For my latest in Vancouver magazine, I got to spend some time with the province’s ambitious Housing Minister NOT at housing announcements. Love him or hate him, no one can deny that Coleman is pouring a lot of energy into the housing/homelessness issue.
The question for some is what the long-term consequences of his vision of [...]

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Word is about to come down that the city and province will put money in to keeping the new, as they’re called, “Gregor shelters” open for a few more months, while more permanent housing is brought on board. That’s the result of intensive meetings Friday, Saturday and Sunday with Mayor Gregor Robertson, Housing Minister Rich [...]

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Oops, forgot to post my story from the Globe today earlier than this. But here it is. A look at what’s going on, as the city and province try to figure out where all those 500 people now camping out at First United and a warehouse near Great Northern and in city buildings under the [...]

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The rumbling started this morning about the announcement that Housing Minister Rich Coleman was going to become the Downtown Eastside czar. As it turns out, it’s a little more than that. He’s actually being put in charge of figuring out what all is going on with homelessness, mental health and addiction in five different communities, [...]

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Don’t ask me how I know but I do. THe deal is still on to redevelop the Little Mountain social housing site near Queen Elizabeth Park.  Housing Minister Rich Coleman, BC Housing staff and others had a meeting Friday with the new CEO of Holborn, Joo Kim Tiah, and Tiah confirmed he’s not leaving.
Holborn put [...]

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Robert Matas’s story in the Globe this morning gets on the record the Vision Vancouver council’s discomfort with the idea of having a czar for the Downtown Eastside, a constantly recurring idea that had been floated again recently.
The Vision mayor and council didn’t criticize the idea at first, but behind the scenes, they were expressing [...]

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Another fun morning in another unheated brick building being renovated, with the housing crowd in the province as everyone gathered at the St. Helen’s hotel on Granville Street. That was to hear the premier and Housing Minister Rich Coleman announced they had bought 601 new units around the province in 15 buildings, all as part [...]

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Off to the 9:30 press conference this morning, where the premier and Housing Minister Rich Coleman are about to announce another big end-of-year buy of residential hotels and older apartment buildings for the third year in a row. All part of the plan to secure this private stock so it can be used for housing [...]

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It was quite the party scene in the Downtown Eastside today, as the Who’s Who of the neighbourhood and the province’s social-housing mafia gathered on Carrall Street to celebrate the opening of the new Pennsylvania Hotel with 44 housing units. Much oohing and ahing over the lovely new rooms, refurbished lobby and the restored ancient [...]

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Hi Frances,
Thanks for your response to my pre-Christmas post on homelessness. It’s important there be a real debate about these issues, and it seems to have started. So let me respond to some of what you have written.
1. You write, “ … Housing Minister Rich Coleman announced he had bought 10 Downtown Eastside hotels to [...]

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