Coordinated actions concerning housing and homelessness are sweeping the streets of Vancouver at the height of the 2010 Olympic Games, with hundreds of activists and handfuls of organizations campaigning for greater access to social housing. The Games are being used as a platform to garner greater media and public attention about the homelessness crisis in Canada.
Advocates claim that just a portion of the billions of dollars that have funded the Olympics could be used towards a national housing strategy, making affordable, safe and accessible low-income housing a reality. Critics also point to the large cuts in funding for shelters and other housing assistance programmes, with several shelters being pegged to close just weeks after the Games end. Finally, homeless advocates have been concerned for months about police action towards people living on the street, especially the now notorious Assistance to Shelter Act, and how this might be heightened during the Games to help “clean-up” the streets.
Pivot Legal Society began its Red Tent campaign in early Feburary, with 500 red tents being displayed around Vancouver during the Games. The organization states: “Our goal is to persuade the federal government to enact a funded National Housing Strategy that will end homelessness and ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for all persons living in Canada.”
Red tents have already been spotted at many Olympic-related events, including the torch’s entrance into the city. Pivot also hung a large banner proclaiming “Homes for All” over the Cambie street bridge yesterday morning.
In coordination with the campaign, the Olympic Tent Village was unveiled yesterday, with homeless persons, Downtown Eastside residents, and allies camping out at an empty lot on Hastings and Abbot (58 West Hastings). The lot is owned by Concordia Pacific and leased to VANOC for use during the Games. Campers hope to stay at the location as long as possible, and as of yet no police action has been taken.
While the two campaigns support each other, Pivot is not an organizer of the Village. Pivot has, however, donated 20 red tents for use at Hastings.
In order to learn more about the advocacy and activism taking place around issues of housing and homeless, I’ll be camping at the Village from the 16th-19th and reporting back on both campaigns. I’ll be highlight some of the issues facing low-income housing in Vancouver today, as well as profiling activists and community members involved.
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