"The
best test of a civilised society is the way in which it treats
its most vulnerable and weakest members."
Mahatma Gandhi
Pivot releases report on Vancouver’s low-income
housing crisis
Vancouver, B.C., September 21
Vancouver’s
homelessness crisis is about to get a lot worse unless immediate
action is taken, according to Pivot Legal Society’s new report,
Cracks in the Foundation: Solving the Housing Crisis in Canada’s
Poorest Neighbourhood.
“If we continue to lose low-cost housing in
the Downtown Eastside at the current rate, we can expect to be coping
with at least three times the number of people living on Vancouver’s
streets by the time the world arrives for the 2010 Olympics,”
states lead report author and lawyer David Eby.
“We can’t afford this kind of increase
in homelessness. We are currently spending $51 million dollars per
year to maintain people on the street. Government calculations show
it would be much less expensive to simply build new supportive housing.”
The report, based on 160 affidavits collected from
Downtown Eastside residents in housing crisis and documents obtained
through Freedom of Information requests, is the product of 18 months
of research and the work of more than 50 volunteers and staff. It
documents the looming low-income housing shortage facing Vancouver
and shows the shocking conditions of existing low-income housing
in the Downtown Eastside.
Linus Malik, a resident of one of the Downtown Eastside
hotels, describes the chronic bedbug infestation that plagues so
many of the residents. “I have bed bugs in my bed, and other
people have told me they have bed bugs too. I told the manager,
and they told me it was my problem. They were very rude about it.
They own the mattress and box-spring, so I can’t throw it
out.”
Despite the grim findings of the report, Eby states
there are many opportunities for action. “We could start today
by cleaning up instead of closing down low-cost housing. The city
has the legal power to go into residential hotels and lodging houses,
make the repairs itself and bill the landlord. We need to maintain
what we have, and take immediate steps to reach the city’s
housing goal of 800 low-income housing units per year.”
The report outlines a number of routes for addressing
the housing shortage, such as creating market incentives for developers
to incorporate low-income housing into new developments, increasing
welfare shelter allowances, and sweeping changes to the Residential
Tenancy Act.
About Pivot Legal Society
Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social
change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine
the quality of life of those most on the margins. We believe that
everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive
community where values such as opportunity, respect and equality
are strongly rooted in the law.
