Mayor Gregor Robertson is not saying how he will open four homeless shelters this winter beyond continuing to lobby the provincial government for money to operate the facilities.
When asked by the Courier Monday what the city will do if the government doesn't provide funding, Robertson said "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Housing Minister Rich Coleman told reporters in October that his government will not provide $2.5 million needed to operate shelters on West Fourth, Broadway, Cardero and Howe streets.
Total capacity of the four shelters is roughly 160 people. Coleman pointed out the government opened four social housing buildings this year, providing almost 400 units for homeless people and others moving from shelters and single-room occupancy hotels.
The provincial government also leads a year-round shelter program and supports an "extreme weather response program" to allow Vancouver and other communities to temporarily increase the number of shelter beds.
In Robertson's first press conference since being re-elected Saturday, the mayor said Monday at city hall that shelters in the city are full and people are still sleeping on the street.
"[The provincial government] has come through these last couple of years and the demand is still high, so I'm hopeful that we get good support," he said.
When Robertson first launched his bid for mayor in 2008, he campaigned on ending street homelessness by 2015. The Metro Vancouver homeless count in March 2011 showed a dramatic decrease in the number of people sleeping on the streets-from 591 in 2005 to 145 in 2011.
The mayor quoted the decrease several times during this year's campaign and pointed to it again in his victory speech Saturday night at the Sheraton Wall Centre. "You want us to continue that work we started three years ago, starting with ending street homelessness and making it more affordable for people to live here in Vancouver," he told the jubilant crowd.
The homeless count in March was conducted when the four shelters in question were open. The number of street homelessness today is likely higher than 145 counted in March but no agency has a current estimate.
Robertson was re-elected Saturday with almost 10,000 more votes than in 2008 but three of his Vision councillors-Raymond Louie, Heather Deal and Tim Stevenson-saw a decrease in votes won from the previous election.
Louie, who topped the polls in both elections, experienced the biggest decrease, slipping from 66,226 votes in 2008 to 63,273 in Saturday's vote.
Whereas Coun. Geoff Meggs had the biggest gain, increasing from 49,538 votes in 2008 to 56,184 Saturday. Councillors Andrea Reimer and Kerry Jang also increased their votes over the previous election.
"I'm not going to analyze the outcomes at this point in terms of total votes," said Robertson, when asked whether he was concerned that some of his councillors' votes had decreased. "We saw very strong support for Vision Vancouver's priorities and the record that we ran on these last three years and every candidate on our slate got elected."
Robertson and the 10 councillors will be sworn in to office Dec. 5, followed by a brief council meeting. The NPA's Elizabeth Ball and George Affleck join the Greens' Adriane Carr on the Vision-dominated council.
The only other newcomer is Vision's Tony Tang, who replaced Coun. George Chow, who is retiring. Voter turnout was 34 per cent in this year's election, compared to 31 per cent in 2008 and 32 per cent in 2005.
mhowell@vancourier.com
Twitter: @Howellings
