NPA mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton voted against the City’s new affordable housing and homelessness strategy, a move which shows that when it comes to affordable housing in Vancouver, the NPA is out of touch with the challenges people face in Vancouver.
“It’s disappointing that on an issue as important as housing, Suzanne Anton and the NPA choose to play divisive, negative politics,” said Vision Vancouver councillor Raymond Louie. “Vision is trying to address the affordability challenges in Vancouver . This strategy lays out clear targets for new affordable housing, and not just social housing – it includes rental apartments and even affordable home ownership. It shows what the City can do and where we need to work with partners like the Provincial Government.”
Some of the strategies in the affordable housing report that NPA mayoral candidate Suzanne Anton voted against include:
- Expanding the zones and housing types that allow for secondary suites and laneway housing to be built, to create new affordable rental housing;
- Expanding shelter services for underserved homeless groups like youth, women and urban aboriginals to help our most vulnerable citizens;
- Creating an SRO task force to better protect low-income housing in the Downtown Eastside.
“We can either support policies that build inclusive, affordable housing in Vancouver , or we can ignore it – and that’s what Suzanne Anton and the NPA are doing,” says Louie. “Vision has a plan to build and support affordable housing –what is Suzanne Anton’s? Saying ‘no’ is not leadership.”
Under Vision Vancouver, there has been an 82% drop in street homelessness since 2008. As well, from 2010 to 2011, Vancouver had its first-ever overall decrease in homelessness in over a decade, with 110 less people being homeless in Vancouver.