Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
Reporting & analysis
Housing, policy and community life.
B.C. Decriminalization Cut Police Drug Reports 39% but Not Overdose Deaths
B.C. said decriminalization would keep people alive. It ended the pilot amid concerns about public drug use, which nobody has systematically counted. Deaths had a monthly count. Public drug use had polls.
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The rental rescue funds that leave Vancouver’s SROs out
Canada has put $1.5 billion behind buying affordable rental homes. The rules leave out the residential hotels that Downtown Eastside tenant groups are trying to save.
What affordable shopping on Hastings would take
Filling an empty storefront can bring activity back to Hastings. Residents also need shops they can afford, with the goods and everyday services they have been travelling elsewhere to find.
Vancouver’s Police Audit Promise Needs the Board’s Invitation
A Vancouver council committee approved $5 million for a Downtown Eastside police task force nine months after it began. A promised VPD audit now depends on an invitation that only the Police Board can send.
Canada’s Homelessness Target Would Cost $3.5 Billion More a Year
Ottawa gave itself until 2027-28 to halve chronic homelessness. A friendship centre spent 18 years working toward one East Hastings building. Now a call for a national mission arrives three days before the budget, without a number.
The Debt Behind the Deal
A supplier can offer credit, drugs and a way to earn, then demand repayment under threat. Published Downtown Eastside accounts show what keeps a worker tied to that arrangement. They also show what it can cost to leave.
The Changing Promise of 58 West Hastings
A safe home has changed residents’ lives at Bob & Michael’s Place. Behind that achievement is an unfinished argument over the rents and admission rules that decide who gets the same chance.
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