Leaked document shows new plan by Vancouver city council to alter the Downtown Eastside

A secret plan laid out by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s chief of staff last fall for fixing the city’s poorest neighbourhood called for allowing quick approvals of private development in the Downtown Eastside, facilitating the return of people to their home communities for those that want to move and launching a “comprehensive review” of the non-profits providing services.The draft memo, dated Oct. 30, 2024, is marked “Confidential” in red on every page, and was obtained by The Globe and Mail. It was distributed to councillors with the mayor’s ABC party and was intended as a proposed roadmap for better public safety, more resources for drug-use recovery, and an effort to “reinvigorate the DTES.”