Blockade at the Tourism Vancouver Office
We are long-term residents of this community. We cannot stay silent anymore. Every day when we leave our homes, we see homeless people in the street. We see growing desperation, poverty and ill-health. We see people dying. The fabric of our community is unraveling.
We have written letters, petitioned, sent delegations, attended meetings, made statements. Yet the responses of all the levels of government is indifference. Words, yes; but no action. They would rather call out the police and sweep the homeless away.
This wasn’t supposed to happen with the Olympics. Our most vulnerable citizens were to be protected. That was the promise of all the proponents of the Olympics.
The tourist industry is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Olympics. They campaigned mightily for it. They have issued a few token statements about housing needs, but they are strong supporters of Mayor Sullivan’s civil city plan to crack down on homeless and poor people.
It’s time the tourist industry accepts responsibility for helping create this crisis. We aim to put the spotlight on their role, and to inform tourists of the situation.
The resources are there to tackle homelessness and poverty. The two senior levels of government have multi-billion dollar surpluses. And the city has a land bank and a rainy day (property endowment) fund that are substantial.
Here are some specific, affordable responses to the crisis.
* The three levels of government co-operate with each other and build at least 800 units of affordable housing in Vancouver, per year.
* The province increase welfare rates by at least 50%. People cannot afford to eat and pay rent and look for work on a welfare rate of $510 a month. $325 of this is for shelter and $185 (or $6 a day) for everything else.
* The province end the red tape and hurdles that keep people in need off welfare. This is the main reason we have homelessness according to the City of Van. Homeless Action Plan and the GVRD housing strate
* The city could also buy one hotel per year; enforce the standards of maintenance bylaw by having the city do the work that landlords refuse to do and bill the owner; enact a moratorium on
conversion and demolitions of hotels and rooming houses; and fund housing with money from the Property endowment fund.
Why are we at the Tourism Vancouver office?
this is a very good video initiative i hope we can get some people to place their comments on this and brainstorm how to start to send some messages to the mayor through this homelssnation site. congratulatios for standing up and making your concerns and discontent public, good luck in Vacouver
daniel montreal
maybe we can invite the mayor to create a user account and have a dialogue with the cities homeless. maybe is hed first hand contact with the people his policices effect, he would have more compassion in his decision making.
Thank you
Absolutely CC!
I believe targeting internationally the tourist community is your best bet in highlighting the problems that are not being solved, but shovelled away in the dirt, away from the light.
What plans have you to target them and how?