Things dont change much inside Kays Place from day to day.
An offshoot of the West End Seniors Network tucked in a corner of the dated Denman Mall, business as usual includes a bright, warm nook welcoming the over-65 set with piping hot coffee, a table laden with sweets and no fewer than two dedicated volunteers to serve up treats and answer questions.
Outside these walls, Vancouvers most densely populated neighbourhood is changing so fast its difficult for some of its longest-standing residents to keep track.
The moment something comes down, I forget what was there, says Jenny, a neighbourhood resident who has come by for a spot of comfort on one of the first rainy days of fall.
Not everyone is so cavalier about the pace of development in the West End.
The West End has been a lightening rod for controversy since the last municipal election, with the area acting as a testing ground for the Vision councils experimental STIR (Short Term Incentives for Rental) program designed to give developers trade-offs in exchange for building rental housing.
With renters comprising 81 per cent of the neighbourhood, compared to 52 per cent in the rest of the city, the West End seemed a natural place to allow spot rezonings to encourage development of much-needed rental units.
Instead, the program gave rise to a new group of community advocates West End Neighbours whose actions decrying Visions approach prompted an obscenity-laden outburst from Mayor Gregor Robertson and led to the formation of a special committee aimed at determining neighbourhood priorities.
Two years after STIR came into effect, the Mayors West End Advisory Committee has submitted an interim report to council, but not much has budged on the housing front. STIR projects in the West End are on an indefinite hiatus and the community is still deeply divided on Visions approach.
Housing, however, continues to be a hot topic for the West Ends vulnerable populations, seniors foremost among them, says Kays Place volunteer Rashida Robertson.
Obviously with seniors its housing how to apply for pensions, how to apply for SAFER (Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters), she says.
With about five clients a day seeking referrals for housing, either for themselves or their aging parents, Robertson does the best she can to help them fill out the necessary forms for provincial housing subsidies like SAFER. But when it comes to finding a place, all she has is a list of a few housing options. Its not a big list.
Robertson says she doesnt see the correlation between the high rises advertised on development notifications throughout the West End and the downtown core, and affordable housing for seniors. We just wonder where they all come from, she says.
A viable solution in her mind would be to set aside a quarter of all units in new buildings in the West End for affordable housing for seniors but without senior government involvement city council is adamant thats a goal that will remain out of reach.
As a new client walks in to Kays Place and, in a tiny voice, tells Robertson a familiar tale shes got to find a new place to live and doesnt know how much she can afford or where to start her search it seems that in the West End at least, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
