Overview
- Larry Campbell’s six-month advisory contract on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is being extended, the B.C. housing minister said, so he can finish recommendations for government action.
- Campbell said he needs another six months because he found far more agencies than expected and described overlapping roles and fragmented funding across governments and nonprofits.
- He reported a troubling desensitization on the streets, saying people now step over those lying unconscious on sidewalks without calling for help.
- He cited new drug-related harms tied to fentanyl and mixed chemicals, including brain injuries he had not seen earlier in his career as Vancouver’s former chief coroner.
- He said many single-room occupancy hotels are unfit to live in and unsafe for women, especially Indigenous women, and he argued the neighbourhood’s challenges mirror those in communities across Canada.