Cities are wondering what the real provincial budget will look like, after the voting is over and whoever is elected starts chopping.

Many of B.C.'s cities have been waiting for the province to come through on money for promised housing — not just here in Vancouver, as you might imagine, but in places like Kelowna and Nanaimo and everyone else where the homeless are now present. Read more…

The provincial ministry responsible for the welfare system normally releases caseload statistics at the end of each month, but on the eve of the election has so far failed to release its April report.

“For at least six months the monthly welfare data were showing double digit increases,” said David Schreck, a former NDP strategist who pays attention to welfare issues. “They are sitting on it undoubtedly because it's bad news and they don't want it coming out during the election campaign.” Read more…

Real estate and construction companies were some of the most generous donors to the B.C. Liberals with some donors pushing well over $100,000 according to the 2008 Annual Financial Report. Read more…

Carole James spent the morning on a whirlwind tour through Metro Vancouver, hammering the BC Liberals for what she said has been eight years of neglect on the issues facing urban residents.

The BC NDP leader was still clearly buoyed by Sunday’s leaders’ debate and mentioned it at the first stop of the morning, right in the heart of the premier’s own riding.

“Gordon Campbell was right about one thing,” she told supporters.

“Leading the province will be a really big job. It will be a really big job because he has created an incredible mess in British Columbia.” Read more…

KELOWNA – In March 2008, Housing Minister Rich Coleman announced an agreement to build three supportive housing projects in Kelowna, with construction to "begin as soon as possible." But last month, city officials were told that at least one of those projects will not be funded until next year.

"Rich Coleman came, made the big announcement, that they (the B.C. Liberals) wanted to use for political capital,” complained NDP candidate Tish Lakes, a housing advocate running in Westside-Kelowna. “How can you have a commitment that’s over a year old and you don’t have the money now?” Read more…

The B.C. New Democratic Party has accused B.C. Liberal candidate Margaret MacDiarmid of misrepresenting her financial situation at a candidates’ forum to win empathy from voters.

At an event last week MacDiarmid said she had difficulty finding a house in her riding of Vancouver-Fairview that she could afford with her husband.

The NDP today distributed a list of three properties MacDiarmid owns in the province, including a condo in Vancouver, which the party says total almost $1.5 million in value based on B.C. Assessment records. Read more…

NDP and Green Party campaign signs dominated the entranceway to the Vancouver-West End all-candidates debate at the Coast Plaza Hotel yesterday afternoon, reflecting strong audience support for incumbent NDP MLA Spencer Herbert and returning Green Party candidate Drina Read, who ran in the fall 2008 by-election. Read more…

A big report on the city’s homelessness efforts is on the agenda for next week.

A new squib that was interesting to me is that staff are now pitching to have the five new shelters that were created this winter stay open until April of 2010. Read more…

A real estate spoof sold shares to Premier Gordon Campbell's house this afternoon to denounce the sale of Vancouver’s Little Mountain Housing and the lack of low-income affordable housing around B.C.

“If the Premier can sell land that belongs to us, I guess we can sell land that belongs to him,” said Linda Shuto, a member of Community Advocates for Little Mountain. Read more…

Some residents of a heritage building in Vancouver's West End will pay an extra $500 per month, following a ruling by the Residential Tenancy Office that allows the new owners to raise rents by 38 per cent.

Tenants' rights advocates say the decision marks the effective end of rent control in the province. Read more…

Renters are using the upcoming provincial election to fight back against jacked-up rates and renovation-happy landlords.

Christine Ackerman, of RentersFightBack.com believes that if renters – who make up 30 per cent of B.C. households – vote en masse in May's provincial election, more pressure will be put on the government to close loopholes in the Residential Tenancy Act. Read more…

A $123 million rental program funded by the feds and the province could create 1,000 homes for seniors and boost B.C.’s economy, Premier Gordon Campbell announced today.

He said construction on the first 218 units could start in the next few months and create 800 jobs, a linkage between housing and the economy that may lay hint at the B.C. Liberals’ forthcoming election platform. Read more…

A proposal to provide 550 rooms for the homeless will go before Vancouver City Council this afternoon.

The plan includes private funding, and would create 190 rooms of modular housing on city owned land, 250 rooms in leased residency hotels, and 110 rooms in converted government-owned buildings. Read more…

Main intersections in the Downtown Vancouver area were shut down today as thousands of people marched in protest at the lack of affordable housing and housing for homeless people. Read more…

Today, the Ministry of Housing and Social Development announced that $32.9 million would be dedicated to the construction and development of two centres for people on the verge of homelessness. Read more…

As if Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson didn't feel enough pressure to house the homeless, have a look south to Seattle. There, homeless people inhabit a tent city they've named for the city's mayor, Greg Nickels. Nickelsville so far is home to more than 100 pink tents. Read more…

Social promises made by Olympics organizers seven years ago remain unfulfilled in the eyes of many inner-city residents, new research suggests. Read more…

An agreement between Vancouver and Millennium Development awards contracts to inner-city businesses and employs homeless people to build the Olympic Village. But a Downtown Eastside advocate called the measures a “drop in the bucket.” Read more…

Premier Gordon Campbell pledged $172 million today for six social housing developments in Vancouver, as part of close to $800 million in infrastructure spending.

Social housing advocates are pleased that there is finally action, but are wondering why there has been such a delay and why only six have been announced. Read more…

Advocates for social housing in Vancouver want the province to follow through on its promise to develop more than one dozen supportive housing projects in the city.

“The goal is permanent social housing. The reality is an empty parking lot,” Dave Diewert of the group Streams of Justice said. Read more…