John Bermingham
Province
Mayor Sam Sullivan is looking to corporations and individuals, not government, to solve the housing crisis for the city’s desperately poor.
“The status quo is no longer acceptable,” said Sullivan yesterday. “This council is clearly committed to thinking and acting outside the box.”
Sullivan said he wants to find ways to get the private sector investing in social housing. They could include an ethical investment fund or public-private partnerships.
“It has become increasingly clear that the old models of funding housing are not meeting the needs of vulnerable citizens,” said Sullivan, who has been unable to get senior government money for social housing. “When you consider that cities collect only eight cents of every tax dollar, we clearly need to find other sources of funding besides property taxes to help improve the lives of our most needy.”
He said he also wants to review the city’s bylaws and development rules to make social housing a more attractive option for developers.
Vancouver developed a homeless action plan last year that called for 800 new units of social housing annually. They have yet to be built. A report last month warned that homelessness could triple by the 2010 Olympics.
Sullivan thinks the crisis is with the hard to house — the mentally ill and drug-addicted — who need a home and support.
Vision Vancouver Coun. Tim Stevenson said Sullivan has failed to wrest dollars from his political allies.
“I see it as a complete failure on the part of the mayor to come up with any constructive solutions,” said Stevenson. “We have a desperate need on the street. We need some coming-together from the three levels of government to solve this crisis.”
John Young of the group Think City said social housing will have to yield a profit before developers will touch it. “Somebody’s got to make some money,” he said. “Where’s that money coming from? It comes from the people paying for the housing, one way or another.”
© The Vancouver Province 2006