BC - Use casino money to build social housing, says councillor
irwin in city hall
Vancouver should put the millions it earns in yearly casino profits towards solving its housing crisis, says a city councillor.
"It seems to me that’s a way to take gambling money and use it for the social good," Vision Vancouver Coun. Tim Stevenson said yesterday, floating the idea during a debate at city hall.
"We’re always accused of creating social ills by these casinos, so here’s a way to offset that, and a relatively painless one."
Under provincial regulations, municipalities take in a percentage of casino profits. Vancouver’s projected share of that next year is $5 million.
But councillors with the ruling Non-Partisan Association warned the idea would let the provincial and federal governments, which traditionally bankroll social housing, off the hook.
"What we’re kind of doing here is accepting downloading from senior levels of government. We’re walking right in there and saying it’s ok," NPA Coun. Peter Ladner said. "If this takes our focus off keeping the heat on senior levels of government then I think we’ve got a problem."
Vancouver’s share
July 1999 - July 2006: $27.5 million
2007 (projected): $5 million
Reported asking price of recently closed Burns Block hotel: $2.5 million
NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton said the proposition represented a "major policy shift" in determining who builds social housing: cash-strapped municipalities or senior governments.
"If we start to go down this road as a municipality we are taking over territory which the federal and provincial governments are only too happy to feed to us," Anton said.
"I recognize the good intentions in here, but I think we must be very cautious about rushing in to say we’re solving the housing crisis knowing that our money, our eight cents on the dollars, is completely earmarked for parks, streets, healthy citizens, fire and police and all these kinds of things."
There’s also a question of just how stable gambling funding will be.
Stevenson’s plan calls for $5 million yearly for the next five years to be put towards housing, based on the projected revenues of False Creek’s Edgewater Casino.
But those numbers are hardly guaranteed.
Last year, early projections had over 7 million theoretical casino dollars pouring into Vancouver’s coffers. Yet in the end, the struggling casino had to stretch to pull in less than $5 million, with court documents later revealing owners Len Libin and Gary Jackson were swimming in losses the whole time.
Related gambling posts:
Cities take a gamble on casino earnings
Prisons don’t treat gambling addicts
Look who’s lagging: Gambling treatment in Canada
City financial staff have taken to keeping a close watch on the casino’s quarterly projections after last year’s overly optimistic projections had them eyeing the emergency contingency fund to cover the shortfall.
The financial crutch outraged then NPA Coun. Sam Sullivan at the time.
“We’ve got ourselves into a situation where we’re trying to get people to gamble,” a visibly upset Sullivan said in an interview last summer. “It’s unbelievable.”
At a later interview in the leadup to last November’s elections, Sullivan warned against devoting casino money to specific projects, as Richmond has done with its Olympic oval.
"When you tie it to speciifc objectives then you potentially get a political constituency that is now lobbying for increased revenues," Sullivan said. "The better way is to put it into general revenue and decide where it goes based on an analysis of the whole city’s needs."
Council is waiting for city housing and financial staff to report back on the idea.
Tags: vancouver, sro, downtown eastside, housing, olympics, casino, gambling
