Vancouver’s majority ABC party split on Ken Sim’s plan to freeze supportive housing

Dan Fumano: Tuesday’s council meeting had a glimpse into how the issue is dividing members of the mayor’s ABC party, which has a majority on council.

Tuesday’s Vancouver council meeting provided a brief glimpse into how Mayor Ken Sim’s proposal to halt additional supportive housing is dividing some members of his ABC party.

In the meeting, one ABC councillor tried to seek the public and private input of provincial officials on this issue before council decides on it, but that effort was shot down by a fellow member of the city’s majority party.

Less than 30 minutes later, ABC Coun. Rebecca Bligh attempted to introduce her own urgent motion. Bligh’s motion sought to invite representatives from B.C. Housing and the Ministry of Housing to meet with council and answer questions before councillors vote on the mayor’s motion to halt net-new supportive housing units.

Bligh said in Tuesday’s meeting that she had spoken with B.C. Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon, who told her it would be “a very welcomed invitation,” she said, and B.C. Housing and the ministry would be “very grateful for the opportunity to address council directly.”

Fellow ABC Coun. Lisa Dominato and Green Coun. Pete Fry both spoke up and tried to second Bligh’s urgent motion. Bligh, Dominato, and Fry have all publicly expressed concern about Sim’s proposal to freeze supportive housing since the mayor announced it last month.

But ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung called notice on Bligh’s motion, which, she explained, means the motion must be referred to the next meeting, instead of dealing with it that day on an urgent basis.

After a recess, during which Sim conferred with city clerks, he announced that Bligh’s motion would be referred to the Feb. 26 meeting.

Bligh spoke up to clarify that delay meant that council would not be engaging with the province on this subject until after the mayor’s motion was decided upon, making it “moot.”

Kirby-Yung, when asked after the meeting why she called notice on Bligh’s urgent motion, said: “The city has a very clear definition of what constitutes urgent business, and it’s typically matters related to public health or life safety, or sort of an imminent, sensitive legal issue. So, in my experience on council, this doesn’t fit that definition.”

In an emailed statement Wednesday, the B.C. Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs said: “Our office is in touch with the mayor’s office regarding Mayor Sim’s recent statements on supportive housing in Vancouver. If city council submits a request for the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs and B.C. Housing to send a delegation to attend an upcoming council meeting, we will consider it.”

The title of Sim’s motion, as announced at Tuesday’s meeting, is: “Temporarily pausing net-new supportive housing investment in Vancouver to prioritize replacing existing stock and promoting regional equity.”

The text of the motion itself was not yet available, Sim’s office said Wednesday, but it will be made public ahead of the Feb. 26 meeting.

In an emailed statement shortly after making last month’s announcement, Sim said his motion would seek to address the unsustainable “imbalance” that developed in Metro Vancouver where Vancouver has 25 per cent of the region’s population but more than 77 per cent of its supportive housing units.

The intention of his motion, he said, was not to pause any supportive housing projects that were already “in-stream,” including the project planned for Arbutus Street in Kitsilano.

Bligh, who is currently president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, participated in this week’s council meeting remotely from Ottawa where she is attending a meeting of Canada’s Big City Mayors’ Caucus.

Reached Wednesday, Bligh said she was disappointed council would not extend that invitation to the province this week.

Her motion states that the mayor’s proposed change would “contradict” recent directions given by council to boost supportive housing, arguing that “less supportive housing for low-income Vancouverites will likely increase homelessness, mental health illness, addictions, and crime.”

“Supportive housing is anything subsidized, with a food program, with counselling services, with job training,” Bligh said. “It’s housing for seniors, it’s housing for persons with disabilities, it’s housing for folks who are coming out of recovery… It’s all of that.”

“We actually have over 600 people sleeping outdoors every single night. We’re going to put on a housing freeze so that they freeze? It doesn’t make sense.”

Even if ABC members Bligh and Dominato oppose Sim’s motion, it seems likely the mayor will have the support he needs to get it approved — especially with two vacant seats on council right now formerly held by non-ABC members. But the debate appears set to resume later this month.