A month after the interim report on the inquiry into the death of Frank Paul was submitted to him, Attorney General Wally Oppal tabled it in the legislature today.

“The evidence requires me to conclude that despite the service of many fine and diligent professionals, our systems of justice and social service ultimately failed Frank Paul,” wrote report author and inquiry commissioner William Davies. Read more…

Five emergency shelters in Vancouver will remain open for another three months, thanks to last-minute funding from the province. It's a start, say some, but no permanent solution. Read more…

B.C.'s Auditor General John Doyle yesterday said the provincial government has failed to develop a plan to address homelessness or find a realistic way of measuring success. Two years ago his predecessor wanted more police to deal with street issues and disorder outside his office.

In a letter dated Feb. 13, 2007, then Auditor General Arn van Iersel wrote to Victoria's mayor and council complaining about illegal activity outside its Bastion Square offices downtown. “Just last week we had a couple fornicating outside our training room,” wrote van Iersel. Read more…

The British Columbia government has failed to develop a plan to reduce homelessness, according to a report released by Auditor General John Doyle this morning.

“We found significant activity and resources being applied to homelessness issues but there is no provincial homelessness plan with clear goals and objectives,” Doyle wrote. “The absence of clear goals and objectives raises questions about whether the right breadth and intensity of strategies are being deployed." Read more…

Fearing for the survival of their neighbourhood and their homes, several members of Surrey’s Bridgeview community gathered today to protest the massive Gateway project. Read more…

Talking with reporters this morning about changes to his responsibilities, Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman could say how many people the government has helped find housing, but not how many more may need help. Read more…

The rumbling started this morning about the announcement that Housing Minister Rich Coleman was going to become Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside czar. As it turns out, it’s a little more than that. Read more…

British Columbia's Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said he has asked his Ottawa counterpart for more flexibility on how new federal housing dollars may be spent.

Coleman stopped short of calling it a “disagreement” with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government over a $1 billion renovation and retrofit fund, but said, "We think we could deploy the dollars better.” Read more…

There was a rush to point fingers Tuesday as city officials in Vancouver searched for answers to the latest financial conundrum facing the Olympic Village.

"It's infuriating to inherit yet another big problem," Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said. Read more…

A Downtown Eastside housing advocate wasn’t surprised that the future of 252 social housing units at the Olympic Village could be in peril due to soaring costs.

“We’d known for about a year and half that there was no guarantees of any affordable housing at the Athlete’s Village,” Wendy Pederson from the Carnegie Community Action Project told the Tyee. Read more…

To cope with tough economic times, the Ontario government is considering making it easier to qualify for welfare, but British Columbia won't be following any time soon.

Asked in an interview last week if B.C. would consider loosening welfare requirements, housing and social development minister Rich Coleman said, “We have no plans to change what we're doing.”

“This will be the first recession we've entered into where welfare isn't an automatic stabilizer the way it once was," said Seth Klein, the B.C. director for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. "That's a problem.” Read more…

Vancouver’s defining neighbourhood has been in the limelight this past month, with two media outlets (the Province and the Globe and Mail) running extensive series on how to fix the neighbourhood, while police chief Jim Chu put out his own report on what to do.

The unspoken message behind all of this is, “Yikes, the world is going to be here in exactly a year and this is going to be so embarrassing to explain. Let’s get some action.” Read more…

Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman says British Columbia has the most aggressive housing strategy in Canada bar none, but the facts are not with him.

“We have the most aggressive housing strategy in this country in actual fact,” he told the Tyee this week.

That's not, however, what the Wellesley Institute found. B.C. is in fact at the bottom for per capita spending on housing, said senior policy fellow Michael Shapcott. "When it comes to dollars, B.C. just isn't in the same league as some of the other provinces.” Read more…

Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman yesterday rejected the call to legislate time limits for reducing poverty and ending homelessness.

Last week 200 community groups asked British Columbia political parties to commit to reducing the provincial poverty rate by one-third within four years and to ending street homelessness within two years.

Asked if the Liberal government would be willing to set such limits, Coleman said, “No, because we have the most aggressive housing strategy in this country in actual fact. Read more…

When the Campbell government raised the allowed height of wood buildings to six stories, the idea was to spark timber sales and construction activity. But a lot of people are likely to get burned, safety experts have told ace reporter Sean Holman. Read more…

A letter signed by 200 groups asks British Columbia political parties to commit to ending homelessness within two years and to cutting poverty by a third within four years.

The Liberal housing and social development minister Rich Coleman was not available by posting time, but NDP leader Carole James said her party supports setting targets and measuring to see if they are being met.

“Whether these are the right targets or not, that's a conversation I'd like to have,” she said. Read more…

A developer’s cash offer to tenants facing eviction from two low-income East Vancouver apartment complexes has been met with anger and frustration by the tenants, who say they are losing some of the last affordable rental housing left in the city. Read more…

Today's opening of the newly renovated Rainier Hotel in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside was hailed as a "community victory" by its proponents.

"We're here today because this building represents homes," PHS Community Services Society founder Liz Evans said at the opening. "It represents a hope for women in our community." Read more…

After donating $500,000 last December to help open Vancouver’s new emergency shelters, the Streetohome Foundation made its official launch on Tuesday with another $750,000 in private funding for the homeless. Read more…

The nine-bed Broadway Place Emergency Shelter in Smithers opened last year. It has already run out of room.

“It’s not enough,” says Pauline Takema, the shelter’s program manager. “We need more funding for more beds and a bigger space… already.” Read more…