New Westminster - Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan travelled to New Westminster on Saturday to visit the site of Canada’s first Crime Free Multi-Housing Program. The innovative approach to creating safer, more habitable communities was introduced to our city by Gerda Suess, owner of an apartment building in the Brow of the Hill neighbourhood.

“Expanding access to crime free housing in Vancouver supports the goals and objectives we have identified in Project Civil City,” said Mayor Sullivan. “We’ll be looking at New Westminster’s experience in this area as we pursue our goal of creating as crime free of an environment as possible by instituting no-tolerance policies regarding criminal behaviour on the part of apartment residents, their guests or others.”

Mayor Sullivan was joined by Suess along with Vancouver Councillor Kim Capri, New Westminster Acting-Mayor Lorrie Williams and Councillors Jonathan Cote, Calvin Donnelly, Bill Harper and Betty McIntosh at a press conference to praise New Westminster’s leadership on crime free multi-housing and explore how Vancouver can learn from New Westminster’s experience.

“We’re very proud of the fact that New Westminster was the very first city in Canada to introduce this program back in 1995,” said Acting Mayor Williams. “Through Gerda’s foresight and with the cooperation of Council, New Westminster Police and other apartment owners in our city, we’ve proven that this is an approach that can reap positive, lasting results for a safer, more livable community.”

The Crime Free Multi-Housing Program is a voluntary initiative designed to help residents, owners, and managers of multi-unit rentals, in cooperation with police, keep illegal activity away from their properties. The result of this team effort is a safer, more habitable living environment for residents and their neighbours.

“Before we did this, you would think twice before coming down this street after dark. Now, our street is quiet, people feel good about their neighbourhood and there is a real sense of pride,” said Suess. “It has proven a win-win situation for us. I urge all multi-housing owners to adopt this approach for their own properties.”

For more information on the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, visit www.newwestpolice.org or www.bccpa.org.