News and Features
The Coleman Projects
By Frances Bula published May 1, 2009
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Working closely with the city, building a real-estate empire for the province, and rethinking the way we do shelter, Rich Coleman is riding the housing portfolio to new heights
Rich Coleman moves down the sidewalk like a freighter scattering seagulls. Three decades out of the force, the onetime RCMP officer, now the province’s minister of housing, still conveys the air of someone who could bust you any minute for an illegal left or a pants-pocket joint. In this block of East Hastings, ragged men and women are hawking everything from electrical parts to Dumpster-loved clothing to fresh strawberries in clamshell containers. But Coleman, an imposing six-three, doesn’t give so much as an eye flicker that he notices the carnivalesque scene, and the locals, who usually like to tag along if they think something important is happening, simply part around him as he strides by.
And then, as though he were still back in the Valley—up the Abbotsford hillside where he lives among the tidy lawns, stacked stone walls, and curved roadways of his Old Clayburn Road subdivision—he runs into a guy he knows. It’s Bert Mazerall from his old neighbourhood, a truck driver who delivers magazines for the Pattison empire to the few stores around here that still stock them. A great guy, I’m told. Langley citizen of the year. For a moment, as the two exchange details of their vacations in Palm Springs, this stretch of Hastings metamorphoses into Fraser Highway.
But, as close as Coleman’s two worlds appear at the moment, this patch of the Downtown Eastside is far from the seat of the MLA from Fort Langley-Aldergrove. Sixty-five kilometres by odometer, but galaxies away on every other scale. What is Coleman doing spending so much time in deepest, darkest Main and Hastings? Technically, he’s down here today to preside over yet another opening of yet another hotel that the province has bought for social housing. Along the way, he’ll survey the expanding empire of hotels the province owns or is building along the strip. But Jenny Kwan, the NDP MLA who represents this stretch of pavement, has her own theory about why he’s patrolling her territory so intensively.
“Coleman has seized this as an opportunity to rebrand himself, from a hard-core right-wing fundamentalist to someone who appears to have a heart,” she says. “Other ministers couldn’t care less. They barely showed up for announcements. But Coleman doesn’t pass any opportunity up to come to Vancouver.”
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Fantastic article - Very insightful and balanced.
In terms of Minister Coleman, while I may personally be left of him on the political spectrum, we couldn't ask for much better from a BC Liberal government. One thing about Minister Coleman is that he is effective and competent...he gets things done. While I wouldn't go about things exactly how he is doing so, at least he is dedicated to getting something done.
Mr. Rich Coleman has NO vision what so ever in regard to planning and building safe, multiple level income and community oriented public housing that would classify Vancouver as a world class city in the near future. I wonder if he did ANY homework or research into other larger Canadian cities that have the experience with the experiment that he wants to impose on Vancouver. For decades Toronto has struggled with the harsh realities of that chosen solution - housing the poorest and the most destitute of its citizens in block after block of ghetto-like communities. And its always been considered a failure and a mistake. Toronto is a great world class city - but the shadow of the dark history of its two inner city communities of Regent's Park and St James town isn't something even that city can feel proud about. Even if Mr. Coleman wants to employ world class architects and make his vision all pretty on the outside it will still be a monumental mistake. Putting hundreds of units, in low rise and high rise buildings, clustered together for blocks on end will always produce horrible conditions for any city's most needy, vulnerable and poorest. Give these citizens a chance at dignity - why not ask them what their vision's are of what kind of city communities they can envision themselves healing and flourishing in?
I am very worried about Rich Coleman's vision.
B.C.Housing seniors buildings seem to be turning into housing for "the hard to house".
I agree that housing is very important for ALL groups.
The problem though, is what about all the frail,elderly tenants that are still in these buildings?
It is very unfair to 80 and 90 year old tenants to have to deal with people actively in addiction/mental illness.
I also am worried about the size of the projects that Mr.Coleman speaks about.
100 unit buildings simply cannot have enough staff on site to deal with all the problems that ensue when the hardest to house are placed.
I have tried to get answers to my concerns but am always being told that nothing has changed at B.C.Housing.The same criteria for seniors buildings.
I guess what I see and what I hear from some scared seniors doesn't count.
