UPDATES
- Attached are two reports that you might find interesting to read in order to understand the housing crisis here in Canada and BC. One is written by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing and the other one is a report by the BC Auditor General.
BACKGROUND FACTS
- Canada's homeless population is somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000
- 1.7 million residents struggle with housing affordability issues
- Calgary's homeless population grew 740 per cent between 1994 and 2006
- Government numbers show a cost of up to $6 billion a year to service a "core" homeless population of 150,000. That cost includes health care, criminal justice, social services and emergency shelter costs
- The former national affordable housing strategy, discontinued in 1993, created 650,000 units providing housing for more than two million Canadians
- 200,000-300,000 Canadians suffer from homelessness annually
- 1.7 million residents struggle with housing affordability issues
- Government numbers show a cost of up to $6 billion a year to service a "core" homeless population of 150,000. That cost includes health care, criminal justice, social services and emergency shelter costs
- The former national affordable housing strategy, discontinued in 1993, created 650,000 units providing housing for more than two million Canadians
- There are somewhere between 10,500 and 15,000 homeless people in BC
- A homeless person dies every 12 days in BC
- The 2008 homelessness count identified 2,660 people who were homeless in the Metro Vancouver region
- 32% of the homeless population is aboriginal when they comprise only 2% of the region’s population
- 73% of homeless aboriginal people are street homeless in Metro Vancouver
- 45% of homeless women in Metro Vancouver are aboriginal
- Homelessness has more than doubled since the Olympics were awarded to Vancouver
RESOURCES
For Video Archive
youtube.com/beckygavigan
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Join us in creating awareness and change for the homelessness in Canada. We need to have the National Housing Program based on the One Percent Solution re-established in Canada.
Vancouver's new Mayor Gregor Robertson has committed to ending homelessness by 2015 -- but he needs the commitment of senior levels of government. You can help make this happen. Sign the petition, volunteer to join in the one week fast which creates awareness and momentum in this campaign show your support by coming to the weekly event of the "passing of the Wooden Spoon" or simply pass the message along.
The Goal is to continue the weekly strike and gain more momentum and support as we approach June 2010 where we will then take the train to Ottawa (the more people who take this journey with us the more effective we will be). The reason we have chosen June 2010 is because it will commemorate the "On To Ottawa Trek".
Sign the petition now to put an end to Homelesness in Canada and tell your friends and family, co-workers and anyone you meet. Let's really make this happen!
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JOIN US FOR A
'Rally for a National Housing Program'
February 20th, Vancouver Art Gallery - 12 - 2pm
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2010 Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay Participants
Am Johal, Chair, Impact on Communities Coalition
Dr. Michael Byers, Canada Research Chair, Global Politics and International Law
Sarah Evans, healthcare worker
David Eby, Executive Director, BC Civil Liberties Association
Constance Barnes, Vancouver Park Board Commissioner
Brent Granby, President, Westend Residents Association
Sarah Blythe, Vancouver Park Board Commissioner
Bryn Rawlyk, Baker and father of three
Jay Black, Photographer
Streams of Justice (13 members)
UBC Students for a Democratic Society (5 participants)
Zoe Royer, Coquitlam activist
Susan Skinner, Chair, North Vancouver School Board
Jennifer Breakspear, Executive Director, The Centre for GLBT
David Dennis, President, United Native Nations
Aman Bains, SFU student activist
Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, activist
Lauren Gill, healthcare worker
Althea Thauberger, visual artist
Jane Bouey, Vancouver School Board
Joni Sherman, Masters student in Library and Archival Sciences
Jennifer Cole, Capilano University Creative Writing student and single mother of two
Tom Sandborn, journalist
Lisa MacLeod, former chair, Canadian Federation of Students
Shelby Chapman, massage therapist
Nathan Edelson, former Senior Planner, City of Vancouver
Norma Jean McLaren, diversity consultant
Jason Gratl, Past President, BC Civil Liberties Association
Sharon Kravitz, documentary filmmaking student/community arts worker
Murray Bush, graphic designer
Michael Van Lane, independent journalist
Morgan Stewart, social activist
Shawn Millar, Lifeskills Centre employee
Garvin Schneider, Hope in Shadows and Megaphone Magazine Distributor
Stepan Vdovine, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows School Trustee
Geneva Juliette Biggers, Downtown Eastside social housing employee
Rayne Tarasiuk, student
Dr. Marria Townsend, Three Bridges Clinic
Sister Elizabeth Kelliher, Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement
Rob O'Dea, social housing consultant
Jim Frankish, UBC professor
Earl Peach, Musician
Julie McIntyre, artist
Rhea Bains, SFU student
Dr. Chris Shaw, UBC Prfoessor
Meaghan Thumath, Adjunct Professor of Nursing, UBC
Justin Lau, UBC Oceanography Student
Capilano Students Union Social Justice Committee (5 participants)
Peter Prontzos, Langara College Political Science Professor
Fay Weller, retired provincial government policy analyst
Annabel Vaughan, Lecturer, UBC School of Architecture
Mira Malatestinic, Artist
Deanna Allan
Deb Simmie
+ numerous anonymous participants
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