Downtown Eastside - DTES Issues

[djh]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Remember former Mayor (now Senator) Larry Campbell?

[I]Former Vancouver mayor tapped to turn around troubled Downtown Eastside
Larry Campbell says desperately needed housing will be key to bringing change to the neighbourhood
Author of the article: Denise Ryan
Published Sep 29, 2025

Can former senator and ex-Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell turn things around in the city’s Downtown Eastside?

On Monday, Campbell publicly accepted a six-month appointment as adviser to the province aimed at finding solutions and improving the lives of people in the neighbourhood.

Wow, that's a hard nut to crack. Will there ever be a solution? Who knows.

But what I like about Larry Campbell - at least back in the day when he was Vancouver mayor (no idea if being a Senator has changed his perspective) is that he was an outsider with a non-political background, who came in with fresh eyes and no partisan loyalties, and just attacked the problems at hand without care of loyalty to special interest groups, parties, or donators. This was great at getting things done (remember how he got the Canada Line approved and the Olympic Village development approved, all after years of talk and studies and consultants and stalls, in time for the 2010 Olympics?)

I'm in no way saying he was or is perfect, or that his political past was without criticism (nobody's is, so let's not get distracted with litigating his faults), but the important thing is that he left the city with projects completed that would not have got started without his unwavering push.

Hopefully he can do the same with this DTES appointment. Like I said, this is a very hard nut to crack. I just hope now he's a Senator he has more sway at both provincial and federal levels to get permanent and sustainable infrastructure investment and change, so that the DTES doesn't just become a news story for the length of somebody's election campaign, but a permanently repaired community.

[Changing City]

Larry Campbell was a senator, but he hasn't been since he reached the mandatory retirement age of 75 in February 2023.

[logan5]

The last few times I've driven through East Hastings, it's looked a lot cleaner, and far less people on the sidewalks. Is there some long term plan to keep the streets cleaner? Where did everybody go?

[giallo]

Originally Posted by logan5

The last few times I've driven through East Hastings, it's looked a lot cleaner, and far less people on the sidewalks. Is there some long term plan to keep the streets cleaner? Where did everybody go?

I think they've scattered a bit. I definitely see more homeless/mental ill/addicted people walking around downtown. There seems to be more in Fairview and Mount Pleasant as well.

[WarrenC12]

The increased police presence has helped in the DTES and outside of it.

As for Campbell, not sure what he can do, but this sounds like Eby finally making good on his promise that the Province would step in and manage the DTES situation.

[jollyburger]

Balmoral Hotel replacement coming soon

This is a Non-Market Housing Development (VAHEF) site. The buildings on the consolidated site were demolished in 2024. The site is vacant and flat. The intent is to develop a social housing on the site that may go up to 15 storeys, concrete, with one or two level below ground parking and services area. The site will be leased to a non profit organization to complete the development and operate.

https://plposweb.vancouver.ca/Public...ctId=275815628

Henriquez Partners working on the new design

https://henriquezpartners.com/studio...-of-vancouver/

Sounds like a modular construction building.

NUQO Modular

https://www.nuqo.ca/

[Conrad Yablonski]

Originally Posted by giallo

I think they've scattered a bit. I definitely see more homeless/mental ill/addicted people walking around downtown. There seems to be more in Fairview and Mount Pleasant as well.

Not in Kitsilano to be sure-as a retired person living in a ground floor suite I'm hyper aware of 'people who don't belong' in this neighbourhood and things have remained quiet for some time now.

[Architype]

Originally Posted by logan5

The last few times I've driven through East Hastings, it's looked a lot cleaner, and far less people on the sidewalks. Is there some long term plan to keep the streets cleaner? Where did everybody go?

It's setting the bar quite low, I drove through a few days ago at night, and it's still pretty horrific to see dozens of people scattered in clusters about the sidewalk like human refuse.

Originally Posted by giallo

I think they've scattered a bit. I definitely see more homeless/mental ill/addicted people walking around downtown. There seems to be more in Fairview and Mount Pleasant as well.

Not bad in MP, not as many panhandlers as years ago, the streets are generally pretty quiet, but there may be more sketchy people around Dude Chilling Park sometimes. The Broadway & Commercial area is worse though.

[Conrad Yablonski]

Originally Posted by Architype

Not bad in MP, not as many panhandlers as years ago, the streets are generally pretty quiet, but there may be more sketchy people around Dude Chilling Park sometimes. The Broadway & Commercial area is worse though.

It'll be interesting to see how things shake out once the Broadway Subway is finished.

[jollyburger]

While access to health care and supports is crucial for the tenants, those services couldn’t be contemplated until Lookout got the green light to proceed with construction of the building on the narrow lot.

In pushing for development of the property, Lookout took the innovative step to do something not many other property owners are doing in the Downtown Eastside: build social housing on 25-foot-wide lots.

According to information provided to BIV from the city’s planning department, there are 144 25-foot lots in the Downtown Eastside Oppenheimer District and four in the Thornton Park planning area.

A total of 121 are privately owned and 27 others are owned by governments or non-profits. Some are sandwiched between buildings—like Brennan’s Place—while others are what the city’s planning staff describe as “orphan” lots.

The data presents an interesting prospect for the ongoing need to build social housing in the Downtown Eastside—and one recently discussed by city council in its approval in December to revise the Downtown Eastside plan.

Inspired by housing activist Wendy Pedersen’s push to consider the small lots for social housing development—and, in turn, replace dilapidated single-room-occupancy (SRO) buildings—ABC Vancouver Coun. Lisa Dominato successfully added an amendment to the plan to allow more flexibility to build on the small pieces of land.

In particular, that flexibility would allow a developer to build up to 12 storeys instead of the current six storeys on a 25-footer. Modular housing and mass timber construction has been suggested as the preferred and less expensive building type.

https://www.biv.com/news/why-arent-m...tside-11761499

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Conrad Yablonski

It'll be interesting to see how things shake out once the Broadway Subway is finished.

It will probably spread the sh!tshow all along Broadway.

[Migrant_Coconut]

I don't see a lot of homeless on SkyTrains - they usually take a bus.