Homeless, Housing Stats Disputed
Minister Coleman's figures are 'bogus' says NDP critic.
David Chudnovsky: 'preposterous'
Victoria mayor Alan Lowe called a Jan. 22 housing announcement a "watershed" moment for the capital city in its fight against rising homelessness, but critics say the province is overstating the amount it is helping while continuing to underestimate the problem provincewide.
By Forest and Housing Minister Rich Coleman's count, the Victoria announcement represents 170 "new and upgraded" units.
Doing the math while Coleman was still talking, NDP housing critic David Chudnovsky said, "We have the announcement of 73 units of housing today. That's what we have."
Mayor Lowe in an interview later said, "The net's 127."
City councillor Dean Fortin put the figure at 75 new units, but added that while the announcement was small, at least it was positive. "For the first time, we're seeing a step forward in the city of Victoria," he said. "It's a good news story for the city of Victoria. We've been going backwards for the last six years."
What counts?
To figure out what each person is talking about, it's necessary to look at the details of the three projects:
- The 55-bed downtown Streetlink shelter will be closed and replaced with an 80-bed shelter on Ellice Street, in the light industrial Rock Bay area on the outskirts of downtown. The city's prostitution stroll has also been pushed out of downtown into the area in the last decade.
- The Ellice Street facility, to be built on what is now a city park, will also include 24 units of housing.*
- The old Streetlink will be converted into 15 apartments. They will be added to the neighbouring Swift House, which already has 26 supported-living units.
- Finally, an existing B.C. Housing project on Humboldt Street will see 14 cottage-like units bulldozed to make way for a new building with 53 studio and one-bedroom units.
To get Coleman's and B.C Housing's 170 number, you have to include shelter beds as "housing," and not subtract any of the beds or units that are being lost.
Chudnovsky and Fortin's figures are closer to the mark. The net gain, after accounting for units that either already exist or are closing, is 79 housing units and 25 shelter beds.*
Coleman wasn't saying how much the government is spending on the three projects, but Lowe said the commitment is $30 million. For each of the units or shelter beds the city will gain, therefore, the province is spending in the order of $380,000.
'It's about people'
During a scrum following the announcement, Coleman said, "It's not about cutting a ribbon. It's about people."
But while Coleman's estimate of how many people his government is helping is clearly high, he also may be underestimating the problem. Asked by The Tyee just how many people are homeless in the province, Coleman said, "The estimate I have from B.C. Housing is that between 4,500 and 5,500 are homeless at any given time in B.C."
B.C. Housing failed to confirm the minister's number or to say how it was arrived at. The agency's spokesperson, Sam Rainboth, took the question but did not call back by deadline.
Chudnovsky has been pushing Coleman since the fall to count how many people are homeless in the province, but until Tuesday the minister had refused a figure. "It is heartening that he's finally, after four months, coming up with a number," Chudnovsky said. "His number is bogus.... It's a preposterous number."
Opposition tallies 10,500 homeless
The critic has done his own count, relying on figures from homelessness surveys and aid workers across the province. Victoria's last survey counted 1,550 homeless, he said. Vancouver has 2,300. Another 1,050 are on the streets of Prince George. In total, he said, "We have more than 10,500 homeless."
That number is conservative, he added. In the survey, for instance, he included 290 homeless people in Kelowna. But last week he was in the Okanagan city and the municipal official responsible for social development told him the number is closer to 500 there, he said. "When we say our numbers are conservative, we're not kidding."
But even using Coleman's numbers, Chudnovsky said, it is clear there's a long way to go. "He'd have to make 60 more announcements like this. I don't see them coming."
Homeless barred
Several homeless people who came to Tuesday's announcement at the Downtown Activity Centre were barred from entering the hall.
"Again, it's closed doors," said Paul Burnside, a poet and homeless person who was refused entry. "The people it's about aren't allowed to go in."
David Arthur Johnston, a homeless man who is fighting the city's anti-camping bylaws in court, was also left on the sidewalk. "It's more crap that's not going to amount to anything," he said. "It's going to amount to more suffering on the streets."
Rose Henry was allowed inside, where she filmed proceedings for the Homeless Nation website. Henry has been homeless off and on in recent years, though she now has a place to live. After hearing the minister and mayor speak, she said, "It's not enough, but I want to give the city credit for taking the initiative at this point."
A member of the ad hoc Committee to End Homelessness, Phil Lyons, said at least six others from his group had been turned away. "The security on the door was making a judgement call," he said, basing their decisions on people's appearances. Once inside, he was disappointed by what he heard, he said. "This is a token operation. They're doing a very little bit to show they've done something for homeless people."
*The units from the Ellice Street facility were added to this story at 1:50 p.m. on the day it was published.
Related Tyee stories:
- 10,000 Homeless in BC
Abbotsford tops list of boomtowns plagued by poverty. - Zone for Affordable Housing
BC has far too few affordable homes. Whistler has none. Councillor Tim Wake warns: "Plan early, or react later." - No New Homes in Premier's Homelessness Plan
Coleman challenges cities to "step up."
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
RickW
24-01-2008
Abbra Cadabra?
This government uses the homeless situation as an excuse to take yet more money from public coffers to shovel towards their friends..........the has the audacity to pronounce the problem solved, even before the shovel bites into the earth.
working slog
24-01-2008
B.C. really means B.S.!
Since I arrived in this province back in 1979, modesty, honesty and integrity have never played a role to the elite, well- healed establishment here.
It is not a coincidence that the former VSE was the most corrupt and scam-infested stock exchange in North America! This, of course, has now been replaced by even more sinister and bogus scams within the highly-hyped real estate and condo development schemes - which is one of the root causes for the current homeless situation. (15- 50% of condos in the downtown area are vacant and unoccupied)
This short-sighted thinking has, and continues to be, encouraged by our local corporate, real estate and political pundits in this land of greedy yahoos.
Theses latest, highly spun housing stats, using the usual dubious math, are just another example of how B.C has become Canada's undisputed leader in B.S.!
RickW
24-01-2008
Vancouverites now spend an
Vancouverites now spend an average of 72% of their incomes on housing - in the (now) most costly market in Canada!
Unsustainable! Be prepared for a lot more homeless, living side by side with repossessed vacancies.
SharingIsGood
28-01-2008
morechatter
After the Liberals came to powerin BC, our small community of about 10,000 got a Canadian Tire, a WalMart, a Home Depot and more franchise fast food and coffee outlets. These businesses do not re-invest in the community. Almost all of the family businesses that had any character/charm have closed - they can't compete with the volume dealers. Even a few motels have converted to become part of largert franchises. The downtown is now a ghost-town, the likes of which one might find in a Steven King novel.
We now have 8 steet gangs; we had none before the Liberals came in. We actually have homeless people, and we have lifetime citizens afraid to walk on the sidewalks that they purchased with their own tax dollars.
Progress, hhmmmfff! How can this be called progress? Community organizations can find no volunteers and the poor are more destitute than ever. Many poor people have recently moved here from places where rent has become unaffordable on low wages/incomes - like Surrey, Langley, and Calgary. There are no services for these people as we have 3 times the provincial average of down and outers. Ministry for Children and Families personnel seem only to get involved when it is an immediate danger child protection issue. The government moved most of the services that these people require to the larger population centres - so they get no service at all. When the local lumber mills shut down like the 50 other mills in BC, it's going to be unimaginable around here.
SharingIsGood
28-01-2008
R-Man, city council is Liberal too
Yep, in a democracy, people elect the government they deserve. The electorate is very uneducated as to the issues and as to what the effects of their actions (or inactions) may be. Many townspeople are happy, as they never go downtown and they get the consumer products that they think they must have without making trips to the big city over high mountain roads. They couldn't care less about the boarded up storefronts.
WallMart held a gun to the city's head, saying they would build just outside of the city's limits if they didn't acquiesce and give them the deal they wanted. The Home Depot started out as something else and just kept expanding until the final renovation and 4th change of brand/franchise affililiation in 15 years; it had to grow or be taxed to a point where Rona or some other big box company would come in and take over. The Canadian Tire seemed like a good idea to everyone, even non-Liberals, as it had a good number of products not otherwise found in town, although it also put pressure on the builder's supply to grow and change. Both the Builder's Supply and Walmart together forced a family-operated True Value Hardware store out of business. The True Value store had been in business for as long as anyone could remember. They had very knowledgeable people who could help you with finding what you needed to fix your problem with your home or garden.
There has also been an Extra Foods that was in town as one of 3 grocery stores. It built a new big box Superstore and added a gas bar. You fill up at the gas bar and it saves money on groceries. Two family-operated gas stations went out of business as did one of the other two grocery stores. The grocer was a local business that sold custom butchered beef from local ranches and maintained grocery accounts for local businesses. Good people and skilled meat-cutters who had been employed for twenty years at that grocery store lost their jobs. People now have to drive out of town for custom butchering.
realisticman
28-01-2008
Sharing
Very sad story, Sharing. You have my sympathies. Personally, I shop in small stores for precisely the reasons you mention. As we all know, we have friends, here and in other places, that can afford not to but strangely still shop at the big boxes. It has always cost me a bit more but I avoid the big boxes. To be in a huge parking lot seeing people flock to these ugly blocks of consumerism evokes shuddering dreams of surreal fealty to a terrible force. I like the neighbourhood life-style and the local shops; not forgetting the pre- and after-sales service.