We write as seasonal weather changes take place, to inquire about housing plans from the city, province, and federal government for people who shelter in public space, including for the residents of the Hastings Tent City.
Members of Our Streets have worked with Block Stewards, leaders and organizers who reside in the Hastings Street Tent City, to develop demands that reflect their housing needs:
• Hands off tent cities
• A real public option for housing
• Real fire safety
• Make landlords fix buildings
• Protect all tenants’ rights under the law
• Power to the tenants
• Housing now
News & Media
VPD's "Vancouver's Social Safety Net: Rebuilding the Broken" report is manufactured disinformation and a distraction from the critical, life-limiting conditions that profoundly affect the most vulnerable members of our communities, across Vancouver.
Support the calls of West Coast Leaf, BC Association of Social Workers, YWCA Metro Vancouver, Raincity Housing, Parents Advocating Collectively for Kin (PACK) BC, and Keeping Families Together, to dismantle the family policing system, and #StopTearingFamiliesApart
https://act.newmode.net/action/west-coast-leaf/stop-tearing-families-apart
PRESS RELEASE - Residents of the Hastings Street tent city (represented by the law firm Arvay Finlay LLP) sought a Judicial Review of the Fire Order issued by Vancouver Fire Rescue Services in late July 2022. The review of this Fire Order and the City of Vancouver’s enforcement actions highlight the gross disparities that people who rely on public space face as they seek shelter in the community now known as the Hastings Tent City.
NEW CAMPAIGN ALERT: Addressing stigma is part of the solution to ending discriminatory policies and bylaws that harm already marginalized communities. From by-laws to provincial and federal legislation we must #EndTheStigma
A win for our client, a missed opportunity for law reform - Read our latest blog post: A mixed ruling from the BC Court of Appeal in R v Ellis
OPS are necessary—both to save lives and in accordance with public health laws. When local governments or police obstruct OPS, they contravene a Ministerial Order; violate provincial jurisdiction over health; discriminate against people who use drugs; and put people’s lives at even greater risk amid overlapping health crises. When health authorities fail to establish or otherwise protect OPS, they breach their legal obligations, potentially amounting to negligence and/or discrimination.
Your stigmatizing policies and practices are driving social murder. It is time to amend the BC Human Rights Code and to include Social Condition as a protected ground. @kennedy.stewart @johnhorganbc @MurrayRankinNDP @nicholas.simons.73 @melaniejmark @dave.eby
We need a ceasefire from the VPD in the #DTES - Joint Statment Regarding the 5th VPD Murder in 2022
MEDIA ADVISORY - #StopTheSweeps Denounces the Forced Decampment of Hastings Tent City and City/Police Campaign of Terror in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside