Sim Apparently Consulted Nobody Before Announcing Supportive-Housing Pause
(VANCOUVER, Jan 28, 2025) -- ABC Mayor Ken Sim’s announcement of a pause on supportive housing in Vancouver is one more sign of a party that governs by the seat of its pants, says TEAM for a Livable Vancouver.
Instead of first talking to the DTES community, other Metro mayors and the provincial government, he revealed news that surprised everyone – even his own caucus members. ABC Coun. Rebecca Bligh said she was “taken aback” and “confused” at Sim’s announcement.
No wonder, given her party’s 2022 election promise to “develop an overarching 20-year social and supportive housing plan for the City in partnership with BC Housing and other housing partners within two years.” Is this back-of-the-envelope declaration the result?
It’s part of an ABC pattern of governing by surprise. Motions like reversing the ban on gas heating in homes, or gutting view cones, arrive at council with little notice (or none, in the case of the motion to suspend the Integrity Commissioner’s work) and often zip through without public awareness. Sim’s biggest surprise was his announcement that he planned to eliminate the elected Park Board, despite campaigning on improving it. The move so stunned both the public and the ABC commissioners that three of them quit to sit as independents.
TEAM believes citizens would rather be consulted than surprised and that City processes must be transparent, impartial, collaborative, and focused on the residents and businesses directly affected by the outcomes.