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Vancouver city hall cancels hearing, vote in support of higher density rezoning in DTES

Vancouver City Council voted Thursday to postpone hearings on the controversial Historic Heights Report which would have recommended higher density zoning for the Downtown Eastside and Chinatown.

The hearing, scheduled for 2 pm Thursday afternoon, would have allowed Council to hear reactions from affected groups and residents of the communities concerned.

Councillor Andrea Reimer told reporters in front of Council Chambers that they were postponing hearings and a vote on DTES rezoning for higher density in order to conduct social and economic impact studies first. The portion of the report that makes recommendations for zoning in Chinatown will be brought before council at a later date, perhaps in February.

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DTES gentrification Vancouver housing social housing Vancouver City Council high density housing
rabble news

Housing First: The best bet to end homelessness

From 2002 to 2008, the counted number of homeless in Metro Vancouver increased 137 per cent, from 1,121 to 2,660. What is equally important, from 30 to 50 per cent (with some estimating as high as 70 per cent) of the homeless population in Vancouver have mental health concerns. An unfortunate result of de-institutionalization is that the burden of mental healthcare has fallen on the police and general hospitals. To solve homelessness, we can't just build homes. We must also successfully address the mental health concerns of the homeless.

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homelessness mental illness social housing housing drug addiction

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Timeline: Ontario eliminates Special Diet Allowance for social assistance recipients

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Two pro-social housing successes mark the end of the 2010 Olympic Games

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The end of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics has marked two successes in Canada's pro-social housing movement.
People's Health Radio
People's Health Radio

Housing, homelessness and health

January 20, 2012
| People's Health Radio takes a look at the health impacts of inadequate housing with a particular focus on people in extremely marginalized housing such as shelters and hotels.

60:55 minutes (55.77 MB)
in his own words

Occupying housing from the Pope Squat to Occupy Toronto

The Pope Squat building of 2002. Photo: The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.

It was a sweltering afternoon in late July 2002 when the armoured vehicles of the Toronto Police Emergency Task Force pulled up in front of our building. Quickly we started barricading the door with an old desk, if they were coming to kick us out we weren't going to make it easy for them. We waited tensely as the cops approached the door with submachine guns drawn. Our crime? We dared to take over an abandoned building in the middle of a housing crisis. We all survived that early raid and were eventually allowed back into the building where we lived for the next three months -- dubbing it the "Pope Squat" as we occupied it during the pontiff's visit to Toronto.

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toronto community housing social housing poverty Occupy Toronto Occupy Canada ocap homelessness

Housing in the Northwest Territories

By Nick Falvo
| November 28, 2011

Last week, I was in Yellowknife, where I released results of new research on affordable housing in the Northwest Territories (NWT). The research project was sponsored by the Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada, and was a collaboration with the Centre for Northern Families.

Research findings include the following:

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Pivot Legal Society
Pivot Legal Society

Solutions to Vancouver's homelessness crisis

November 11, 2011
| In the run-up to municipal elections on November 19, Ivan Drury explains 3 easy steps that would be easy for city hall to implement to solve the homelessness crisis, at almost no cost to taxpayers.

26:10 minutes (23.96 MB)

The privatization of social housing

By Nick Falvo
| November 7, 2011

Last weekend, I spoke on a panel at the annual conference of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association. The panel was inspired in large part by the recent debate in Toronto over Mayor Rob Ford's attempt to sell social housing units to private buyers. The panel, entitled "To Privatize or Not to Privatize?

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Pivot Legal Society
Pivot Legal Society

YIMBY kit launched to fight NIMBYism

September 26, 2011
| The YIMBY kit was launched in Vancouver over the weekend. We talk with Pivot's Darcie Bennett and Johanna Suttor-Doerksen from the Salsbury Community Society.

7:55 minutes (7.26 MB)
Pivot Legal Society
Pivot Legal Society

Housing and gentrification in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside

September 26, 2011
| Wendy Pedersen, community organizer for the Carnegie Community Action Project, talks about housing and the fight against gentrification in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

12:16 minutes (11.23 MB)

Women's Housing March and DTES Block Party

Sep 17 2011 - 1:00pm
Sep 17 2011 - 7:00pm

Location

Cordova and Columbia, just west of Main St.
Vancouver, BC
Canada
49° 14' 44.5596" N, 123° 6' 4.4532" W
See map: Google Maps

Join the Downtown Eastside Women Centre Power of Women Group in the 5th Annual March for Women's Housing and March Against Poverty.

We invite groups to bring their banners and anything else for our festive march and ‘GentriFucation Tour'. All genders are welcome and celebrated. Please bring your drums and regalia. This march is child-friendly and there will be a rest-vehicle for elders. Spread the word!

This year, we celebrate the recent victory that has forced the provincial government to commit funding to a 24-hour low barrier shelter for women as a result of our collective efforts. We also continue to march for:

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housing social housing women poverty Vancouver DTES
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