Vancouver is studying five options for emergency dwellings for homeless people

Homelessness has become a looming issue across the country. Vancouver city staff is  looking into 5 possible option of eleviating the stress tent cities are putting on local communities. Some solutions are creating a “temporary tiny house villages” and low-income RV parks as part of its temporary disaster relief shelter framework.

Council added these two options recently to three other possible options.These options were to lease or buy housing units, including hotels and single-room occupancy hotels, establish a temporary emergency relief camp on vacant public or private land and to temporarily convert city-owned buildings into emergency housing.

City staff have until Oct. 2 to report back to council on all the options.

The homeless crisis has worsened due to COVID-19, and is most obvious in Strathcona Park where at least 300 tents have been put up.

Many residents across the city have noticed increases in homelessness in their neighbourhoods, which in turn is adding to the stress of COVID-19.

People who are homeless need to have options for change.

Seattle has eight city-funded “tiny house villages” that have opened in the past three years in response to that city’s homeless crisis.

One of those villages — Second Chance — evolved from un-permitted squat, to a sanctioned tent city, to a city-funded tiny house village.

Hopefully, one of these five options will be viable and can be used by other communities across Canada to help deal with the rising homeless issue.

As of June 22nd some of North Vancouver parks are allowing legal drinking in 9 public spaces. The City of North Vancouver council approved the bylaw, allowing alcohol in some parks as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This allows people to come together to socialize in outdoor spaces safely, while still allowing for social distancing. According to the council, "This bylaw is about creating space outdoors for residents to socialize in a way that respects physical distancing. By allowing people to gather in our parks we're supporting their well-being, as well as supporting local restaurants and breweries."  The hours of legal drinking in these 9 parks are from 11am to 9pm and will be allowed until October 15th, 2020.

In many countries around the world drinking in public has been legal for a long time.

The question now is, should this type of bylaw be brought into some public spaces on the Sunshine Coast? There is already illegal drinking on many of our public beaches, so maybe it’s time we have specific areas where alcohol can be consumed. That way we know where it's ok to go to partake in an alcoholic beverage or which areas to avoid if we don’t. 

Just something to think about.