“Outright lies:” this is how one resident, speaking in Richmond city council chambers, described the CEO’s depiction of operations at a supportive housing building.
City council was holding a public hearing on renewing the temporary-use of a city-owned lot where the supportive housing building, Aster Place, is located - on Bridgeport Road near Costco.
Julie Roberts, CEO of Community Builders, which is contracted by BC Housing to operate the building, outlined to city council how the mental-health workers deal with residents, for example, working with their families and on residents’ goals. She also described how people transition to other types of housing and how the safe-consumption site works.
After her presentation, however, Tracy Handford, who’s lived in the building since it opened in September 2022, said the CEO’s depiction of the living conditions were “sugar-coated and many of them were outright lies.”
She told city council the people living there just want a roof over their heads and an opportunity to better themselves and “pull it together.”
“It just isn’t a pleasant situation in that building,” Handford said.
She also questioned the qualifications and professionalism of the mental-health worker at the building. She also criticized the food, saying “we’re not eating healthy,” with a lot of frozen dinners and bruised fruit being served.
Rob Coburn, another resident at Aster Place, said he’d never seen the CEO of Community Builders before the city council public hearing.
“I’ve never seen the lady in my life before – what she was describing wasn’t Aster Place,” Coburn said.
He added he felt there was a lot of “favouritism” in the building that was causing “animosity and friction.”
David Garnett, another resident at the temporary modular building, described living at Aster Place to “an abusive relationship.”
He questioned why life partners cannot stay at the building, for example, his partner.
“Home to me is where she’s sleeping,” Garnett told city council.
CEO commits to address residents' concerns
Roberts told the Richmond News on Wednesday, however, she’s focused on addressing the concerns of those who spoke at the meeting and that she’s “committed” to working through everyone’s issues at Aster Place to create a “supportive community.”
She said she’ll be looking into “each individual concern,” and ensuring the level of support at Aster Place matches the needs of the residents.
“Our staff work very hard to support the residents there,” she added.
As for evictions, Roberts said every case is considered “very carefully.”
She noted Community Builders has a long history of offering complex care at 15 locations, and she has seen “success stories” at Aster Place.
“I’m confident we’ll get through this,” she told the News.
City council voted unanimously to extend the temporary land-use permit for another three years.
But they followed that with a motion, put forward by Coun. Carol Day, to look at the “effectiveness of operations” at Aster Place.
Coun. Bill McNulty at first balked at the motion, saying it wasn’t “tough enough” and there was a need for a “full investigation.”
“We heard some very incriminating things tonight and I think we need to investigate each and every one of them,” he told city council, although he added there are “two sides” to every story.
Mayor Malcom Brodie, however, said he felt the motion from Day covered McNulty’s concerns.
“I think it’s different words, but it incorporates the same things,” he said.
Coun. Laura Gillanders suggested comparing the Alderbridge modular building, run by RainCity, to Aster Place.
“RainCity sounds like it’s working better for residents,” she said, adding it’s “inhumane” not to allow overnight guests, something she understood is allowed at the Alderbridge building.
For his part, Coun. Kash Heed said the investigation isn’t meant to “smack someone down,” rather the goal should be to fix issues brought forward by Aster Place residents so that Community Builders can be successful at this location.
“Hopefully, at the end of the day, we can come up with something that’s a win/win for everyone,” he added.
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