VOTE
AUDREY JANE LAFERRIERE
independent
for VANCOUVER CITY COUNCIL
15 NOVEMBER 2008
A vote for Audrey Jane Laferriere means a “yes” for City-owned 142 Water/Cordova Streets (old Storyeum location) to become a minimalist Shelter, a 24-hour Community Centre, and a Detox Centre for metro Vancouver. It can also be used as an emergency preparedness centre. Storyeum has been without a long-term tenant since November 2006. Each vote for Audrey Jane Laferriere will say that you want the above. With 100,000 votes, it is absolutely certain that the next elected City Council will amend its existing policy and immediately create more shelters so no one is living on the streets. All the political parties have written policies against shelters. So, your vote is important. Remember it is the voters who tell the politicians what to do.
Last year there were 36,000 turnaways from shelters within a nine-month period. Why because all of the service providers, advocates, churches, unions and aboriginal leaders in the DTES oppose more shelters. They either are unthinking or they want to believe in “housing first.” Before “housing first” can be implemented, we need affordable housing: It can’t be done with a zero vacancy rate. Unfortunately, the governments listen to this “cart before the horse” logic. This backward logic has been the status quo for as long as I can remember (20 years). Using the argument that there should be no temporary solutions is cruel and barbaric. The street homeless have to be sheltered even if it is a mat on a floor. Providing minimalist shelters should be an essential service apart from affordable/social housing. Unless 142 Water/Cordova happens, or there is an alternative, we will continue to put the most vulnerable at risk. Shelters will not solve the underlying reasons for homelessness but it will solve the problem now of people living on the streets.
It is questionable what the DTES non-profits (all 470) do but one thing for certain is that they are not looking after the street marginalized. These organizations all have narrow special interest mandates none of which includes more shelters. And when questioned about their individual responsibility to the street homeless, they hide behind/cite their job descriptions. The United Church is willing to use its premises as a drug injection sanctuary if needed but will not use its DTES underground parking as an outside shelter. VANDU does not support more shelters although most of its members are sick and homeless. Last November the Vancouver Food Bank closed its depot in the DTES without notice. The executive director of the food bank skis at Whistler, shops at Holt Renfrew and earns $150K. She recently was the author/chair of a report by the Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness against shelters. Lookout is very concerned over the fact that a few of the street homeless are not from Vancouver and therefore no new shelter space should be created. Dumb logic. The aborigiinal community does not want shelters for its own people preferring to wait for Federal funding. The Aboriginal Front Door at Hastings and Main has on its door "Do not Sleep in the Doorway." The City and the non-profits are busily double gating their properties to prevent the homeless from sleeping in their doorways. The voice of the DTES is the Carnegie Centre that wrongly believes that it speaks for the DTES residents. If it were true then no one would be living on the streets. The street homeless are in survival mode and cannot fight for themselves. We assume these organizations are looking after the street homeless but they are not.
The street homeless in the DTES experiences 500X the death rate over overall neighbourhoods in the City. We as a City cannot wait until “real” housing is built while the street homeless suffer needlessly because they lack adequate nutrition, inadequate health care, emotional distress, inadequate shelter, inadequate sleep, inadequate hygiene, exposure to the elements, and inadequate personal safety. And it is costing the taxpayer $55,000 annually for welfare, health and policing per homeless person. And the new $5.4 million DTES community court has a basketball court… and the not-yet 3800 social housing units Ladner speaks of does not replace the 6400 lost SRO rooms. We need more shelters now.
We need the old Storyeum location to be a centralized minimalist shelters for metro Vancouver (skytrain stops at Waterfront) so those that are homeless or at risk of homelessness know where to go. Later they can be referred to other shelters/resources/housing. A shelter like Storyeum should be centralized for efficiencies and social housing should be scattered. We do not need a high-end furniture store from Iran/Germany, a high-end bowling alley from New West, or a high-end fitness gym and spa from North Carolina at this location.
POLITICAL DONATIONS
75-12 EAST HASTINGS STREET
VANCOUVER BC V6A 1N1
http://voiceofgoneballistic.blogspot.com/
epetition: http://storyeum.googlepages.com/ Audrey Jane Laferriere
audreylaferriere@yahoo.ca (778-329-1250)
Meet me at 142 Water Street Sunday afternoons from 2:00 to 4:00.
View the >5,000 signature paper shelter petition with comments like shelters saved my life...
View the 5,000 signature paper petition wanting more shelters with comments
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Verbal Discourse
The only thing certain about Ladner wanting to wait for a permanent solution to street homelessness are the deaths occurring in the DTES weekly.
In the first mayoral debate Ladner referred to Philip Mangano, the US czar of homelessness, that "housing first" was the way to go. When I spoke to Philip and when I told him that the City has a deliberate written policy not to do more shelters he was perplexed and he asked him what was the City going to do with the homeless in the meantime. I told Ladner this and at the next debate he said that the City's Housing Director, Cameron Gray, was the "expert" and Cameron said that we need permanent solutions. Of course Cameron would say that as he is an employee.
As for Robertson, he is doing the same thing as City Council has always done is listen to the wrong people and not use common sense. There is no reason for anyone to be living on the streets. Putting a mat on the floor at Storyeum is negligible in cost so why is he even considering opening additional buildings such as community centers. Such a plan is nothing more than a logistic nightmare. We do not need portable shelters all over the City. We need shelters that can stablize people and not move them each morning to the street and then to another shelter.
In the first mayoral debate Ladner referred to Philip Mangano, the US czar of homelessness, that "housing first" was the way to go. When I spoke to Philip and when I told him that the City has a deliberate written policy not to do more shelters he was perplexed and he asked him what was the City going to do with the homeless in the meantime. I told Ladner this and at the next debate he said that the City's Housing Director, Cameron Gray, was the "expert" and Cameron said that we need permanent solutions. Of course Cameron would say that as he is an employee.
As for Robertson, he is doing the same thing as City Council has always done is listen to the wrong people and not use common sense. There is no reason for anyone to be living on the streets. Putting a mat on the floor at Storyeum is negligible in cost so why is he even considering opening additional buildings such as community centers. Such a plan is nothing more than a logistic nightmare. We do not need portable shelters all over the City. We need shelters that can stablize people and not move them each morning to the street and then to another shelter.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Municipal Election 2008
audreylaferriere@yahoo.ca
http://storyeum.googlepages.com
At a community relations meeting June 25 2008 at the Carnegie Centre after asking when was the Carnegie going to do an action in support of making City-owned 142 Water (old Storyeum location) a minimalist shelter and 24-hour community center, I was told that Carnegie had other priorities and mandates and funders telling them what to do. For close to two years I have been waiting for some kind of definite action from Carnegie and now this. Carnegie is suppose to be the "voice of the DTES" and it had already sent two letters of support to City Hall. I went ballistic and knew that I had to do something: I am sure Carnegie thought I would because of lack of community support disappear. The Carnegie is of the opinion that the street residents of the DTES should stay on the street until "real" housing is built. What a terrible price for the street homeless to pay. After that meeting I decided to run as an Independant for the 2008 City Council and make 142 Water the main focus of my pending campaign. What can be more important than making sure the street homeless have a safe dry place to sleep at night.
http://storyeum.googlepages.com
At a community relations meeting June 25 2008 at the Carnegie Centre after asking when was the Carnegie going to do an action in support of making City-owned 142 Water (old Storyeum location) a minimalist shelter and 24-hour community center, I was told that Carnegie had other priorities and mandates and funders telling them what to do. For close to two years I have been waiting for some kind of definite action from Carnegie and now this. Carnegie is suppose to be the "voice of the DTES" and it had already sent two letters of support to City Hall. I went ballistic and knew that I had to do something: I am sure Carnegie thought I would because of lack of community support disappear. The Carnegie is of the opinion that the street residents of the DTES should stay on the street until "real" housing is built. What a terrible price for the street homeless to pay. After that meeting I decided to run as an Independant for the 2008 City Council and make 142 Water the main focus of my pending campaign. What can be more important than making sure the street homeless have a safe dry place to sleep at night.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Carnegie: Deserving Poor v. Undeserving Poor
Yesterday I addressed the Board at Carnegie reminding them that it is getting cold outside and the street homeless problem is still there. I was told to bring up my concern in next months committee meeting. I became ballistic.
I have been attempting to get Carnegie to take a lead in MAKE STORYEUM A SHELTER for a year now and the only things that Carnegie has done are kindergaten activities like going on a treasurer hunt to Victoria looking for money for housing and dressing up as fishes. At no time did the CCAP refer to MAKE STORYEUM A SHELTER in any of its actions.
The establishment wanting to keep the status quo as it is could not have conspired with a better organization than the Carnegie Centre.
I am sick of this binary outlook in the DTES: deserving poor v. undeserving poor. The non-deserving poor deserve to be without shelter. The worst group for following this doctrine are those that are the deserving poor who for the most part were at one time undeserving.
Carnegie should have been devoting its time and resources to getting shelter for those on the street and not believe that a few hundred people (Citywide Coalition) will change the governments refusal to fund adequate affordable housing. It isn't going to happen so we need shelters to house the increasing number of economic refugees.
There is a ready made solution to street homelessness in Vancouver and that is STORYEUM. It is owned by the City and it has been vacant since November 2006 at which time I did attend at City Council and spoke to this (Jean Swanson was in the audience) and yet no one had the vision to do anything about it.
What is happening now: the members of the Strathcona BIA are double iron gating its properties so that even a doorway is no longer available for the street homeless to rest at night. Just look at all the service providers who also have double gated their entrances. The service providers should be fighting for shelters not paying for bars.
For each life lost on the streets of Vancouver during 2007-2008, the Carnegie Centre has to take most of the blame. A recent report by Gerry Fox stated that the DTES has 10 deaths a week which is 5X the amount in other Vancouver neighbourhoods. Such a high death rate is attributable to inadequate housing, inadequate food, inadequate health care, addictions, distress, etc.
Judy Graves of the City told me that shelters are not the answer as shelters are expensive. How can sleeping on the floor in a vacant building be expensive. It is far less expensive than having the homeless depend on hospitalization and jail to keep warm.
I have been attempting to get Carnegie to take a lead in MAKE STORYEUM A SHELTER for a year now and the only things that Carnegie has done are kindergaten activities like going on a treasurer hunt to Victoria looking for money for housing and dressing up as fishes. At no time did the CCAP refer to MAKE STORYEUM A SHELTER in any of its actions.
The establishment wanting to keep the status quo as it is could not have conspired with a better organization than the Carnegie Centre.
I am sick of this binary outlook in the DTES: deserving poor v. undeserving poor. The non-deserving poor deserve to be without shelter. The worst group for following this doctrine are those that are the deserving poor who for the most part were at one time undeserving.
Carnegie should have been devoting its time and resources to getting shelter for those on the street and not believe that a few hundred people (Citywide Coalition) will change the governments refusal to fund adequate affordable housing. It isn't going to happen so we need shelters to house the increasing number of economic refugees.
There is a ready made solution to street homelessness in Vancouver and that is STORYEUM. It is owned by the City and it has been vacant since November 2006 at which time I did attend at City Council and spoke to this (Jean Swanson was in the audience) and yet no one had the vision to do anything about it.
What is happening now: the members of the Strathcona BIA are double iron gating its properties so that even a doorway is no longer available for the street homeless to rest at night. Just look at all the service providers who also have double gated their entrances. The service providers should be fighting for shelters not paying for bars.
For each life lost on the streets of Vancouver during 2007-2008, the Carnegie Centre has to take most of the blame. A recent report by Gerry Fox stated that the DTES has 10 deaths a week which is 5X the amount in other Vancouver neighbourhoods. Such a high death rate is attributable to inadequate housing, inadequate food, inadequate health care, addictions, distress, etc.
Judy Graves of the City told me that shelters are not the answer as shelters are expensive. How can sleeping on the floor in a vacant building be expensive. It is far less expensive than having the homeless depend on hospitalization and jail to keep warm.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Solution for Homelessness in DTES
Get the City of Vancouver to use Storyeum (100,000 square feet). Storyeum is a perfect solution. It is owned by the City. It is where the chronic homeless are (DTES/Gastown). The tourist attraction Storyeum no longer exists so this underground jewel is available. It was recently renovated. This idea was proposed to City Council last fall (2006). In January of 2007 the City said that the space was subject to litigation. What litigation -- taking inventory for a bankrupt enterprise. I hope that an investigative reporter takes this solution and runs with it. We need more shelters. We can't wait for years for permanent social affordable housing to be built when people are now sleeping on the streets.
Monday--I was told by the City that Storyeum in all probability will become a parking garage. Since we as a society have become desensitized to the poor, to convert Storyeum to a garage is very rational. It will provide much needed parking for the new Whitecaps stadium. And the poor can continue to sleep on the street.
What I do not understand is that in the DTES there are three properties that could be used for 24-hour shelters: Storyeum, the empty jail on Cordova and Gore, and the Buddhist church on Gore and Hastings. Existing shelters have exceeded their capacity and most non-profits are set up only to care for the chronic homeless in a piecemeal fashion.
If you want Storyeum to become a 24-hour community centre and shelter within weeks (not years), contact City Hall and voice your opinion: mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca.
Make homelessness in Vancouver history.
Monday--I was told by the City that Storyeum in all probability will become a parking garage. Since we as a society have become desensitized to the poor, to convert Storyeum to a garage is very rational. It will provide much needed parking for the new Whitecaps stadium. And the poor can continue to sleep on the street.
What I do not understand is that in the DTES there are three properties that could be used for 24-hour shelters: Storyeum, the empty jail on Cordova and Gore, and the Buddhist church on Gore and Hastings. Existing shelters have exceeded their capacity and most non-profits are set up only to care for the chronic homeless in a piecemeal fashion.
If you want Storyeum to become a 24-hour community centre and shelter within weeks (not years), contact City Hall and voice your opinion: mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca.
Make homelessness in Vancouver history.
Friday, March 9, 2007
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