Construction has hardly begun at the first of Vancouver91裸聊视频檚 temporary modular housing projects and already pushback is mounting against the city91裸聊视频檚 latest strategy to house its homeless.
Vancouver was granted an injunction earlier this week from the Supreme Court of British Columbia to dislodge protesters who were preventing work crews from accessing a construction site in the tony neighbourhood of Marpole.
Some residents feel blindsided by the move and are critical of a decision they feel puts children in danger. Three schools are close to the project, including an elementary school located directly across the street.
The Marpole site will host two buildings with a total of 78 units, each of which would measure about 23 square metres and contain a kitchen and washroom. The project is part of a $66-million investment from the provincial government to build 600 units across Vancouver. Another 2,000 modular living quarters are planned across B.C. over the next two years.
Derek Palaschuk, a spokesman for the Caring Citizens of Vancouver Society, said the community fully supports the construction of modular housing and solving homelessness in Vancouver.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 the right idea but wrong location,91裸聊视频� he said on Thursday.
91裸聊视频淵ou should not put our children at risk by having this modular housing 91裸聊视频� 25 steps from an elementary school.91裸聊视频�
Palaschuk cited city documents that reserve at least 20 per cent of the units for tenants who may have an extensive criminal past and a high risk to reoffend, a history of property damage, aggressive and intimidating behaviour, and poor housekeeping and hygiene.
Ethel Whitty, Vancouver91裸聊视频檚 director of homelessness services, said it is typical for residents to protest this kind of project before embracing it, which has been the experience with the 13 permanent supportive housing initiatives located across the city.
91裸聊视频淧eople forget they91裸聊视频檙e even there,91裸聊视频� Whitty said. 91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 the thing. In some cases there will be resistance right in the very beginning. The community advisory committees will be set up and people will come once a month and then quarterly and then interest kind of drops off because, in fact, the housing just becomes integrated into the community.91裸聊视频漁ther groups have expressed support for the project, including an organization made up mostly of students from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School, a block from the Marpole project.
Holly Morrison, 17, a spokeswoman for Marpole Students For Modular Housing, said the idea for the group came after she and other students saw adults calling themselves Marpole Students Against Modular Housing protesting outside the school.
91裸聊视频淲e kind of felt like we had maybe our voices stolen from us,91裸聊视频� Morrison said. Homelessness is not the fault of the individual but of society as a whole, she added.
91裸聊视频淭hese aren91裸聊视频檛 inherently bad people. These are people who have just been dealt a bad hand of cards.91裸聊视频�
The group plans to push for better transit and a cheaper grocery store in the neighbourhood, Morrison said.
Several other sites around the city have been earmarked for modular units, though another proposed site in the centre of the city91裸聊视频檚 Downtown Eastside that would replace a tent city has prompted a backlash. Residents issued a statement saying the B.C. government of shirking on the need for more permanent social housing.
Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press
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