Is Vancouver 'deteriorating'? How public safety is being debated in the lead-up to the election
CTV
Is Vancouver deteriorating due to mismanagement at city hall, or is the city facing the same issues as most other major cities, compounded by inaction by senior levels of government? That question is at the heart of a fierce debate.
Is Vancouver deteriorating due to mismanagement at city hall, or is the city facing the same issues as most other major cities, compounded by inaction by senior levels of government?
The answer to that question is at the heart of a fierce discussion of public safety, street homelessness, and crime that has been a key focal point for most of Vancouver’s mayoral candidates who’ve blamed the incumbent for what some describe as the city’s “deterioration”.
At a town hall last week, ABC Vancouver’s Ken Sim asked: “How many people have to get hurt before we have real action on this file?” Progress Vancouver’s Mark Marrissen told CTV News “people deserve to feel safe in our city,” and the NPA’s Fred Harding has gone so far as to suggest hiring recently retired police officers to help deal with “public disorder.”
Vancouver’s current mayor, who’s trying to be re-elected with a slate of Forward Together council candidates, insists that all major cities are dealing with similar problems.
“A lot of what's happening has nothing to do with policing, it's got to do with folks falling through the cracks,” said Kennedy Stewart in a one-on-one interview. “Being homeless is not a crime, having a mental illness is not a crime, being poor is not a crime and this is why investing in social housing is so important.”
The direct of the Housing Research Collaborative says with soaring real estate prices in many cities and the growing disparity between rich and poor, more people are ending up on the street, leading to perceptions of urban decay.
“This is something that's occurring across North America, not so much in countries that have a strong social safety net,” said Penny Gurstein. “There’s this attitude of 'Oh, we just don't want to see them on the streets'. Well where are they going to go? There's no housing."
