Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

Reporting & analysis

Housing, policy and community life.

A sidewalk covered in fallen autumn leaves on East Hastings Street in Vancouver with an individual lying on the ground near local storefronts and passersby.

The Downtown Eastside’s Right to an Ordinary Life

Progress in the Downtown Eastside can coexist with an intolerable ordinary day. Compassion has to reach beyond the next emergency, to the people needing care and the neighbours trying to live and work beside them.

October 23, 2026

Kris C

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Culture

At Heart of the City, the Neighbourhood Keeps Its Own History

October 23, 2026

Teresa G

Policy

Vancouver’s Drug Vote Demands an Answer

October 22, 2026

Kris C

Community

Introducing the Downtown Eastside Help Guide

October 22, 2026

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Red awning framing the entrance to the Road to Recovery Transitional Care facility at a brick hospital building in Vancouver.

Policy

B.C.’s Drug Policy Fight Leaves the Treatment Timetable Unclear

B.C.’s parties offer competing routes out of the overdose crisis. Their treatment promises come with different budgets and timelines, leaving a gap between the changes voters are being offered and the care people can actually get.

October 21, 2026

Glenn W

Close-up of two people holding hands for comfort during a support group counseling session while a facilitator takes notes in the background.

Healthcare

B.C.’s Community Counselling Has Outgrown One-Time Funding

CMHA B.C. warns that short funding cycles can make it harder to keep experienced counsellors. B.C. already has a proposal for multi-year funding with annual scrutiny.

October 21, 2026

Glenn W

An elevated view of a multi-story building under construction with a tower crane overhead on East Hastings Street, with the Vancouver downtown skyline in the background.

Housing

Vancouver Can Lift Its Housing Pause. The Backlog Will Still Be There.

Several housing projects already had an exemption from Vancouver’s pause. Their long delivery schedules expose what the next council still has to resolve after repeal: approvals and the money to build and operate homes.

October 20, 2026

Denise D

A rainy city street scene featuring a line of closely parked cars in the foreground, including a tan SUV with a rear-mounted spare tire parked next to temporary "No Parking" signs. In the background intersection, a white ambulance is stopped with its red emergency lights actively flashing, while the blue and red lights of a police vehicle are visible further back on the left side of the street. Trees and a pedestrian with a green umbrella line the wet sidewalk near a red traffic light.

Policy

When Anti-Violence Work Hurts Its Workers

A bigger budget could help pay for a safer shift. But it leaves another question unanswered: how do organizations respond when their own workers need help?

October 20, 2026

Glenn W

An elevated daytime view of the twin concrete Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts spanning horizontally across the frame with sparse traffic. Below the elevated roadways are empty, fenced-off dirt lots and paved parking areas. The background features a dense mix of urban mid-rise buildings, an electrical substation, and large orange shipping cranes with mountains visible in the far distance.

Policy

Eleven Years After Council Voted to Remove the Viaducts, Hogan’s Alley Still Waits

Council voted in 2015 to remove the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts, expecting developers to pay. The price rose, the date slipped, and who pays is still open.

October 19, 2026

Denise D