Ramsy served 22 years as CEO of BC Housing, A public organization that is tasked with planning and completing supportive housing and social housing projects for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Retiring from his position as CEO of B.C. Housing, Shayne Ramsy cite the violent crime boom in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and hostile opposition to a new supportive housing and social housing project in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood.
While attending a Vancouver City council meeting he expressed his support for the low-incoming housing project next to SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station in Kitsilano and accusing opposition of “NIMBYism”.
“Do we support this development and, not to put too fine a point on it, save the lives of our neighbours by putting a safe secure roof over their head, or do we kick the can down the road in the name of NIMBYism — right project, wrong location? And that is largely based on fear, ignorance, and discrimination,” said Ramsay during the meeting.
Ramsy said after the City Council meeting he was “swarmed by opponents and threatened with physical violence” .
He said the shooting on Hastings Street, in the Downtown Eastside so-called “tentcity” illegal sidewalk occupation “finally did it for me.”
“I no longer have confidence I can solve the complex problems facing us at BC Housing.”
The announcement follows an external Ernst & Young assessment that identified issues with the way BC Housing occasionally grants multimillion-dollar housing contracts with scant or no justification for the choice.
BC Housings mandate has gotten bigger since the BC NDP formed government and the annual funding has more than doubled from $782 million in the 2017/2018 fiscal year to $1.9 billion in 2020/2021.
While the next 10 years through the 2027/2028 fiscal year BC Housing budget will get $7 billion from the provincial governments housing affordability plan.
Even with the record levels of social housing spending which include buying up hotel properties for quick project completions for supportive housing, the homelessness, mental health, and opioid crisis in British Columbia keeps getting worse.
