Surrey mayoral candidate says council betrayed affordable housing strategy

A Surrey mayoral candidate says he would have voted in favour of a supportive housing project that was effectively killed by council after a group of neighbours protested against it – calling the project a “drug den.”

But Mike Starchuk said that the drug rhetoric surrounding the Semiahmoo town Centre project was misplaced and council should have ignored it and voted in favour of hundreds of new housing units, including 202 non-market rentals, through BC Housing.

“This was an entirely foreseeable, preventable failure – of leadership and communication – that left South Surrey with fewer homes, more visible homelessness, and less trust in City Hall,” said Starchuk. “It should have been approved. Instead, Surrey is left out in the cold on housing.”

City of Surrey staff recommended approval of the project, but council balked last November due to protests because the project also including 40 supportive housing units and 20 complex-care dwellings.

“We hear you, we share your concerns about this particular project and how it has been configured,” said Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke at the time.

Residents and council members feared drug use on the property, but Starchuk said that it was clear that this would not include a safe-injection site.

“On November 17 the Mayor had every fact she needed,” Starchuk said. “The planning report was on the table, in plain language, and it answered every concern raised by the community. It said clearly: this is not a safe injection site. It is housing with well-aligned supports. Instead of leading the room with that information, the Mayor told residents she shared their concerns and let the project die. Six months later, she stood in front of a microphone and asked, ‘What is going on?’ Mayor Locke: you are what is going on. South Surrey lost 262 homes because you wouldn’t tell residents the truth, and you didn’t defend the Surrey Affordable Housing Strategy.”