Affordable Housing in Richmond BC

I don't live in Richmond anymore, I still work there and consider it my home town since I was raised there. I also spend most of my time and money there. I also have family who still live there.

On account of that, issues in Richmond are important to me.
Last fall I read an article in one of the Richmond papers that talked about the lack of shelter options for women and children in Richmond, to make a long story a little shorter, it motivated me to start searching for a way to help. It took some time, many emails and phone calls (which I wish I had tracked to show how hard it could be for a person to help), but I finally found the Richmond Poverty Response Committee.

The Richmond PRC has done amazing work in the community, it's a cooperated effort between organizations who deal directly or indirectly with poverty, housing, food security and more; and Richmond residents who are concerned with the problem and want to help, then of course there's me who is not really any of those but they have welcomed me on board regardless.
The PRC has been waiting for Richmond City Council to release a report/strategy on housing in Richmond. I believe the initial projected release of this report was December 2006 and there have been maybe 1/2 a dozen new dates since then, but as of yesterday the report will be out presented on Tuesday, March 28th at Richmond City Hall.

According to the last report (which I believe came out about 5 years ago) it appears the city of Richmond has done essentially nothing for affordable housing in Richmond. They don't even seem to have followed their own recommendations, including that 20% of all new developments be affordable, even when they themselves are the developer.
I am new to this issue from this perspective, but I believe that the biggest thing the city needs to do right now is hire someone to take action and put the city's recommendations into action. Being a bit of a cynic where governments are concerned it will be interesting to see who the person is, and what perspective they bring to the table. I think it will also be worthy to note what kind of qualifications the city will require for this position, what University degrees one must have, or what experience is needed.