Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Housing first, for dogs

The City of Vancouver is pledging to spend $15m upgrading housing for a marginalized homeless population in the city. Dogs.

CIty councilor Kim Capri's motion to approve $15,000,000 (Item 4, p. 19) in funding for a brand new animal shelter facility will go before Council on Monday. $500,000 has already been spent developing the expansion plan.

On one paw, the facility will house all kinds of animals, not just dogs. On the other paw, dogs in Vancouver are not actually homeless right now. The City has a pound that is coping very well with the current homeless dog population. Last time I checked, I wasn't solicited for food in the streets by a homeless dog. Would that I could say the same for people.

For reference, $15,000,000 is the equivalent of either 75 brand new social housing units, 250 purchased and upgraded residential hotel units, or at least 150 brand new social housing units if a developer were subsidized to include low-income housing in a development and creative financing were used via the property endowment fund.

If your stomach feels sick that disabled people, people with mental health issues, and people who are just really down on their luck are living on our streets and begging for food while we spend $15,000,000 housing dogs that already have somewhere else to go, you can contact the City Clerk's office at 604-873-7276 to ask to speak to the motion at Council. The motion will then be set for another day to hear from the public