Vancouver mayor says hard tradeoffs may be needed to create housing

A headshot of Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart
Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart. Photo courtesy of the City of Vancouver.
Laurence Gatinel - CFRO - VancouverBC | 11-09-2020
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By Tan Mei Xi

If support from the Province and Feds don't come fast enough, the City may have to make some tough tradeoffs to ensure funding for housing, Mayor Kennedy Stewart told The PULSE on CFRO.

"How much are we as city council willing to put into this? That's where I think the debate is," said Stewart.

"It's money where your mouth is... for example, if we're going to buy hotels, we wouldn't have enough money to do that so we'd have to cancel other projects. Maybe we don't build another community centre. Maybe we don't redo the Granville Street Bridge."

Stewart also noted that funding from the Province and the Feds also always come with stipulations, such as applicants for BC Housing units having to meet criteria set by the provincial agency. The barriers to entry have been noted by some advocates to make housing inaccessible for portions of the street-entrenched population.