A man experiencing homelessness in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside said he’s living the housing crisis firsthand.
Steven Sacky leads a weekly drum circle in the downtown neighbourhood. Every beat brings comfort to the refugee from Liberia, who’s been forced out of his home for a second time.
“(My) place burned down two months ago and I’ve been homeless (ever since),” Sacky told Global News.
In August, a fire damaged Sacky’s SRO unit on Powell Street near Princess Ave. He and nearly 60 others were displaced. Since then he’s been living in Oppenheimer Park and he said the province has failed to find him housing.
“I never get a call from BC Housing. Even though with this fire, they say you’re a priority, there’s nothing priority there. Nobody is giving any hands. They put us in a hotel for three days, then kicked us out,” said Sacky. “Since then, there’s been no help.”
An outreach team from the City of Vancouver did offer Sacky a unit at the Brandiz Hotel SRO on East Hastings Street near Main Street, but he turned it down saying the building’s condition and location is unsafe.
“Cockroaches, bed bugs, and sirens every minute. That’s not a place I want to live,” said Sacky.
Advocates said the vast majority of the 7,000 public and private SRO units in the city are in disrepair. They add, several recent SRO fires and rooms being re-rented at higher rates are making matters worse.
“There’s no place for people to go,” said Wendy Pedersen, a homeless advocate with the SRO Collaborative Society. “Even if we can find a person the worst room in the downtown eastside, there’s still very few of those really, really bad rooms.”
And I don’t blame people for not wanting to go live where there’s rats.”
Wendy Pedersen is counting on premier-designate David Eby and mayor-elect Ken Sim to bring in stronger protections for vulnerable tenants and replace SRO’s with new units.
“We’ve been missing strong leadership. Now’s the time for it,” said Pedersen.
Sacky doesn’t know when he’ll be housed again.
But if drumming has taught him anything, it’s that harmony is only created when everyone is in sync.
“This community needs help. And we all can put our hands together to make it better,” said Sacky.
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