The City of Vancouver has won a court injunction to guarantee construction crews access to a Marpole property that was being blocked by local residents who don’t want a 78-unit modular housing complex for the homeless in their neighbourhood.
The city said in a news release that “multiple protesters” had been on the site at West 59th Avenue and Heather Street and blocked Horizon North construction crews from accessing the property.
A key concern of local residents is that, according to an agreement with the city and BC Housing, 20 per cent of the tenants will be those classified as “service level three.”
This includes people who have “an extensive criminal history indicating high risk to reoffend, can create security problems through aggressive and intimidating or intrusive behaviour,” according to BC Housing. They are also prone to “frequent conflict with others, poor communication skills and history of property damage,” the agreement said.
The shelter will be built close to schools in a primary residential area, residents say, adding they are concerned about a spike in crime in the southwest Vancouver community.
A homeless count conducted in March of last year revealed 2,138 people were homeless in Vancouver, with 537 of those living on the street.
“Infraction notices were issued to protesters on site who blocked the sidewalk, but the protesters continued to block entrances,” the city stated.
“We respect people’s rights to protest, but blocking the construction of much-needed housing for the homeless is not something the city can accept,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson.
“We’ve made the decision to proceed with this project very carefully. The city is listening to comments from the neighbourhood and working hard to resolve any concerns. We have dozens of social and supportive housing projects throughout Vancouver that are successful and I’m confident that this project will be too.”
