April 29, 2020
CBC News
British Columbia
Justin McElroy
Vancouver hotels being used for homeless should be bought by government, advocates say
The B.C. government’s announcement that more than 600 spaces in hotel rooms and community centres have been secured for homeless people in Vancouver have brought with it a call for further action.
Namely, that it shouldn’t just temporarily take over underused hotels, but outright purchase some of them for low-income residents.
“We need to develop as a province an acquisition strategy to buy the hotels,” said Jill Atkey, president of the B.C. Non-Profit Housing Association.
Atkey believes the province should look both at hotels and other aging purpose-built rental stock as opportunities to dramatically increase the amount of shelter-rate housing available.