Housing shortfall, costs and affordability

[danbrotherston]

I mean...yes and no. I'm am quite certain that council was very angry about the bulldozing. Some...were angry about the inhumanity of it...others I suspect were more angry about being politically embarrassed.

The approach has changed, in that staff are not unilaterally bulldozing encampments. The approach has not changed in that at least some on council would still prefer to evict the encampment. But they are trying to find a way to do it without it being overtly evil.

They are going through the courts, talking about risk, etc. trying to make it less inhumane in appearance and them less responsible.

FWIW...I have no doubt that everyone on council would prefer to eliminate the encampment without evictions, but none on council are actually implementing policies which would allow that, or at least...are not doing so in an expedient manner.

Somewhat cynical there, Dan. The region is working on having (if I recall correctly) four different housing options available by the end of this month; one of them appears to be the former Schwaben Club, I don't know what the others are. That would give many/most of the encampment residents a place to go; others may not accept any of the options and might end up being evicted. But the key is to have multiple and sufficient options, as not everyone in the encampment has the same needs.

Apart from those four housing options the region is working on, what policies would you expect to see, in order to eliminate the encampment?

You make a fair point, and probably I was unfair to say that none on council are implementing policies to solve the problem.

But I think both positions have elements of truth. Council is not just one person, there are different people with different motivations.

IMO if anyone is evicted then the options were not sufficient, by definition.

As for solutions, you're right, I don't all the answers. I do think they are working on some short term ideas (ABTC is an example, Schwaben club, sanctioned tent city) but what I really don't see is rapid action on long term plans (and this is also, partly provincial and city roles)--things like immediate rezoning of all SFH areas to permit up to townhomes and 3 story walkups, and I dunno, 1-2 orders of magnitude more funding for social housing, social supports, etc.

And, I don't think this is a "you are failing to act today"...this is a pattern of failure to act. The last budget there was a huge push to cut the police budget...that could have funded a ton of these initiatives. But instead, the police budget is fatter than ever--and good thing too, it's gonna be a lot of overtime hours when they do end up evicting these people.

Since I've arrived in the Netherlands I've seen zero people living in tents or doorways, and exactly two panhandlers. I dunno, AFAIK they aren't euthanizing poor people, so they must be somewhere. I just know that this problem is not one of resources, but of motivation.

But yeah, cynical is absolutely an entirely accurate description of my opinions and feelings on this issue.