Background

The City of Vancouver is proposing to rezone 675 – 691 East Broadway to allow construction of an 11 story building composed of ground level retail space, the Broadway Youth Resource Centre (currently on the site), 24 market rental suites, and 103 single-room-occupancy (SRO) suites.  Approximately 70% of the SRO suites are intended for adults who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and may suffer from mental illness and/or substance abuse issues. The remaining 30% will be for “at-risk” youth.

Concerns

•    The size of the building is far too large for the neighbourhood and will dwarf the surrounding buildings. The design is not in keeping with the Mount Pleasant heritage aesthetic, and we fear its conspicuous nature will only serve to further stigmatize its residents. 

•    This site plans to house core need adults with mental illnesses and/or substance abuse issues along with at-risk youth. We believe that including youth in a residence with adults facing serious challenges is risky and irresponsible.

•    We have concerns that a housing project of this size in a low-density residential area will have negative impacts on the community - increased property crime, prostitution and police and ambulance calls to the area, and an increase in drug paraphernalia found in nearby parks, schools and other public spaces.

•    This is a housing only project with no onsite treatment services. The proponent for this site, Vancouver Native Housing Society, has not attended any meetings to address questions about screening applicants for suitability, what support services will be offered to the residents, the protocol for disruptive tenants, and housekeeping issues.

•    This project of 102 residences, in conjunction with other similar housing projects at 188 E 1st and 215 - 225 W 2nd, will add 378 suites for “core-need” singles to the Mount Pleasant area.  The city has delegated 77% of the social housing outside the downtown core to our community.  This is an unfair burden on the Mount Pleasant area

•    Finally, the proposed building is inconsistent with neighbourhood feedback solicited during the ongoing Mount Pleasant Vision Planning process (http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/cpp/mountpleasant/index.htm)

Petition

We the undersigned do not support rezoning the site as proposed by the City of Vancouver at http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/rezoning/applications/675-691ebway/index.htm.  We request the city to:

·         significantly reduce the size of the building;

·         reduce the number of core-need suites it contains, and;

·         to reconsider combining at-risk youth and core need adults in the same residential building.