‘Stick to the facts’: Housing minister responds to Maple Ridge mayor’s claim homeless are ‘raping, pillaging’
Posted April 10, 2019 1:10 pm.
Last Updated April 11, 2019 12:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – B.C.’s housing minister is telling a local mayor to get it right, after he accused homeless people in Maple Ridge of “raping and pillaging” his community.
Mike Morden’s recent PR interview on YouTube continues his criticism of the province’s modular housing plan for those now living in a tent camp.
“People coming here to carry on doing drugs and basically raping and pillaging all of our community and businesses, and that’s got to stop,” he said in the video, which was posted on Apr. 5.
In the 34 minute interview, Morden lays out the homeless issue as he sees it: Criminals are keeping the homeless addicted to drugs so they will continue to steal.
“The mayor needs to stick to the facts and it’s really unfortunate he’s not doing that,” said Housing Minister Selina Robinson.
She’s shaking her head at many of Morden’s claims, including that homeless people in his community need to go back to where they live.
“We know that between 70 and 80 per cent of people who are homeless are from the communities in which they are identified as being homeless … We have facts and data about that and it’s really important to stick to the facts.”
Robinson also rebuts Morden saying more modular housing will increase crime. She says in other areas — like Marpole — it went down after an initial spike.
RELATED: Mixed reaction after Maple Ridge mayor says homeless addicts ‘raping, pillaging’ his community
B.C. Addictions Minister Judy Darcy also has a few things to say to the mayor’s suggestion that his community is hit harder than others.
“This is an issue that affects communities in every corner of the province in communities big and small,” she says.
That’s why, she says, the government is focused on improving mental health across across the province — including in modular homes.
In the video, Morden says businesses are the real victims. He refers to them as the “silent troopers,” saying “many have folded due to high levels of theft, although he did not provide any examples.
“Two per cent of people are genetically [predisposed] to addiction, and that’s what’s going to happen, it’s in their DNA,” he claimed.
Homeless advocates are condemning his comments as tensions between the city and province continue over what to do about some of Maple Ridge’s most vulnerable.
Morden calls the ongoing back and forth between the city and the provincial government on the topic of housing as a “battle of the wills,” adding he doesn’t like the position his community has been put in.
– With files from Ash Kelly and Hana Mae Nassar
