British Columbia is experiencing an ongoing affordable housing crisis and Vancouver is the epicenter. Low-income, vulnerable, and marginalized populations are particularly at risk: cost of living continues to increase, fires and unsafe conditions continue to displace residents, and extreme cold and weather events make it even more dangerous for those who are underhoused or unhoused to be on the streets.
The last Metro Vancouver homeless count took place in 2020 and showed that over 2,000 of our neighbours were experiencing homelessness. And, we know that point-in-time counts like these are vast under-representations of the true scope of the issue. On the heels of a global pandemic and soaring cost of living, we fear that significantly more in our community are finding themselves without a stable roof over their heads.
It is time for all levels of government to take bold, urgent action. While the Province and City of Vancouver recently announced they are working together to build 90 units of temporary modular housing by March 2023, with support services in place—more must be done.
There are still hundreds of people living outdoors in encampments and without immediate solutions, they will face another winter in unsafe conditions.
516 individuals signed onto the petition. The contents of the petition can be found below.
Updated January 20th, 2023