Articles of Denise D

A row of compact, gray wooden tiny homes with pitched roofs, neatly aligned on a paved lot under a clear sky. These small units, designed for temporary housing, reflect modern minimalistic architecture and highlight an alternative approach to addressing homelessness.
Housing

Encampments vs. Tiny Shelters: The Cost of Housing Vancouver’s Unhoused

The City of Vancouver has allocated substantial resources to manage homelessness, yet the financial and logistical viability of its approaches remains under scrutiny. Between ...
Close-up of the iconic red 'W' sign atop the historic Woodward's building in Vancouver, symbolizing the site's legacy and transformation over the years.
Housing

Woodward’s: The Unraveling of Vancouver’s Gentrification Icon

Once seen as a transformative project, Woodward’s redevelopment promised to redefine Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, blending social housing, high-end condos, and cultural spaces to bridge ...
A view of a busy street in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, showing vehicles, pedestrians, and ongoing construction. Buildings line the street, reflecting the area's urban character and developmental changes.
Policy

Vancouver Mayor Halts New Supportive Housing Projects in Downtown Eastside

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has announced a decisive shift in addressing the challenges of the Downtown Eastside (DTES), halting the approval of new supportive ...
Street-level view of Atira Women's Resource Society's main office in Vancouver, highlighting their role in housing advocacy amidst recent legal and SRO controversies
Housing

Lawsuit Against Atira Highlights Vancouver’s SRO Housing Controversies

A new lawsuit against Atira Women’s Resource Society and its subsidiaries has cast a fresh spotlight on the ongoing controversies surrounding Vancouver’s Single Room ...
Exterior view of the vacant Regent Hotel, a former SRO building, standing in disrepair on East Hastings Street in Vancouver.
Housing

Stalled Projects and Vanishing SROs Expose Vancouver’s Housing Crisis

Vancouver’s housing strategy faces mounting criticism as Single Room Occupancies (SROs) continue to vanish without viable replacements. Despite years of public investment and promises ...
An aerial shot of aging housing infrastructure in East Vancouver, British Columbia.
Housing

The Broken Pillars of Housing Rights in British Columbia

In British Columbia, the promise of housing as a human right is cracking under the weight of systemic inequities and bureaucratic inertia. Behind the ...
Picture of a woman standing on the balcony of social housing in Downtown Eastside Vancouver
Order

Exploring the Carceral Continuum in Downtown Eastside Social Housing

The term “carceral continuum” brings to mind an array of institutions—prisons, hospitals, mental health facilities, and low-income housing—that function to surveil, control, and manage ...
Photo of busy East Hastings Street in Downtown Eastside Vancouver
Community

Ten Years Into the Downtown Eastside Plan, Progress Remains Elusive

In 2014, Vancouver City Council approved the Downtown Eastside Plan, a 30-year blueprint aimed at revitalizing one of Canada’s most complex and stigmatized neighbourhoods. ...
A picture of a homeless woman on a streetside playing a guitar with a sign in front stating that she is homeless
Housing

British Columbia’s Approach to Homelessness Needs an Overhaul

Homelessness has become an inescapable reality in Canada’s urban centres, with tent encampments occupying parks, streets, and public spaces. While these encampments have sparked ...
An image of highly dense downtown core with different types of housing and public art
Housing

Canada Faces Tough Questions on National Housing Day

As Canada observes National Housing Day 2024, a day dedicated to awareness about housing and homelessness, the stark reality is that housing insecurity is ...
Image capturing a street in Eastside Downtown Vancouver housing many of the city's SRO hotels
Housing

Vancouver Landlords Fight Back Against Vacancy Control

Thirteen single-room occupancy landlords in Vancouver have launched a class-action lawsuit against the City of Vancouver, alleging that its vacancy control policy amounts to ...
Image on active construction site in Downtown Eastside Vancouver against the backdrop of Burrard Inlet and North Shore Mountains
Housing

Housing First Struggles to Deliver for Vancouver’s Most Vulnerable

In Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, the Housing First model once offered hope for a path out of homelessness. Yet, cracks are beginning to show as ...
An image of demolition of what left from the Winters SRO Hotel in Downtown Eastside Vancouver after a deadly fire
Community

Class Action Seeks Accountability in Deadly Downtown Eastside Fire

In the heart of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, tragedy struck when the Winters Hotel—a 100-year-old, single-room occupancy building—caught fire on April 11, 2022. The blaze ...
A picture of the poor state of SROs located along East Hastings Street in Downtown Eastside Vancouver
Housing

Vancouver’s SROs: Shelter or Hidden Risk?

In Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Single Room Occupancy buildings serve as a last-ditch option for thousands of low-income residents facing housing instability. These aged, small ...
Photo capturing construction in progress at one of Vancouver Downtown Eastside's affordable housing projects
Housing

Vancouver’s Social Housing Initiative Driving Affordable Inclusive Communities

As Vancouver continues to face one of the most severe housing crises in Canada, the city has responded with the Vancouver Social Housing Initiative, ...
A picture of a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk in Downtown Vancouver
Housing

BC’s Housing Crisis: When Affordability Becomes a Luxury

British Columbia’s housing market has spiraled out of control. The dream of owning a home in British Columbia has become a distant reality for ...
Vancouver residents captured at Affordable Housing Protest holding posters calling for more affordable housing
Housing

Canada’s Housing Crisis Worsens as National Strategy Fails to Deliver

Despite minor shifts in the housing market, prices remain too high for both buyers and renters, pushing families into instability and homelessness. The National ...
Picture showing conditions of people living in tents in the Crab Park located in Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia.
Community

CRAB Park Residents Take Vancouver to Court Over Homeless Encampment Rules

Tammy Littlejohn and Robbie Wallace, two women who have lived in Vancouver’s CRAB Park encampment, are now taking their fight to the B.C. Supreme ...
The East Village render shows two towering rental buildings, standing at 38 and 39 storeys, alongside a 19-storey social housing building. Set along a three-block area of East Hastings Street between Raymur Avenue and Vernon Drive.
Housing

East Village Towers Poised to Transform and Challenge DTES

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) is facing another wave of redevelopment as a trio of developers—Westbank, Promerita Group, and BC Housing—propose a project along East ...
Image showing dense construction in Vancouver's Downtown
Housing

How Vancouver’s Exclusionary Zoning is Fanning the Flames of Housing Crisis

In a city where the housing crisis has reached catastrophic levels, Vancouver remains gripped by a decades-old zoning regime that is preventing much-needed solutions. ...
Prefabricated houses at various stages of construction demonstrate a possible path British Columbia can take to tackle its housing crisis.
Housing

Fast-Tracking Factory-Built Homes in British Columbia

British Columbia is facing a housing crisis that shows no sign of abating. As prices soar and availability plummets, politicians have scrambled to find ...
Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s Minister of Housing; Joan Phillip, MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant; Taleeb Noormohamed, MP for Vancouver Granville; Patty Hajdu, federal Minister of Indigenous Services; Pete Fry, deputy mayor, Vancouver; and Susan Tatoosh, executive director, Vancouver Aboriginal Friendship Centre (VAFCS), announced a combined investment of more than $97 million to fund the 248 new spaces.
Housing

Indigenous-Led Housing Development to Transform Downtown Eastside

A major new development is set to reshape Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, bringing much-needed relief to one of the city’s most vulnerable communities. Ho’-kee-melh Kloshe ...