 Everyone, Simgaget, Sigit Amanek, Gwyt Wilsik, my name's Melanie Mark, my Nisqa names will hike with Gak, and I'm very proud to be the MLA for Vancouver Mount Pleasant. We're here gathered on the traditional unceded homelands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Slewa Youth Nations, and I'm honored that you're all here with us joining us for a very important announcement for my constituents. Thank you to the media, thank you to the elected officials for being here. I think there's no more important message to send to the public that paddling together is working together, getting things done together, and I don't want to steal the thunder from our newly elected Premier and the Minister of Housing who's dedicated every day. He's not going to get distracted by jobs, economy and innovation. He's going to focus every day on building housing, which is what people in Vancouver want, what people want across this province. So without further ado, I'm going to invite the Premier up, but thank you all for being here. Martial arts, martial arts. Look at that teamwork. There we go. I'll begin by acknowledging we're on the territory of the Squamish Musqueam and Slewa Youth people and join Minister Mark in recognizing the territory. I joined today by our new Minister of Housing, Ravi Kalon, Ken Sim, the mayor of the city of Vancouver, my colleague, Melanie Mark, who you just saw, MLA for Vancouver Mount Pleasant, and David Ward, who's joined us from Luminative Housing today. We're here really to talk today about the challenges that we see in the city of Vancouver and how we work towards solutions together. As a result of the pandemic, along with the ongoing toxic drug crisis, we've seen increasing challenges for people in and around the downtown East side. We see people trapped in a cycle of homelessness, living in dangerous encampments. It impacts Vancouver as a city, it impacts local business owners, tourists and residents. And most of all, it's devastating for the people who are living in the tents on the street right now. This is a complex issue and we need all hands on deck to address it. That includes all orders of government, service providers, law enforcement, residents of Vancouver and First Nations leadership. Over the last few weeks, I've been meeting with groups and listening to their concerns, particularly around issues related to the downtown East side. I've met with service providers, people who are on the front lines, providing services on the downtown East side. I've met with government leadership and agencies, all three levels of government, indigenous leadership, urban indigenous representation. And I've also met separately with community and business leaders of Vancouver's historic Chinatown. These meetings are only the beginning as we work together to put together a plan and long term strategy for the downtown East side, including the immediate term response we need to make to the encampments in that neighborhood. Together, we're coming up with solutions that'll make a difference now and down the road, providing people with a safe and stable place to call home will inevitably be part of this work. It's an important first step. I've seen the impact that moving from living outside into housing can make in a person's life. We had a young man, a veteran living in the woods around Jericho Park, who came to my constituency office, we were able to connect him with housing. He is a different person today because he has a roof overhead. Home is central to taking care of yourself and those around you and to building a good life in our province. That's all of our shared vision for the province and we have a lot of work ahead of us to make that reality. We are unfortunately still paying a price for a housing market that for more than a decade worked very well for big corporations and wealthy speculators. It did not work for people, especially people on the edges. The result is the housing crisis that we find ourselves in today. And we see the effects all around us, including the encampment on Hastings Street. For the last five years, our government has been making different choices. We took action to curb speculation that was driving up the prices of homes and leaving homes empty. We've been working with our partners to turn things around on the ground. A $7 billion investment in housing the largest in BC's history is making a difference. 36,000 new homes are open or underway. Here in Vancouver, we've opened hundreds of new temporary and permanent shelter spaces. Still, one look at Crab Park and Hastings Street should tell everybody that more action and in particular urgent action is needed. We need to do more to keep people off of our street, out of shelters and get them into stable housing where they can access health and social supports and stop cycling between the street and shelters. Today, we are taking another step forward in that direction. In partnership with the city of Vancouver, we're moving forward with two temporary bridge to housing projects. They'll open in March 2023, just a matter of months. And I want to take a moment to specifically thank Mayor Sim and Council and staff of the city of Vancouver for us to be able to move so quickly on these projects. Time is of the essence. Support services will be in place in these buildings. And another 90 homes will give people a safe place to live. This housing will help address the urgent need to create more safe, stable homes for people experiencing homelessness. And it will serve as a bridge to accessing health supports and more permanent housing. Now it's important to remember this is just one step in a longer term plan to address homelessness and help people move out of unsafe encampments. We've heard from those impacted that temporary modular housing will help people now. In fact, it was a key theme among service providers, how game changing it was for people that they supported who were able to access modular housing. If the pandemic taught us one thing, it's that going it alone doesn't work. We're all in this together. We couldn't do this work without our partners, the city of Vancouver, nonprofit housing providers, indigenous and community partners, peer support teams, first responders and more. We're united in our belief that a home, a safe, stable home is foundational to building a good life. It's key to accessing support and certainly to doing things like holding down a job, to regaining a sense of self, to rebuilding connections with friends, family and community and to be part of a stronger British Columbia. Thank you. I just jumped in. I can't decide if I want to use this platform or not. Does that work? Okay, all right. Thank you so much. And of course, thank you to the premier. I want to say a big thank you to my colleague Emily Mark, who's just just a strong advocate, not only for a community, but for the people who need advocates the most and just so proud to call her one of my colleagues. And I too want to acknowledge that we are gathered today on the traditional territory of the Muscovite and Swarmish and Slewa-tooth nations. The health and safety of unhoused people and this community is one of our primary concerns. We all want to see a healthier, safer downtown East Side, where people can access the housing and the supports they need for a safe and healthy community. As a new Minister of Housing, I'm determined to increase housing supply and get more housing built fast. The significant investments that we've made as a government are starting to come online, but we know there's so much more work to do. That means we need to do more housing at all levels, especially for those that are sheltering outside. Significant efforts are being made to find solutions for those on East Hastings and Crab Park encampments. Since July, we have opened more than 150 renovated spaces with support services have opened across Vancouver. This, in addition to the almost 600 temporary shelter spaces and 88 emergency weather response shelters spaces open in Vancouver since November this year. Everyone deserves a safe place and services that they need access to. Encampments offer a sense of community for some people, but they're not safe or suitable form of long term shelter and create significant risks for people and their well being. That's why with the help of the City of Vancouver, we're fast tracking 90 more units of modular housing. We're working with BC Housing in the City of Vancouver, Indigenous and community partners to address the immediate health and safety and housing needs of the people here in downtown Eastside. These two projects will provide 90 modular homes for people in need. These modular spaces will have 24 hour staffing to help address critical needs in Vancouver for more indoor spaces for those living on streets. This includes cultural programming, access to mental health and primary care services. The goal here is to break the cycle between sheltering indoors and outside and create a bridge to long term housing. I would like to recognize our valued partners in this project, BC Housing, Marisim and the entire council in the City of Vancouver, Coastal Health. Through partnerships like these, we can make progress. These homes will make a significant difference for people here in Vancouver. We know there's so much more work to do and we're committed to do that work together. Thank you so much for being here today. I'd like to introduce the Mayor of Vancouver to come up and share a few words about our partnership and working together. Thank you. You must be like nine foot six. That's a compliment. Okay, so I once again I would also like to acknowledge that we're hosting today's press conference on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Swayloteuth and Muscovam First Nations and I deeply thank them for their generosity and their hospitality. So as you know, we are in the midst of one of the greatest crises in our city's history. Today's announcement from the province makes meaningful progress towards achieving our shared goal of securing quality housing for a city's most vulnerable residents. Now, this is not a permanent solution, but these projects will deliver much needed housing quickly, freeing up additional capacity at shelters around the city. Now, there is a lot of work ahead of us, but I'm confident in the leadership of Premier Ebe, Minister Calon, MLA Mark and the provincial government, the leadership they have already shown on this file. We want to take this opportunity to applaud the provincial government for their commitment for taking on a leadership role in coordinating the response to the crisis in the downtown east side and the city of Vancouver, myself and all of my council partners look forward to continuing the work to work collaboratively with the provincial and federal governments to secure permanent quality housing for Vancouver's most vulnerable people. So thank you. Thank you very much, Mayor. I'd now like to invite David Ward, who's the director of operations with Luminative Housing Society. Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. It's an honor and privilege to be here today. My name is Dave Ward, and my traditional name is Four Winds Man, and I'm the director of operations for Luminative Housing Society. First, I'd like to take this opportunity to appreciate the that we're gathered on the traditional and unceded territory of the Musqueam Squamish and Swaylatuth. I'd also like to recognize and appreciate that, you know, we begin our expression of this, sorry, I'd like to begin by expressing my humble appreciation to Creator and for all the helpers that have come today to provide us with the direction on who we have contributed and how all the contributions that have come to this beautiful day that held us to the gather here and share this amazing announcement and the impact that it will have. We thank Creator for the new day and the opportunity to pursue and fulfill part of our purpose, and our purpose is a community and our shared responsibilities together. Many Indigenous community members in our housing sector devote a significant part of their lives to supporting our people who have been impacted by a massive disruption in their lives, which is often due to faults that are beyond their own. The need to the community for housing and supports have never been greater, and for 40 years, Luminative Housing has had the privilege of providing a wide range of services to this collective population impacted by poverty, health issues, and all kinds of colonial related challenges that have come over the years. We lead this work from a cultural foundation utilizing and supporting our elders, the teachings, and ceremonies. Luma currently operates 300 supportive housing units, and having developed built and continuing to manage the facilities, we often know the benefits that are brought as a result of these housing units. The newly announced 90 units will provide a safe place from which we'll give our residents time and space and support to transition to to us out of survival mode. The supportive housing environment will provide opportunity to revisit their own purpose and to identify what direction that they may be going and what their actual housing destination may feel like and might be. The time to heal and the time to focus on a true plan for themselves and their family. An environment where staff can be trusted and can build the trust and foundation of a relationship to support the individual to achieve a balanced life and a good life. On behalf of Luminative Housing Society and the members, we are privileged to be here and thank Premier Ebe and the housing minister and the city of Vancouver and the mayor and everybody else for their contributions and we know this is just a little step in the direction that we need to go and we look forward to being a part of the solutions moving forward, so thank you. As we wrap up, I just wanted to we'll pass it over to the media. As the only First Nations woman to ever get elected in BC, with a mother who lived on the streets of the downtoning side for 15 years out of a shopping cart, we know that it's a game changer for people to have housing. They can't get to their medical appointments. They can't get to treatment. They can't get their kids back. They can't get to work. They can't get back to school unless they have a roof over their head. And so I just want to applaud the Premier for making this happen in this community. All of these supportive housings for the media, if you haven't had a chance to see where they are, they're game changers. Drive by Oppenheimer any day. Drive by Union Street here. Drive by Sugar Mountain to see that that 24-7 model is a golden model, but we need to get people out of those encampments because the activists and the advocates are saying it's dangerous. We need that gender lens to make sure especially our women are safe, knowing also that Indigenous people are overrepresented on the street. So thank you to the Premier. Thank you to everyone for making this happen. I was on briefing calls with BC Housing. I want to give a shout out to BC Housing for moving as quickly as they can to get this land here into all the electricians that are going to line up the wiring and the plumbing and everything to make it happen because it's going to make a big deal for the community. Thank you very much. Turning to questions, everyone will be limited to one question and one follow-up and a reminder for media online, please press star one to enter the queue and remember to unmute your phone as you will not be audible until your name is called. Our first question today comes from Jason Hui Minghao. Hi, Pimura. Thank you for taking my question. So as you mentioned, you've met the Chinese leaders and stakeholders in Chinatown last week. Can you share about what message do we see from the community? And do you have any specific plan already on the table for helping in Chinatown? I was just really grateful that so many community leaders took time out. We met at the site of the future Chinese Canadian Museum and in an historic schoolhouse room that's been preserved as part of that building. And that sense of history really informed the discussion. Front of mind for many people in the room was recognizing the importance of the elders, the seniors, the Chinese seniors that live in the community, that depend on the local businesses, the legacy businesses of Chinatown as being core to the identity of the community and how important it is to protect their housing, to protect their safety, and to make sure that they're looked after. And almost universally around the room, people took turns explaining how, whether through their work or through their money or through their business, they were subsidizing and supporting Chinatown to be able to survive. Just a huge amount of energy, but they also talked about how they felt tired and how they were at the end of their rope and they needed support. There was a huge amount of goodwill in the room and a lot of interest in identifying solutions together and really a sense of hope and excitement about getting people together to come up with a plan to make sure that those seniors are supported, make sure Chinatown is supported. And our shared goal, the mayor was there too, our shared goal to make Chinatown really shine. And there was also a sense in that meeting and in the other meetings I had that in the downtown east side that things have never been worse and we have to urgently turn things around because as that neighborhood goes, so goes Chinatown and Gastown, downtown core, they're knock on effects across the city. So there was a sense of urgency as well. It was an initial meeting, it was an introductory meeting, it was getting to where we are in the community and we're going to be taking next steps with them and with other community leaders to address the issues in that community. I'm very excited about the work ahead. I don't know your worship if you have any reflections on the meeting. Yeah, no I thought it was a great meeting. It was great to see all the community leaders there. It was great to have the premier there and Emily, Mark and Emily Chow there and it was just a free flowing conversation. People talked about their hopes and dreams, the challenges that they faced and it was great to see that there was a willingness for everyone. It didn't matter what side of the political spectrum you were on, how old you are, young you were, it didn't matter. It seemed like we all had a common goal which is the future vitality of Chinatown and building the next chapter on what's going to be an incredible ride in that community. We'll figure out a better system. If we're going to do more partnerships we need to bring. Hello, yeah and I still got one follow-up for the premier as well. So Canadian render with low incomes are getting their one-off federal payments. I'm just wondering about the election promise from the BC government about the $400 render rebate. Do you have a schedule for that? Are we going to see it in the next year budget? Oh, there you are. I've been staring at the seeker. You're right here. So I have put the renters rebate into the mandate letter of the responsible ministers and it's a commitment that we made to British Columbians. We will deliver on that commitment for British Columbians. And before anyone asks I don't know anything about that dog that was wearing sunglasses. So please don't ask many questions about that. The next question is to Jen St. Dennis. I have a question for the mayor. So this housing, I understand is going to be work camp housing, stall housing. Could you talk a little bit about that style? And then can you also talk about the strategy for getting people from Hastings to here and what that's going to entail? Yeah, sure. If you want to talk about stall, what I'd like to talk about is the fact that it's going to, it's temporary and it's coming here quick. It should be in place by March and it's going to provide a lot more quality, like supportive housing to people that really need it. And I think at the end of the day that's the, you know, that's the number one priority. When it comes to operationally how it's going to happen, you know, I'll leave that up to the experts, but I know that, you know, the powers that be, they're working incredibly hard. And I have full confidence in them having an orderly transition into the housing quickly. Okay. The reason I'm asking that was because right now on Hastings Street, people are kind of just being moved around and around. They're being given shelter options. That's not the same as shelter. And there's people being turned away from shelters. So what I'm asking is, is there going to be some sort of enforcement? Like what is that going to look like to convince people to move here? And there's going to be choice for people. Mr. Kalan. Great. Thanks for the question, Jen. So the space is thank you. The space that has been created is going to provide opportunities for those in shelters. To be able to transition into this housing. And of course, our goal, our focus will be to ensure that creating more spaces and giving people opportunities. We know it's complex. We know the needs are complex. Some folks like the sense of community. They feel safe in the sense of community in the encampment. But as I said in my comments, that it's not a safe environment. So we have to not only help transition people in shelters into this type of housing, we need to create more space for those folks to come over. And we have people that are community outreach workers that are working with them actually on the ground ensuring that there's meals available and making sure that they're they have access to services making sure they have access to health care needs. And making sure they have the supports they need while we continue to open up these shelter spaces to transition them in. The next question goes to Mira Baines, CBC. This question is for Minister Ravi Kalan. Congratulations on your post. Back here. Okay. So these are 90 temporary homes. What else are you doing in the next couple of months to build permanent homes? Yeah, no doubt about it. It's a biggest challenge. The premier has made it clear to myself and to my colleagues that housing is one of the biggest priorities. And so I've already laid out speed supply and synergy are my three goals. You're seeing synergy today. You're seeing, you know, the mayor and his commitment working with us, working with BC housing to get creative solutions online much quicker. We need to find ways to get more housing approved moves faster. That's not something that Mayor Sim and I have talked about and there's a commitment from him on that and I've talked to mayors across the region. Although we're talking about, you know, Vancouver today, we need all community partners in the region to step up and play a role. And so far I've gotten commitments from everyone and all types of housing. And so today, obviously we've got modular housing. We need to have all types of housing available for people because the needs are different for every community and the needs are different for people at different stages in their lives. Okay. And the BC Liberals pointed out an exodus of staff from BC housing. Now I'm wondering what have you done or what steps are you taking to retain staff? Well, the pandemic has been tough. I mean, the pandemic has been really hard. It's been hard on BC housing. These folks have worked nonstop to try to ensure that they are the supports and the housing is available for people during one of the most challenging times of our province. And people were exhausted. And on top of that, you have a generational shift. You have people that are getting older. They're retiring. They're moving to other opportunities just like we're seeing in the private sector. And so, yes, there's challenges. We're working with BC housing to aggressively attract talent. And of course, when we announce investments like this, when we announce the commitment that the Premier has made about how housing is one of the most important files in the province right now, that is going to attract the type of people that we know are going to be needed to address the challenges that we have ahead. The next question goes to Brenna Owen, CP. Hi there. I think perhaps this question is for the new housing minister. Building, I guess, on a previous question, just so you're going to be moving offering this housing to people who are currently living in shelters. Could you just give a little bit more information about what the strategy is for transitioning people into the new units? Yeah. The BC housing staff, we've got the Carnegie organization that's working right now with folks on the ground in the encampments. But the idea will be we have people in the shelters that are looking for more move out of the shelters into more secure housing. And so the plan right now will be BC housing will be reaching out, working with our partners to give opportunities for those folks to come. Of course, that will free up some space in the shelters so that we can offer those spaces to other people. We do have some spaces available right now and we're always working with the folks that are in the encampments to try to bring them the opportunities to come into those shelters. But of course, it's not that easy. It's complex and people have said to us sometimes they feel that the encampment is a safe place for them and we're working with them. We're working with them to ensure that they have the supports they need but they also understand that there's some housing available for them to make that shift. Yeah, I'm just wondering, you know, does this kind of signal that modular housing is going to be the transitional step towards more permanent housing and what is your estimate of like how much for the premier or the minister how much modular housing would be needed in order to, you know, get unhoused folks off the street while they're waiting on more permanent options. So one of the one of the ways I've asked the new housing housing minister there we go there we go one of the ways I've asked the new housing minister to look at this issue that we face around housing is is the way the British Columbians look at it when they're looking for housing and it's a crisis. And so we're looking for ways that we can move quickly to provide responses for people who are on the street to get people inside and to be really creative around creating new housing for people with reasonable incomes with decent jobs that feel they should be able to find a place they can rent or even a place to get into the housing market to be creative and find those ways to do that. Modular housing so there's a modular housing building behind me these are prefabricated units that are built in a factory and then assembled on site very quickly it's a really important way to deliver housing quickly and effectively and as you can see it's an attractive building and it works really well this is one of the ways that we can provide housing on an urgent basis and one of the ways that the minister will be looking at expanding the availability of housing with partner municipalities but it's just one way there are so many different approaches to get this housing open and we're going to be creative and we're going to approach this as it is for British Columbians which is when they're looking for a place and they can't find it that's a crisis and for us it's a crisis too The next question goes to Francis Bula Globe and Mail Hey, so I'm going to try Jim's question again our understanding from talking to people in advance of the meeting is that there aren't going to be buildings like this that it's going to be like one-story trailers kind of spread out like a mining camp so why that it doesn't make it faster to put up is that the reason for that and will there be more of those kinds of work camp type arrangements? Thanks so yes these will be two one-story buildings that will be built in a style consistent with a work camp temporary housing they're meant to be temporary they're on a three-year term and it's meant to be an urgent response we can move faster with that particular type of housing it's available for us to respond quickly and that's what we're looking for right now to be able to move quickly we've got a bunch of people outside we've got shelters of capacity so we want to make sure that we're creating the space it's faster than this yes but we're also doing this haha moving to folks on the line the next question will be from Richard Zisman global news Premier this one's for you I know that the encampment population fluctuates but at times it was well over a thousand just this just tackles a very small part of that how quickly and you mentioned the speed that you're working at do you hope to get more of those people housed or is it inevitable that you will not be able to find places to permanently live for all of those people currently in the encampments thanks the housing minister just advised me the latest number he has is about 475 people living outside right now and those are in different different sites it's obviously a really significant challenge today's announcement just one piece of that one of the challenges that we face previously around encampments when we move people in a big group from an encampment into a single building directly into housing we don't get the chance to know people we don't get a chance to know what their needs are and we can have really bad outcomes that come from that so getting people from encampments into a dignified shelter where we get to know them where they can stabilize where we get to know with where their needs are and then from their find good housing for them that matches their needs some people live in encampments they have very limited support needs some people live in encampments they have profound support needs getting to know who's who and what they need in that interim step of dignified shelter is really critical for us and it's really critical to success so that's why you heard the housing minister say we're moving people from shelters where we know what their needs are we know what their abilities are what their capacities are into these units to free up the shelter space so that we can provide that response to shelters and dignified shelter will be swing spaces so that we're able to do that work this is a very significant project and we understand too that there are people in the encampments that may have housing that may have units and SROs for example that they find unlivable for one reason or another getting to know people in the encampments being able to identify what their housing needs are and freeing up those units so that other people can move in will also help us address some of these challenges but it is a serious issue and it's going to take all hands on deck to address it so did you have a follow-up as you look at the medium to longer-term solutions how much are you looking outside of this downtown core to find permanent housing along with the mental health supports and the other supports that are needed to try to alleviate the pressure that's on the downtown east side on China town in terms of these mental health issues public safety issues and can minister Kallon speak briefly to where we are at with this coordinated approach clearly this is the first step what are the next steps in terms of coordinating the resources from the provinces and towards working through this issue I'm free on my deck sure great questions Richard so the in terms of coordinating our our approach and I'll pass it over to minister Kallon but where we're at right now is we've had meetings with key stakeholders in the community the service providers and others we've had key meetings with senior levels of government with First Nations government and our next step is to develop a plan together around encampment response that everybody is on board with and we're all pushing in the same direction to make sure that we are decamping in a way that respects people's human rights and dignity but also recognizes the encampments as we see them are not sustainable so that's the work that we're doing we're developing a plan an urgent response plan about how to decamp the sites but longer term we're talking about phase two and phase three what does the future of the downtown east east side look like how do we make sure that it is remains a predominantly low income community but a healthier happier place that's safe for seniors and families and for women and these are important priorities for the community and for the broader city of Vancouver we have a regional challenge where we need all cities on board with providing decent housing including housing with supports and that's part of our work with municipalities around our housing legislation where we set housing targets because we can't have just one city do all the supportive housing we can't have just one city have all of the supports and all of the services it needs to be dispersed throughout the region where people are where they need those services and so we'll be working closely with cities to make sure that that's something that happens across metro Vancouver the next question goes to Lisa Yuzda city news Hi there premier minister I'm just wondering there's just a slight disturbance I was talking with some people who are you know who have shelters and whatnot or work with shelters in the downtown east side they're estimating there are a few thousand people who need homes you're saying there are a few hundred and they're also wondering why the speed that they saw during the pandemic where there was more housing coming on very quickly why that speed can't continue in spaces and places that are not being fully utilized like hotels so a couple pieces one is that figure that I provided to you are it's our best number in terms of people who are in in comments right now that is not the number of people who are street homeless in metro Vancouver we release detailed counts which we can provide to you that provide a better indication of the number of people who are homeless in Metro Vancouver two versions one where people go and physically count and the other a new version that we've developed is government where we use data from our government systems anonymized data to try to calculate who's in and out of homelessness and how long they're homeless and so on it's very detailed very fascinating and very important information to address the issue and the second piece is I want to reassure everybody who is concerned about the safety of people living in tents people living outside that housing is one of our key priority areas as a government and it's not just housing for people living outside we're moving upstream to address housing for people with decent incomes and jobs that are looking for a place that are bidding up the rents in places that used to be lived in by people on fixed incomes and that are no longer affordable for them so we're seeing either stable homelessness populations or slight increases despite significant investments due to the housing shortage that we have and so it's really important work for us to do it's a huge priority and you'll see us move quickly this is just one of many announcements as we work on housing going forward Lisa did you have a follow-up? Yes I'm wondering if you can talk a bit more about what that's coming sort of for the missing middle you know one of the shelters was talking about there are people living there who do have jobs but just can't put it together and get it you know get ahead enough to get down payments for our homes certainly and not even for rent so what can those people that group look forward to in the near future? I've laid out a number of priorities for the new housing minister and as mandate letter they include working with a non-profit housing sector to establish a rental housing preservation fund one of the things is when you're in a hole you need to stop digging so a fund that will allow non-profit organizations to buy older rental buildings that provide affordable rental housing to preserve that affordable housing but also create redevelopment opportunities so the tenants are protected when those properties are redeveloped the second is BC builds where the minister will be working on partnering with municipalities with the private sector with First Nations with the non-profit sector to deliver attainable middle-class housing both for rent and for purchase I'm really excited about these initiatives there's lots more to come and but it's all laid out in the mandate letter the work that's coming the next question goes to Binger Sajan CTV Hi there I'm just wondering if you can give us a sense of how much this project or these two projects are costing and if you can give us the sense also about how many more temporary modular homes may be on the way so the the cost for this site is 6.9 million dollars from the province and the city of Vancouver brought the land for this and there'll be obviously ongoing costs for supports inside the building we will have more housing announcements to make some modular some not over the months and years ahead as we respond to this housing crisis but I don't have any fears about how many more modular housing units are coming on at hand Binger do you have a follow-up I do just wondering about hearing about staff shortages across all industries is there any concern that there might not be enough staff to provide the support the 24th of the support well certainly in the service provider roundtable that that we hosted to hear about frontline experience of people delivering services in the downtown east side and what they saw happening in the neighborhood it was really clear that they are struggling as so many employers are to hire and retain staff to deliver these vital services we are in bargaining right now with those workers and that is how we retain and recruit those workers is definitely part of the discussion at the bargaining table and more than that I just want to put out that for British Columbians that feel calling to do this kind of work we are absolutely looking for you to do this work and would be really excited for you to contribute in this way to our province the next question goes to Rob Shaw Chuck News well hi premier I was going to ask you about the dog wearing sunglasses but I'll try and stay on topic the what should other communities struggling with tenant camp like Victoria and Anima or in the interior take away from this announcement is there a new provincial money for new modular projects like this available for those communities too we are in good position financially in our province to support additional housing developments across the province BC housing has currently proposals from almost every corner British Columbia for additional affordable housing and supportive housing and you can expect to see our government working to support this kind of housing across the province in the Solicitor General's mandate letter I have asked for him to convene tables just like we are in the downtown east side and communities across the province that face challenges with street disorder public safety encampments to play that coordinating role he'll be working with the minister of housing because housing is a key part of that response strategy Prince George and Cam Loops and Trail and Terrace a lot of communities that are hubs for services are seeing these kinds of impacts in their communities and seeing people in real distress so we'll be working closely the solutions will look different in each community but we're going to do work like this across the province to respond Rob did you have a follow-up sure could I ask you about the the Vancouver plan for nurses and police officers I know they've been the mayor's been asking for provincial help getting recruiting and organizing through Vancouver Coastal Health to get the nurses the city will pay for them they just want provincial help getting them have you heard this and are you doing anything there just to speed that up yeah the city is a vital partner at our table about responding to the challenges in Vancouver right now and Mayor Sim and I are on exactly the same page that a lot of the issues that we face relate to healthcare relate to the need to address addiction and mental health issues which I understand is what his commitment around additional nurses is about and Vancouver faces the same challenge the province does we need nurses and we're working closely with the nurses union right now around the bargaining table to make sure we address those issues to recruit and retain more nurses we've also done work around recognizing nurses with training and experience from other places around the world to speed up their recruitment and deployment in British Columbia to provide services for British Columbians and so it is a it is a challenge around these issues of providing these services of the people who are going to be able to provide them and nurses are absolutely a challenge not just in at the street level but also in hospitals in the province right now so we've got lots of work to do in terms of the solutions for the downtown Eastside the city will be a key partner in helping us design those responses as will First Nations governments as will the federal government and the provincial government will work to coordinate that response we have time for one more question and that's going to be from Katie D'Rosa thank you for sun Hi premier these two locations are quite far from the downtown Eastside is that a conscious effort to disperse people so that there's not so much pressure on one neighborhood or could there be issues with individuals getting the services that they rely on from the service providers in the downtown Eastside we need housing and we need supportive housing across Metro Vancouver and people have different needs there are services that they depend on and the networks that they depend on are in different places so there will be outreach work within the shelters in Vancouver to identify people are going to be successful at this site and where it meets their needs it's not going to be for everybody some people who want to be a long way away from the downtown Eastside some people want to be relatively close and so we need to make sure that it meets the needs of the folks who are going to be living here so that they're successful and one of the challenges we face sometimes is when we house people from homelessness is then they move back out into the street for one reason or another and so matching people to housing helps minimize those numbers and keep people housed Katie did you have a follow-up Hey yes please is there an average of times that you know individuals say in other modular homes like in other parts of Vancouver and I know there's one in Nanaimo how long they would typically stay in these modular homes before they move on to put more stable housing so these particular buildings that we're announcing today there's a three-year agreement that is certainly expected to be more than enough time for a number of permanent housing sites that we have in development across the region and certainly in the city of Vancouver to open up to provide permanent housing but as you know in the development process there are always bumps along the way but certainly we expect that there'll be a cycling through of people living in this site who then go into permanent housing units as they open and as they're appropriate for those individuals I don't have data about how long people wait before that but I do know we have a lot of people that live in supportive housing right now who are ready to go into housing without supports but that housing's not there for them so that's part of our middle-income housing our rental housing initiative to get people out of the supportive housing to free that up so we get that flow through from shelter to temporary modular to supportive housing and then ultimately hopefully for people into market housing thank you very much everyone that concludes today's event thanks very much everybody