/#comment-5302 Dawn Steele Sun, 01 Feb 2009 03:47:26 +0000 http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1073#comment-5302 This is very good news! As we've seen with our new & improved Tory govt in Ottawa, forcing them to reform may be just as useful in the end as defeating/replacing them! Frances aptly points out the stark contrast to the BC Liberals' opening act of cancelling 1,000 social housing units - and I think all you folks who have been out there banging this drum need to take full credit for doing a helluva job educating Campbell, Coleman and co. This is very good news!

As we’ve seen with our new & improved Tory govt in Ottawa, forcing them to reform may be just as useful in the end as defeating/replacing them!

Frances aptly points out the stark contrast to the BC Liberals’ opening act of cancelling 1,000 social housing units – and I think all you folks who have been out there banging this drum need to take full credit for doing a helluva job educating Campbell, Coleman and co.

]]> By: re:place Magazine http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/comment-page-1/#comment-5255 re:place Magazine Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:32:07 +0000 http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1073#comment-5255 [...] Olympic budget gets needed tune-up [CBC] B.C. acquires 15 new properties to house homeless [CBC] Province buys housing units for the homeless all over B.C. [State of Vancouver] Social housing piggy bank is still empty [The Vancouver Sun] Jordan Bateman in [...] [...] Olympic budget gets needed tune-up [CBC] B.C. acquires 15 new properties to house homeless [CBC] Province buys housing units for the homeless all over B.C. [State of Vancouver] Social housing piggy bank is still empty [The Vancouver Sun] Jordan Bateman in [...]

]]> By: VanRamblings http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/comment-page-1/#comment-5240 VanRamblings Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:41:27 +0000 http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1073#comment-5240 As someone who works in a well-kept and newly renovated Downtown Eastside hotel, contrary to CB's comment the 200 sq. ft. rooms are far from squalid, and the buildings (once renovations are complete) are far from decrepit. Residents are provided with a weekly room cleaning service, as well as a laundry service (there's also a laundry room on site). There's 24-hour-a-day Internet service, and a large kitchen that's also open 24 hours a day where residents can prepare their own meals; main meals are prepared by staff (and residents). Residents are plugged into the Strathcona Mental Health Unit, the Portland Dental Health Clinic and all of the other social services on offer in the DTES, the staff are educated, caring professionals, and the clients / residents are well cared for in a supportive environment, where they're off the street and secure within a warm and safe hotel. When residents are offered the opportunity to move into more conventional apartment-style BC Housing, more often than not they choose to return to the hotel: for the camaraderie of their fellow residents, and for the daily supportive contact with staff and management. Readers can track the progress of renovations of the new SROs at http://www.vancouverhousingupdate.ca/January2009/January2009.html. As someone who works in a well-kept and newly renovated Downtown Eastside hotel, contrary to CB’s comment the 200 sq. ft. rooms are far from squalid, and the buildings (once renovations are complete) are far from decrepit. Residents are provided with a weekly room cleaning service, as well as a laundry service (there’s also a laundry room on site). There’s 24-hour-a-day Internet service, and a large kitchen that’s also open 24 hours a day where residents can prepare their own meals; main meals are prepared by staff (and residents). Residents are plugged into the Strathcona Mental Health Unit, the Portland Dental Health Clinic and all of the other social services on offer in the DTES, the staff are educated, caring professionals, and the clients / residents are well cared for in a supportive environment, where they’re off the street and secure within a warm and safe hotel.

When residents are offered the opportunity to move into more conventional apartment-style BC Housing, more often than not they choose to return to the hotel: for the camaraderie of their fellow residents, and for the daily supportive contact with staff and management.

Readers can track the progress of renovations of the new SROs at http://www.vancouverhousingupdate.ca/January2009/January2009.html.

]]> By: Denis http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/comment-page-1/#comment-5222 Denis Sat, 31 Jan 2009 04:38:37 +0000 http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1073#comment-5222 Election coming up so the sky is the limit. A number of Manufactured Home Parks have issued eviction notices and the owners want to develop them. The previous government had regulations that included up to 10,000 per unit for moving which was there to discourage the land owner from removing the folks, many who had been in the places for years. In comes Gordo, out goes the $10,000 per unit. A lot of the older trailers, modular homes and manufactured homes can't be moved. A large majority of the home owners are elderly, on fixed incomes. The folks put their money in so as not to be a burden on anyone. I spent a number of years in the Manufactured Home Associations. Our home was not small at 36 feet wide and 56 feet long. They really arn't made to move more than once. We spent a lot of time working with the previous government trying to protect the folks. All gone. So now one small development will be sold as fee simple lots according to Coleman. But what about all the other parks? Almost forgot, there was a reguation about maximum pad rent increases but I guess that's gone as well. BC The greatest place on Earth, if you are into making money Election coming up so the sky is the limit. A number of Manufactured Home Parks have issued eviction notices and the owners want to develop them. The previous government had regulations that included up to 10,000 per unit for moving which was there to discourage the land owner from removing the folks, many who had been in the places for years. In comes Gordo, out goes the $10,000 per unit. A lot of the older trailers, modular homes and manufactured homes can’t be moved. A large majority of the home owners are elderly, on fixed incomes. The folks put their money in so as not to be a burden on anyone. I spent a number of years in the Manufactured Home Associations. Our home was not small at 36 feet wide and 56 feet long. They really arn’t made to move more than once. We spent a lot of time working with the previous government trying to protect the folks. All gone. So now one small development will be sold as fee simple lots according to Coleman. But what about all the other parks? Almost forgot, there was a reguation about maximum pad rent increases but I guess that’s gone as well. BC The greatest place on Earth, if you are into making money

]]> By: CB http://www.francesbula.com/homelessness/province-buys-housing-units-for-the-homeless-all-over-bc/comment-page-1/#comment-5210 CB Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:51:33 +0000 http://www.francesbula.com/?p=1073#comment-5210 Buying decrepit SRO's, even if the government fixes them up to meet health and fire codes, does not add a single new housing unit to the mix. It is inaccurate to call this 'social housing'. It's not. This is transitional housing, at best. Q: Where are the integrated support services -- the addiction, mental health, psychological and health treatment regimes that will begin the process of re-integrating these people back into society, or re-institutionalization if needed? A: Nowhere, Q: Where do the residents go after they check into the SROs? Where is the social housing for them, so that they can eventually move out of their 200 sq. ft. squalid rooms on the downtown eastside, into real homes? A: Nowhere. This government has spent $90 million on gold-plated ski jump and luge facilities at Whistler for the Olympics -- a facility that will be only used by a few dozen elite athletes. Compare this with $90 million spent to bail out slum hotel landlords at the height of the real estate boom ,while not adding a single new housing unit into the mix. Can you say "boondoggle"? Buying decrepit SRO’s, even if the government fixes them up to meet health and fire codes, does not add a single new housing unit to the mix. It is inaccurate to call this ‘social housing’. It’s not. This is transitional housing, at best.

Q: Where are the integrated support services — the addiction, mental health, psychological and health treatment regimes that will begin the process of re-integrating these people back into society, or re-institutionalization if needed?
A: Nowhere,

Q: Where do the residents go after they check into the SROs? Where is the social housing for them, so that they can eventually move out of their 200 sq. ft. squalid rooms on the downtown eastside, into real homes?
A: Nowhere.

This government has spent $90 million on gold-plated ski jump and luge facilities at Whistler for the Olympics — a facility that will be only used by a few dozen elite athletes. Compare this with $90 million spent to bail out slum hotel landlords at the height of the real estate boom ,while not adding a single new housing unit into the mix.

Can you say “boondoggle”?

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