Welcome to the Committee to End Homelessness Victoria's Blog! This blog will fill up in the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, all people - unhoused, unstably housed, and housed - are welcome at our weekly meetings. Join us at 7:00 pm every Wednesday at Silver Threads, located at 1740 Douglas Street. Snacks are served and ideas are shared.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteCBC's The Current had a very interesting segment this morning on the politics of counting the homeless. Interview with a street nurse who knows what is going on, a prof who has been following the trends of status-quo poverty industry work for decades, and a municipal official who gave the usual line of it being " complex". Anna Maria Tremonte asked some great questions. Do listen.
Follow the link and scroll down to the the third and final segment for a better than average listen.
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2009/200904/20090408.html
And remember to read The Tyranny of Kindness by Theresa Funiciello
http://books.google.ca/books?id=kC-Oujf_OKIC&dq=the+tyranny+of+kindness&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=WvvcSdTcL4-UMcq65N4N&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPR11,M1
Our public library doesn't easily list it in their catalogue but I am sure that's where I got it from. May have special ordered it. Not hard to do. Just go up to librarians and ask.
PS Note they aren't doing an expensive homeless count in Italy right now, they know the general numbers and are rushing in to help. Nor are they doing a ten year study. It is understood aid needs to be immediate. Tent cities have gone up. It may take two years to rebuild fully, but they are doing everything humanly possible to aid the victims now. Why should it be any different for our homeless victims of social service and housing cuts?
Committee to End Homelessness in Victoria
ReplyDeleteSilver Threads, 1740 Douglas Street, Victoria
April 2, 2009 Minutes
Present: Dianne (in chair), Paul, Chris K, David Tat, David Tu, Rusty, Lise (a special welcome), Beetlejuice, Levi, Tony, Tamara, Kerry and Alison (minutes)
1. Thanks to the Coast Salish Nation for permitting us to meet on their land.
Introductions and welcome, Minutes of March 25 meeting [no meeting so weren’t any] and this evening’s agenda approved.
2. TREASURER’S REPORT: We have 712.89 in bank. David Tat will pay April’s rent with pass-the-hat donations (25.89 tonight)
3. TENT CITY: Tamara reported results of survey being tabulated. TASC suffering from lack of actual workers. Next meeting April. 6 or 13th, 7pm at Camus.
4. EARTH DAY: Apr. 25. Lise working on a new brochure. Alison will see if we can have a speaker (NO). Table cost $35.00. Tamara will ask VIPIRG if we can share.
5. CITY HALL MEETING ON DOWNTOWN ISSUES: Phil: very law-and-order.
6. Next Power Lunch: Monday, April 20 (the Tuesday date is booked)
7. MARCH FOR JUSTICE Sat Apr.4, noon at Centennial then on to the Leg. Tamara will prepare a 4x4 hand-out which Phil will get copied. Alison and David Tat will bring banners to be handed to Phil at end of march. Phil will read statement from Vancouver. SEVEN PEOPLE SAID THEY WILL BE THERE.
8. STREET NEWS: Lots of cops around-9 to arrest one person one am. Three handed out jay-walking tickets. Proposed: THAT WE START A CAMERA PATROL. Tamara, Beetlejuice and Dianne to test it our early one day at Pandora. David Tu wants to be involved when April is over.
9. OTHER NEWS:
a) David Tu will bring a proposed op-ed article in TC to our next meeting.
b) Alison read a report from the Tyee; Rich Coleman has ordered a new way of counting the homeless, that does not include couch-surfers or those who had been
c) Alison and Clodagh are working on questions for MLA candidates. Tamara suggested sending questions to all local candidates and publicizing their replies on a website. She will explain how this can be done!
.aa
Correction to April 2 minutes. I made a mistake when transcribing them - there was a March 25 meeting with minutes - which I sent out to list last week. Sorry about that.
ReplyDeleteLise
COMMITTEE TO END HOMELESSNESS VICTORIA
ReplyDeleteQUESTIONS FOR MLA CANDIDATES MAY 12
1. WHAT CONCRETE PLANS CAN YOU OFFER FOR ENDING HOMELESSNESS IN BC? Alberta’s 10-year-plan would spend $3.3 billion while the BC Liberal government has no plan and its most recent offer is $800 million, though BC has nearly twice as many homeless as Alberta.
2. WILL YOUR PARTY INCREASE THE MINIMUM WAGE OF $8 ($6 for young and others w/o 500 hrs)? BC has the lowest minimum wage in Canada.
3. WILL YOUR PARTY RESTORE AND RENEW HARM REDUCTION CENTRES and support needle exchanges?
4. WILL YOUR PARTY OPEN UP THE $250 MILLION housing initiative fund for an immediate supportive housing program, instead of merely using the interest to fund sporadic projects?
A forward of interest from Chris J:
ReplyDeleteCall me an alarmist, but the mayor of Las Vegas has made a dangerous proposal. he seeks to have homeless people declared 'in loco partenis', which means the city would assume the responsibility of a parent over people, meaning they would lose their rights and control over their lives. Hmm, taking homeless people's rights away. You'd think there'd be an uproar over such an evil thought. Of course not. I've searched around, and it doesn't even seem that many people have even noticed the idea...go figure...
Fixing Homelessness in Las Vegas
NewsChannel3
Las Vegas' mayor, with some colorful comments about his city's rising homeless problem, says he wants more power to do something about it. Oscar Goodman says he wants the city to have legal rights over those who live on the streets.
A new count shows their numbers have jumped by 2,000 just in the past year. The 17 percent increase is what the mayor wants to fix, especially because a large portion of those homeless say losing their jobs have forced them to the street.
For many, it's hard to image what it would be like to be homeless. But Las Vegas native Shawn O'Brian has spent the past five years of his life on the streets.
"It's horrible at first. It's really bad," explains Shawn. "I didn't have clean clothes, wasn't showered, I was hungry. It's just a really low point and it's really hard to get out of that situation."
But the reality is that more people in Clark County are experiencing this exact same situation today.
"It's sad, but it's true," agrees Shawn. "One of the most heartbreaking things to see (is) family - kids, mom, and dad out on the street. It's becoming more common."
Even though there are almost 2,000 more homeless, the number of those living on the streets has decreased; about 1,900 more people can be found living in shelters and transitional homes. Linda Lera-Randle El, founder of Straight from the Streets, attributes that increase to the combination of regional efforts and the high unemployment rate.
"Employment is a problem for everybody. It's rare to see someone going from a $250,000 home and two jobs (to) the street."
Recently, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman asked for the city's help for those that are most vulnerable.
"(A) tent city reminds me of Lord of the Flies, where (there are) a bunch of kids on an island and they destroy each other. That's not what we're trying to do here. What I'm trying to do is turn to our city attorney for legislation. (This) allows us to bring these folks into ‘loco partenis' - ‘in the bosom of the parents' so to speak."
Now in full recovery, Shawn O'Brian believes the mayor has good intentions behind his plans. However, it has to be on an individual basis.
"A person has to be absolutely ready to make a change. How can you tell that? There is no way to make a person do what they don't want to do, especially a homeless person."
While the Regional Homeless Service is disappointed that more people are homeless, they are happy with the efforts being made to move people off of the streets.
COMMITTEE TO END HOMELESSNESS IN VICTORIA
ReplyDeleteMinutes of meeting APRIL 8, 2009.
Present: Levi (in chair), Julius, Kerry, Paul, David Tat, David Turner, Rose, Beetlejuice, Kenzi, Nathaniel, Tamara, Tony, John, Ashenafi, Fred, Lise, Kira and Alison (minutes)
1. Thanks to the Coast Salish people for allowing us on their land. Welcome and introductions.
2. Approval of agenda and minutes of meeting April 1, 2009.
3. TENT CITY report: Tamara: Next meeting 7 pm. April 13, at Camus.
4. STAND AND MARCH Apr. 4 report: General agreement that the "march" on sidewalks was very timid (chants stopped by security) and no media. We should organise our own events drawing attention the homeless crisis.
5. DAVID TURNER introduced his draft op-ed piece for the TC, asking for additions etc. Members should be prepared to write letters in reply.
6. MOTION to pay Rose $25 a month to pay for her phone bill. PASSED. Rose
given $25.00 cheque.
7. Treasurer's report: Lise paid April rent with $50.00 cash reimbursement from committee so committee reimbursed her again with cheque so now all squared away. Pass the hat brought in 22.10 this evening - David Tat.
8. CITY HALL: JULIUS reported on March 26 meeting. When he asked why the bylaw to prevent demolition of rental accommodation has not been passed despite three readings, Reply: Not right now!
9. UVIC Maeve Lydon has written us to apologize for lack of input from the audience at the recent Cit Hall lecture on homelessness and has invited us to a couple of events by the office of Community-Based Research group Apr 22 and 23. Alison (and others?) will go. Some comments by others that the homeless are not being properly included in UVic events. ROSE has written to the Martlet about the business students' "sleep out" which involved pizza delivery etc.!!
10. ELECTIONS: ALISON produced a draft of questions to be sent to all candidates and asked by those attending meetings. Responses will go via CLODAGH to a blog or web to be organized by TAMARA & LISE, with help from ROSE.
11. WOODWYN FARMS; SHELDON has been picked as one of the first group to join in the Fall.
12. DAVID TURNER will show the 60-minute doc on anti-Olympics at 8 pm. at our next meeting Apr.15. So FAST MEETING FIRST...
. . . . . . . . . . . aa
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteCommittee has sent out questions to all MLA candidates for our May 12, 2009 provincial election and asked them to post answers here at the blog. It will be interesting to see who takes the time to focus on homelessness. The questions again are:
COMMITTEE TO END HOMELESSNESS VICTORIA
QUESTIONS FOR MLA CANDIDATES MAY 12
1. WHAT CONCRETE PLANS CAN YOU OFFER FOR ENDING HOMELESSNESS IN BC? Alberta’s 10-year-plan would spend $3.3 billion while the BC Liberal government has no plan and its most recent offer is $800 million, though BC has nearly twice as many homeless as Alberta.
2. WILL YOUR PARTY INCREASE THE MINIMUM WAGE OF $8 ($6 for young and others w/o 500 hrs)? BC has the lowest minimum wage in Canada.
3. WILL YOUR PARTY RESTORE AND RENEW HARM REDUCTION CENTRES and support needle exchanges?
4. WILL YOUR PARTY OPEN UP THE $250 MILLION housing initiative fund for an immediate supportive housing program, instead of merely using the interest to fund sporadic projects?