Subscribe to the print edition and enjoy The Republic in
your bathroom!
Plus, your subscription goes a very long way in helping to support The Republic and its writers and produces. It's like paying for the music you like.
Click here for details
|
Housing
Hiding our skeletons from the world
By Alfred De Vera
We could show instead a city that tries to deal with big problems
|
First impressions are everything. The other night I had a girl over for dinner and because I did not want her to see how untidy and imperfect I am, I stashed the mess in my apartment into a closet before she came. However, once she left, I opened the closet and let everything fall back on the floor. The City of Vancouver, the Province of British Columbia, and the Government of Canada are a lot like me. In preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics, they too are strategically hiding their mess that is homelessness in the downtown eastside from the visiting world. After the Olympics are over and everybody leaves, chances are, the homeless will be brought back out of hiding and put back onto the streets. How are these governments hiding or going to hide Vancouver’s communities of homeless people from the world in time for 2010? Here are two alternative possible methods these governments can use to temporarily hide homelessness for when the Olympic visitors arrive: Rent Greyhound buses and send them to old, rotting farms in Alberta. Once the Olympics are over and the spotlight is removed from Vancouver, send them back to the streets, or just let Alberta deal with them; or, issue mandatory arrest warrants for loitering and panhandling, and once found guilty, have them thrown into cold, dingy prisons in Surrey or Abbotsford until after the Olympics are over. These suggestions sound horrible, completely unacceptable in a compassionate society. But then again, the current government strategy on how to hide homelessness in preparation for the Olympics is not all that much better: Purchase single room occupancy hotels in the downtown eastside and let property owners evict tenants after the Olympics. In addition to vacancy rates being close to zero, SROs, like some prisons and farms, are full of insects and fire code violations. Also, there is currently no legal way to prevent property owners from evicting tenants. Housing the at-risk population of Vancouver in these hotels as the primary way to clear the city streets and the slums in time for 2010 is short-term in thinking and is negligible, unsustainable, and comparably as bad as my suggestions. It is revealing how we only start cleaning when we know guests will be arriving. In less than two years, the eyes and pocket books of the world will be fixated on Vancouver. Politicians have now brought homelessness to the forefront of public discussion. The last thing they want is to make a bad impression and detract tourists and businesses from making future profitable visits. Olympics aside, reducing and even eliminating homelessness in the downtown eastside should have been a priority at City Hall, the provincial legislature, and on Parliament Hill a long time ago. Every person deserves the human right to a secure and equitable place to live. Therefore, homelessness should not continue to increase in the downtown eastside like it does, where hundreds of people shamefully suffer because of a lack of reliable and affordable housing. As upcoming election campaigns arrive, particularly for Vancouver mayor and council races in November, candidates should be asked to be more innovative and proactive in their proposals for implementing sustainable ways of reducing and eliminating homelessness. Rather than focusing only on developing quick fix solutions like buying SROs, governments must assume a methodological approach to understanding and tackling the underlying reasons for homelessness in the downtown eastside. In addition to building subsidized housing, the municipal, provincial, and federal governments could also pledge to provide better and easier access to addiction and mental health care, education, training, and jobs. By implementing sustainable initiatives, all levels of government can progressively contribute to eradicating rather than hiding homelessness in the downtown eastside. In addition, during the Olympics, the world will not be easily deceived into thinking that Vancouver is an equitable city that is free of problems. Rather, the world will be able to genuinely commend and acknowledge the city, the province, and the country for its commitment and treatment of its communities of homeless people. There is still time to end our hypocrisy. To show my resolve to these governments, I will clean my apartment and make sure that I continually put my things away where they belong instead of throwing them all over the floor. That way, I too will not have to hide my mess and mislead my guests every time they come for a visit.
|
The Republic
print version is generously supported by the following regular advertisers:
Storm Brewing
604-255-9119
Dan's Homebrewing
692 E Hastings
Co-operative Auto Network
604-685-1393
Turk's Coffee
1276 Commercial Drive
Dutch Girl Chocolates
1002 Commercial Drive
Magpie Books and Magazines
1319 Commercial Drive
Artrageous Pictures & Framing
1256 Commercial Drive
Bouzyos Greek Taverna
1815 Commercial Drive
Magnet Hardware
1575 Commercial Drive
Uprising Breads
1697 Venables
Highlife World Music
1317 Commercial Drive
Mark's Pet Stop
1875 Commercial Drive
Abruzzo Cafe
1321 Commercial Drive
Our Community Bikes
3283 Main Street
Does Your Mother Know
Magazines Etc
2139 West 4th Ave
Kali
1000 Commercial Drive
Uncle Don
Freelance Curmudgen
on CFUR Radio, Prince George
Receptive Earth
Hemp & other Earthly delights
4168 Main Street
Geist
Magazine of Canadian ideas & culture
Momentum
Bike magazine
West Coast Seeds
Where to find the print version of The Republic:
Vancouver
Aboriginal Friendship
1607 E Hastings
Bean Around the World
10th & Trimble
Benny’s Bagels
Broadway & Larch
Big News Coffee Bar
2447 Granville
Black Dog Video
Cambie & 19th
Book Warehouse
550 Granville
632 W Broadway
2388 W 4th
Cambie Hostel
300 Cambie St
Capers Community Markets
2285 W 4th
1675 Robson
Carnegie Comm. Centre
Hastings & Main
City Square Mall
Cambie & 12th
Cuppa Joe 189-175
E Broadway
Dadabase
Broadway & Main
Danny’s Coffee
Denman & Pendrell
Denman Community Ctr
Denman & Nelson
Denman Mall
Denman & Nelson
Drive Organics
Commerical & Napier
Does Your Mother Know?
2139 W 4th
Duthie Books
2239 W 4th
East End Food Co-Op
1034 Commercial
Elysian Room
1778 W 5th
Food Stop
Commerical & Venables
Gemeral Store
312 Cambie St
Gold Coin Laundry
B-way & Waterloo
Granville Island
Public Market
Grind
4124 Main
Higher Ground
Broadway & Vine
Il Mercato
1641 Commercial
Joe's Café
1150 Commercial
Laughing Bean
Hastings & Penticton
Lugz
2525 Main Street
Magpie Magazines
1319 Commercial
Our Town Cafe
245 E Broadway
Pacific Central Station
Bus Depot
People's Co-op Books
1391 Commercial
Polonia Sausage
Nanaimo &Hastings
Rebound Health
Hastings & Kamloops
Receptive Earth
Main & King Edward
Rhizome Cafe
317 East Broadway
Simon Fraser
Downtown Foodfair
Soma
2528 Main Street
Sweet Tooth Cafe
Nanaimo & Hastings
Turk's Coffee
1276 Commercial
UBC
Student Union Building
Union Food Market
810 Union
Uprising Breads Bakery
1697 Venables
Vancouver Community College
250 W Pender
Vancouver Public Library
350 W Georgia
1661 Napier
2425 MacDonald
370 E Broadway
West Vancouver
Capers
2496 Marine Dr
West Vancouver Library
1950 Marine
Duncan
Community Farm Store
330 Duncan St
Victoria
Bean Around the World
533 Fisgard
Munro’s Books
1108 Government
University of Victoria
Graduate L0unge
Victoria Public Library
735 Broughton
Powell River
River City Coffee
4801 Joyce
Local Loco’s Music & Arts Cafe
Flying Yellow Breadbowl
4698 Ewing
Powell River Library
4411 Michigan
Kaslo
Blue Belle Bistro
302 Fourth
SunnySide Naturals
404 Front
Nanaimo
Nanaimo Public Library
Harbourfront Br
Port Place Shopping Ctr
650 S Terminal
The Green Store
Port Place
Mermaid’s Mug
357 Wesley St
Nelson
Mountain Pass Imports
402 Baker
Toronto
Moonbean Cafe
30 St. Andrew St
Future Bakery
483 Bloor St West
Oakville Peace &Ecology Centre
148 Kerr
|
The Republic of East Vancouver masthead
The Republic of East Vancouver supports no party, advocates
for no cause, represents no group, serves no master, and considers
problems with no preconceived notions. We hope to afflict the comfortable,
both materially and intellectually, and comfort the afflicted—of
both kinds as well, and we are trying to do both things at the same
time.
Publisher, Editor
Kevin Potvin
Advertising
Kevin
Potvin
Support
Dan Crawford, John Daigle,
Jack Etkin, Janis Harper, Carl Johnson, Hilary Jones, Chris King,
James Mecham, Albrecht Meyers, Peter Miller, James Pope
Contributors in this and recent issues
Bruce Alexander, Dan Adleman, Toby Alford, Kevin Annett, Santo Barbieri, Bob Broughton, Mike Bryan, Stephen Buckley, Matthew Burrows, Maria Calleja, Ron Carton, Chad Christie, Joshua Corber, Dan Crawford, Gail Davidson, Eric Doherty, Joe Donaldson, Lorena Jara Patty Ducharme, Shadia Drury, Taivo Evard, Reed Eurchuk, Farnaz Fassihi, Thomas Feakins, Anthony Fenton, Reza Fiyouyzat, Andrew Gordon Fleming, Ryan Fugger, Sasha Gagic, Matt Goody, Guy Hawkins, Spencer Herbert, John Irwin, Nick Istvaniffy, Junius, William Kay, Mike Keep, Kate Kennedy, Donald Kropp, Chris LaVigne, James Lindfield, Brian Lindgreen, Karen Litzke, Keith MacKenzie, Michael McLaughlin, Sonya McRae, Rafe Mair, Sonia Marino, Jennifer Matsui, Michael Millard, Isaebel Minty, Michael Nenonen, Wendy Nylund, Derrick O’Keefe, Stephen Osborne, Sean Orr, Evan Augustine Pederson III, Stephen Peplow, Kim Peterson, Kevin Potvin, Mary Rawson, Andrea Reimer, Erin Riley, Phil Rockstroh, Becky Scott, Jason Scott, Chris Shaw, Jeff Steudel, Alex Tegart, Scott Turner, Elbio Grosso Trentini, Patrick Vert, Chris Walker, Sean Wilkinson, Brad Zembic
For comments or suggestions, please contact the
Republic Webmaster
|
