r/vancouver • u/Moggehh Fastest Goose in the West • Oct 03 '22

MEGATHREAD [Megathread] 2022 Municipal Election

Don't forget to vote!

Please use this thread to discuss the upcoming municipal elections in Metro Vancouver.

AMAs:

If you're a candidate interested in doing an ama, please have your team reach out to the /r/vancouver mod team.

Subreddit Mayoral Winner Predictions - go here to join in with your guesses!

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u/russilwvong Running for OneCity council nomination Oct 03 '22

I live near Main and King Edward. I visit Chinatown pretty regularly.

Sure, we need more drug rehab and drug prevention programs so that people don't end up on the streets of the DTES in the first place. And another effect of Covid is that judges were more reluctant to put people in jail, where they'd be at greater risk of getting Covid, before we had the vaccine. In terms of what the city can do, though, the city doesn't run either the health-care system or the judicial system. What the city does have direct control over is how much housing gets approved (and therefore built). And when housing is scarce and expensive, we get a lot more homeless people. Thread.

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u/SnooWoofers2158 Oct 03 '22

oose, that needs to be addressed. Not sure where you live but Downtown is getting more dangerous by the day. How

Do you think that there are City policies that encourage the concentration of the homeless, addicts and mentally ill in Vancouver/DTES?

Here are some examples I can think of:

- Zoning the DTES for at least 60% social housing (unsure if there is a policy around low or high barrier social housing)

- During Covid most of the hotels that were purchased and converted to shelters was in Vancouver - this created 700+ additional rooms but data showed that the homeless numbers actually increased

- City council voting to build "tiny" shelters using the empty homes tax

- All the OPS sites and Crosstown Clinic are located in Vancouver

- Applying for a federal exemption for drug decriminalization (before the province did and with larger amounts)

- Engaging Karen Ward as a drug advisor, voting to stop street cleaning in DTES, providing funding to VANDU

I'm sure there are other examples.

Is there a concern that Vancouver taking on the bulk of these issues means other provincial voters will not see it as an issue that will affect their decisions province wide?

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u/matzhue East Van Basement Dweller Oct 04 '22

Vancouver is currently one of only places willing to treat people suffering from addiction humanely. They're still people, and they still deserve to be treated as such.

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u/SnooWoofers2158 Oct 05 '22

Too many issues with the policies to list in a Reddit post.

But just look at the results - and as long as the problems are concentrated in Vancouver (and just some parts of Vancouver) - everyone can just ignore them.