A group of Downtown Eastside residents and advocates is calling on the City of Vancouver to include low-income housing as part of a plan for a new library branch on East Hastings.

More than 40 people rallied outside the site this morning (October 21) and heard several speakers argue for the creation of social housing above the proposed building.

Beth Malena, a Strathcona resident and spokesperson for the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council, said the city is passing up a “perfect opportunity” to build the housing.

“There couldn’t be an easier site for them to choose,” Malena told the crowd. “This land already belongs to them. And there couldn’t be an easier way for them to show us their political will to build social housing.”

Vision Vancouver councillor Kerry Jang said the city is looking for potential donor support to build housing as part of the branch, but added that effort will likely need to conclude within the next six weeks to avoid delaying the project.

“We don’t want to hold up the construction of the library because literacy is the key for everything,” Jang told the Straight by phone. “That area of town has not had a library forever.”

During the rally, signs were placed outside the existing building, a former cigar shop, that read: “Homes + books = community”, “I’d rather live above a library than in a shelter”, and “Kids need homes and libraries”.

Council voted in early October to move forward with design work on a “stand-alone” Downtown Eastside/Strathcona Branch Library.

A city staff report from September says efforts to secure provincial financial support for social housing as part of the proposed library branch would delay the project and have no guarantee of success.

Dave Murray, of the Downtown Eastside, also spoke at the rally, urging the city to include housing in the project.

“We’re fed up with shelters,” Murray said. “Shelters are a Band-Aid. We don’t need any more Band-Aids, we need something permanent.”