‘Nothing will come from this’: Vancouver council debates audit of DTES service providers

A proposal to scrutinize funding for non-profits providing housing and services on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside divided city council. Here’s why.

There are numerous government agencies, non-profits and other organizations providing housing and services to vulnerable residents of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Now, some ABC city councillors want to scrutinize those providers.

Coun. Brian Montague brought forth a motion Tuesday – an amendment to Coun. Rebecca Bligh’s 2023 motion aimed at “uplifting” the neighbourhood – to compile a comprehensive list of organizations operating in the Downtown Eastside and the funding allocated to them.

“There is some programming that is not as effective,” Montague argued at council. “We are making investments with public money so lets make sure those investments are being done intelligently.”

No council jurisdiction

Mayor Ken Sim also wants to know how the money is being spent – though much of the funding flowing into the neighbourhood comes from the province, meaning council has no jurisdiction over the spending.

Opposition councillors, and even ABC’s Lisa Dominato, voted against the audit.

“Nothing will come from this,” said Coun. Rebecca Bligh. “So what if we learn that an organization gets a certain amount of money from food programs, and a different amount of money for rent subsidies?”

Bligh was ousted by the ruling ABC party earlier this month after she challenged some of the mayor’s plans, including his controversial moratorium on supportive housing.

During Tuesday’s council meeting, Sim spoke to the importance of government transparency.

“I think transparency is incredibly important, this is something that shouldn’t be feared. If we support transparency, we support it everywhere,” he said.

The comment raised some eyebrows following the recent leak of a draft memo detailing ABC’s vision for the Downtown Eastside, which included ways to speed up new housing developments and a “re-unification” process to help some Indigenous residents move back to their home nations.

City staff insist the confidential document was meant to generate discussion.

‘Behind closed doors’

Bligh spoke to CTV News about the leaked memo, expressing concern that her former party had been making plans “behind closed doors.”

“Now we have it out in the open we can finally talk about it,” she said.

“I remain disappointed in how things are happening at city hall but I am not discouraged. What I see are policies that are coming forward that make no sense at all and that demonstrate a lack of understanding on what’s going on in our city.”

Coun. Pete Fry also spoke to the lack of transparency from the mayor, and his worries for how that will impact policy.

“A lot of these internal memos end up forming actual policy,” Fry said, pointing to Task Force Barrage, a plan to ramp up policing in the Downtown Eastside, which was “kind of articulated within this leaked memo, and quickly became policy without any public transparency.”

The debate continues Wednesday with councillors discussing Sim’s motion to halt new supportive housing projects in the city.