Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has announced a plan to freeze supportive housing development in the Downtown Eastside (DTES). The plan is part of a wider set of policy changes targeting the DTES and spearheaded by Sim’s ABC Vancouver party.
Gentrification
On Dec. 18, Vancouver City Council approved the demolition of the Dunsmuir Hotel, a single-room occupancy building with 167 units at the corner of Dunsmuir and Richards Street. The decision marks yet another feather in the cap of property developer Holborn Properties, with plans for a large-scale residential redevelopment of the site.
Tenants in two Mount Pleasant buildings have found themselves among the first wave of renters impacted by the upcoming Broadway corridor redevelopment. One of those tenants is Nathan Crompton, who writes about the fate of his neighbors and the prospects for a collective tenant riposte.
This past Saturday, June 17, Mayor Ken Sim launched “Vancouver Beautification Day,” a new city-wide event dedicated to fighting graffiti and vandalism on public and private property. “Beautification” through graffiti removal may seem like benign neighborhood improvement, but this government has shown they are willing to scrub away people too.