Like many of you, I listened to Temple Lentz interview Andy Silver, of The Council on Homelessness, and Cmdr Amy Foster, of the Vanc Police, on the issue of the chronically homeless here, including the HUGE COST to the City incurred by them with police calls, ER visits, etc - Cmdr Foster noted than one homeless man racked up $500K in emergency visits in 2013 alone, and she also made clear VPD is triaging their responses, given these folks, around 80 total, are an unaffordable drain on the City budget.
Now I spoke with Andy Silver following Hello Vancouver's piece, and he cleared up a number of issues & questions while also showing he's up to the task of this problem facing our little city on the river. Such solutions he has include Lincoln Place, a proposed permanent housing facility for this population in need, to be built in Hough - my neck o the woods.
He also noted that $ for this facility, around $1.5M, would have to come from private sources - that neither the City nor Vanc Housing Authority had a dime to spare. Now, Im sure thats true at this time. However, I raised the question of why not using funds freed up from the City, and VPD, not having to respond to the costly emergencies this group incurs - a reasonable (to me) idea.
Such a $ amount, if, by Cmdr Fosters estimate, one man has $500K in response costs per year alone, would clearly equal if not exceed the amount sought for Lincoln Place - and perhaps pay for things like reopening a homeless day center, or getting Marshall Community Ctr back to 5 days/week. Or (gasp) paying for porta potties in neglected city parks. Heck, Im assuming that the $ saved in VPD overtime by City could even open neighborhood cop shops (in say Van Mall and Downtown) - as well as beef up patrols on foot/in high crime areas - like 4th Plain corridor. Maybe reopen a fire station.
Andy however told me such reallocation of $ from VPD was a non starter - that Cmdr Foster's argument would be to put the TOTAL amount saved back into VPD, with nothing going towards a perm solution to this problem. Now Im all for a healthy police presence, like most. However, Im not for just dumping all the $ saved back into some sort of VPD "general use" fund at their discretion. Its clear that many parts of the Couv are more safe than ten years ago, while some specific parts are getting worse - meaning VPD needs to be smart about using their savings as responsible stewards of our money - i.e., spend it on good ideas towards permanently reducing crime, like Lincoln Place. Ive been told instead its likely VPD will cry wolf and generate fear among public of "what might happen" if some of their savings go to things like Lincoln Place.
To that end, Im cc'ing Cmdr Foster on this one to ask her why the VPD feels it cant send some of their projected savings (assuming in their budgets Lincoln Place) to pay for this smart crime-reducing idea. Im also cc'ing City Mgr Eric Holmes to get input on why the City cant direct funds to this needed project, bypassing our "weak mayor" City Council to go directly to the top. Im also cc'ing Mr Silver to let him know that I, among many here, think his solution is spot on and to KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT TO GET PUBLIC FUNDING.
