Meeting to house Vancouver’s homeless angers many living downtown
Posted October 29, 2014 11:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Many people living downtown are angry about the city’s plan to turn the Quality Inn into temporary housing for the homeless.
Almost 90 people were shut out of a meeting to discuss the plans because it was at full capacity. About 160 people heard a presentation about the 40 bed shelter on Pacific Street which is already in operation as well as the hotel on Howe Street which will have 157 rooms available in November.
Bill is worried about safety in his neighbourhood. “I’ve got kids and I’m upset about it. There are a lot of business owners, there are schools there, and it’s absolutely despicable!”
Scarlett is more upset about how the event was handled, as she says no one was listening to her concerns. “They go ahead and make decisions without any real consultation and they come and ask you how we should remedy the problems. My concern is that it is a done deal!”
Christina is also opposed to the projects; she calls the meeting “ridiculous” and “offensive.” “They treated us like we were kindergarten kids, you know putting us into groups, and they wouldn’t let us talk in the open in front of each other and give us stickers and felt pens and wanted us to write our feelings down.”
Ann was one of the 90 people turned away. She is worried her neighbourhood will deteriorate. “Safety issue as well as in the past when there were winter shelters in that area, there was defecating in front of buildings, there were break-ins.”
Chief of Housing for the city of Vancouver Mukhtar Latif says the city will continue to hear from the community even after the meetings. “We’re looking to take on board the people’s questions and concerns and make sure that the operational plan obviously accommodates those needs. The Pacific shelter we opened up in September because it was part of the strategy that we had in order to accommodate from Oppenheimer Park, so we went to court and we had to show we had capacity to house people.”
A second meeting will be held at a later date to accommodate all those who were turned away.
