- Ms Kaye is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Mary Carlisle is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Prem Gill is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Nancy Flight is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Justin Everett is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- John Westover is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Nora Etches is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Edward Henderson is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Bharadwaj Chandramouli is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Dean Chatterson is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Marius Scurtescu is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Robert Parkes is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- James Murton is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Susan Doyle is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Vincent Strgar is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Helen Spiegelman is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Subir Guin is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Kimball Finigan is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- Joanne Manley is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
- David Leach is a Tyee Builder. You can be, too.
Welcome to the 'Burbs, Meet the New Homeless
Their ranks are growing in cities like Surrey, as the working poor slip their grip.
Surrey outreach workers Lori and Rich, with their minivan full of snacks and soap.
-
Province's New Counting Makes Homeless Disappear, Say Critics
Numbers just for internal use says ministry.
-
Growing Suburbs May Reroute BC Politics
Gordon Campbell's party faces strains after he's gone.
-
Surrey Goes up Against the Sprawl
Mayor Watts is running on a big vision of a dense downtown, a plan singed by halted projects and bad fire.
Sherry and Chris spent the past few years "just getting by." The couple paid $420 a month to share a house in Surrey. The rent cost more than half their income. And yet, as Sherry put it, they got by.
Until they didn't.
Sherry, Chris and their many cats were evicted in September. Since then, they've camped out behind an abandoned strip mall a short distance from their former home.
When they stepped across their threshold for the last time, they left behind the 1.5 million Canadian families that are "just getting by" -- the federal government describes these as households in "core housing need" -- to join the ranks of the estimated 300,000 Canadians who are homeless.
Their story helps illustrate why homelessness is growing so rapidly in sprawling suburbs such as Surrey, which may already host more homeless people than Vancouver. And a day on the road with a pair of homeless outreach workers shows what suburban homelessness looks like -- when you can see it.
"We're in a situation that could happen to anybody," Sherry told me. "We're not staying out here for very long. We'll do whatever we have to do to get our own place."
That was two months ago.
Working poor pushed out of Vancouver
"It's a known pattern. The working poor are getting pushed out of Vancouver, out to the suburbs," said Rich, an outreach worker, as he drove across Surrey. "A lot of these people, when they move here, they are like one pay cheque away from becoming homeless."
Rich and his colleague Lori work for Options, a society that operates the Hyland House shelter among other community services. (The Tyee agreed not to publish Rich and Lori's last names in order to protect their privacy.) Surrey is one of 49 communities served by homeless outreach teams under contract to BC Housing.
They work a territory that includes most of Surrey as well as Cloverdale, Ladner, Tsawwassen and White Rock. They drive a minivan packed with supplies: snacks, soap, water, juice and high-protein drinks. Their job is help the homeless find housing and other support services.
"There are two categories of homeless that seem to outweigh the rest. One being young adults who don't have employment and don't have a clue as to where to go or what to do. They're just not prepared for life," Rich explained.
"On the other side of the scale, we have quite a few people who are on the top edge of middle age. They've worked hard all their lives. But now they've lost their employment, and they don't have a clue as to how to jump through the hoops to get the support services necessary to keep going," he continued.
'The mindset that society is against them'
The Options minivan rolled to a stop at the edge of a small wooded lot. There was a shopping mall on one side of the lot, and a row of expensive-looking townhouses on the other.
Rich and Lori led me through the brush to a small campsite near the centre of the lot. Rich called out to anyone who might still inside the tent, but no one replied. I reached down and placed my hand over the propane cook stove. It was still hot.
Rich joked that they've been finding "a better class" of homeless people this year. By that he meant people who are still working, and who had not yet slipped into the well of addiction or mental illness.
"They're just poor," he said. "They simply don't earn enough money to live in this society."
From where I squatted, I could see into the living rooms of the townhouses across the street. Had I been there at night, I probably could have smelled what they ate for dinner, or watched them watching TV.
"When they are living in this condition, and they see the guy across the street in the expensive home -- the guy who's not doing anything to help them -- you can see how they begin to develop the mindset that society is against them," Rich said.
I asked whether they thought the families across the street watched back.
"I doubt it," Lori replied. "Most people just don't realize how close to their backyard other people are sleeping."
Only two beds left
When Surrey residents do come to realize how close the homeless are sleeping, they typically call the RCMP or the city bylaw enforcement office. Those organizations, in turn, often call the outreach team.
As Rich drives to the next campsite, Lori sits in the back seat with a telephone. It rings every 10 minutes or so. Some calls come from concerned residents. Others come from the soon-to-be-homeless, looking for a bed.
One such call came from an elderly woman who said she wanted to leave a Vancouver shelter where other clients were using drugs.
"That lady who just phoned?" Lori said. "She was born in 1937. Do the math. Wow."
Another call came from a man who said he needed a place to stay for a week while he waited to get into a recovery program.
"We get that a lot," Rich said. "They cycle through recovery programs. Once they are out of the recovery program, if they can't find a place to live, they feel hopeless and a lot of them wind up using again. Then they start the cycle all over again."
Surrey's outreach team is modeled loosely on the outreach program pioneered in Vancouver. But whereas Vancouver outreach workers have literally thousands of shelter beds and government-owned hotel rooms into which to place homeless clients, the Options team has just 35 beds at the Hyland House shelter and sometimes a few more at smaller shelters nearby.
On this particular day, only two beds are available. If both of the homeless people who called Lori this morning show up this afternoon, those beds are already full.
I look at my phone. It's not yet 11 a.m.
Surrey team sees 1,800 new homeless a year
There are a lot of empty lots in Surrey. Rich and Lori took me to almost a dozen. We found homeless camps every place we stopped.
I mentioned that the "official" 2008 homeless count found 402 homeless people living in Surrey.
Rich chuckled.
"We make contact with about 400 homeless people a month," he said. "That's just our team, just the people we come into contact with."
Of those 400 people a month, about 150 are new.
"These are people we've never seen before. Many are new to the streets," Rich explained.
If 150 people join the ranks of the homeless each month, that's 1,800 new homeless people a year -- just in Surrey. If that figure is even in the ballpark, then Surrey's homeless population has almost certainly surpassed Vancouver's.
I asked Rich and Lori if it was even remotely possible that there could be that many homeless people in Surrey.
"People get pushed around," Lori said. "They decide, you know, 'We're going to push those people out of here.' And those people just turn up someplace else… So, they're around, somewhere, but they're not all here today."
Rich figured aloud as he drove: A couple of hundred active campsites, an average of perhaps two people per site. Add people sleeping in cars and trucks. Add people sleeping rough. Add people couch surfing or crashing in drug houses.
"I don't really know," Rich finally said. "That might be accurate. It's possible."
'On the streets for all sorts of reasons'
By mid-afternoon, we were at the Skytrain station, waiting to meet the woman who'd called that morning.
Lori flipped through the pages of The Province newspaper. There was a news story about a fugitive who was on the lam. His first and middle names were identical to those given by the man she'd spoken to that morning -- the one who needed shelter until he could get into treatment. Her suspicions were raised. She stepped away to phone the shelter he claimed to be in the night before.
Rich shrugged. The shadow of an overhead train glided across him.
"People are on the streets for all sorts of reasons," he said.
A white-haired woman lugging three overstuffed bags plopped her way down the stairs a few moments later. Lori greeted her. Rich helped her to the minivan.
Christina -- who also did not want her last name published -- said she was from Ontario but had lived in Maple Ridge for most of the last decade. She said she'd lost all her savings about a year ago as a result of a court case involving faulty automotive repairs. She said she'd lived with her brother until the spring. Since then she said she's lived in at least three different shelters in Vancouver, and one on the North Shore.
Lori questioned Christina patiently. Her wandering tale of legal woe involved crooked car dealers, shady lawyers, and even the Hells Angels. All I could tell for certain was that I was sitting next to an exceptionally fearful 72-year-old.
When we got to Hyland House, Lori led her inside. I helped Rich with the luggage.
"We can't solve people's problems for them," Rich said. "We try to help them find housing. We try to help them connect with people who might be able to help them. That's all we can do."
'Abandoned and abused' but resolute
The mystery man from North Van never showed. So Lori offered the last bed at Hyland House to Sherry, the woman living behind the shuttered strip mall.
Sherry thanked Lori for the offer, but turned her down.
With a wisp of hair falling across her dirty face, Sherry explained that she was unwilling to leave her cats.
There are no pet-friendly shelters south of the Fraser. Lori had previously been able to place single dogs or cats into temporary homes, but didn't think she could place seven cats that may or may not have had their immunizations.
Sherry was polite and resolute.
I was puzzled. I asked why she was willing to sleep in a parking lot in order to be with her cats.
"They've always been with us," Sherry told me. "Even just moving out of the house, one of our cats -- because she'd been abandoned before and she'd been abused -- she thought that we were going to leave her. She just got really freaked out and stuff."
Sherry looked me in the eye. Tears welled in hers. I forgot whether she was talking about her cats, or herself.
"We're not going to leave her," she declared.
Lori gave Sherry an armload of food, and promised to check back in a few days. We wished her well and left her at the edge of the crumbling blacktop.
The minivan was quiet as we drove away. Lori finally broke the silence.
"Actually, that happens quite a lot," she said. "People who've lost everything else, they get quite attached to their pets. Their pets are like family."
Rich added his thoughts a bit later.
"I don't think anybody wants to be homeless," he said. "But a lot of them have so completely given up hope that there's anything else, that they find it easier to stay where they are."
Two month later, as this article was being prepared for publication, Rich told me that Sherry was still living behind that strip mall.
I have no doubt but that she is taking very good care of her cats. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
- BC snuffs out AirCare test program
- AFN national chief Shawn Atleo to launch re-election bid
- Citizens group releases video to fight undead Bill C-30
- Conservative MP says he might vote against budget, then 'clarifies' his position
- Genetically modified plants won't take root with councillors in Richmond, BC
- Hundreds at Vancouver rally to support Quebec students
- Could Fort Mac become an eco-tourist hotspot?
- Rick Hansen's Man in Motion anniversary tour concludes in Vancouver
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Who Mowed Down the Premier?
- Canada's Economy, Deconstructed (by a 12 year-old)
- Death in Remand: a Tyee Inquiry
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- Death In Remand: 'A Gut Feeling'
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- Alberta Fills Pipes with Corrosive Denial
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- How Our Immune Systems Exaggerate Fear
- BC biotech company seeks approval for GM apple
- What's Behind BC's Doors?
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
- What's Behind BC's Doors?
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Should You Run from that Medical Test?
- 'The Dictator'
- Death in Remand: Stacked Deck
- 'Moonrise Kingdom'
- From Financial Advisor to Occupier
- Seven Goals to Build the Conservative 'Dream'
- Double lung recipient dances on Ellen show
- ISS astronauts grab DragonX space capsule by the tail with Canada Arm
- Metro Vancouver gas prices peak at record levels
- Ottawa posts $9-billion deficit in March despite pledge to avoid spending spree
- BC phases out AirCare to focus on fighting bigger vehicle emissions
- Tsunami senors to be dropped into deep sea off of Vancouver Island
- Student groups file court challenge against Quebec protest law
- ...while on the streets, pirates and ninjas put aside mutual animosity to join student protests
81
Login or register to post comments
Wilfride Laurier
2 years ago
Cats?
"Sherry, Chris and their many cats were evicted in September."
Having 30 or 40 cats should not be a barrier to affordable and safe housing!
Rhea
2 years ago
pets
As somebody who owns 4 cats and a dog, I can completely sympathize with Sherry. I would stay homeless rather than move into a shelter where I was forced to abandon my pets. I've seen first-hand what happens to animals in this situation, and it's not pretty. Pet friendly shelters aren't a solution, either, even though they would help. What's needed is getting these people back into decent housing. These are people who are working, not using drugs, and not spending beyond their means. They just can't survive and what they earn, and that is truly shameful in a first-world society like Canada.
The billions being spent on the owe-lympics would be a lot better spent on raising the minimum wage to a true, livable level (sorry, $8 doesn't cut it even for basic survival) and helping people smacked by this recession get the help they need to turn them back into productive citizens.
Van Isle
2 years ago
Hey Monte, come this next
Hey Monte, come this next Jan/Feb when the foreign press starts to show up for the Olympics, grab a few of them one day when it's a bit slow and take them to the places that you have described in this article.
Wilfride Laurier
2 years ago
Yes.....
"What's needed is getting these people back into decent housing."
It should be up to the various levels of government to build affordable housing for the multi-felined and in the meantime pass the "Multiple Feline Housing Protection Anti-Discrimination Act" that forces Capitalist Roader slum lords to accept any application from anyone, regardless of their felineicity. As a matter of fact, I am going to get on the line with Carole to get the ball rolling and if it doesn't happen, better watch for a General (feline protection) Strike!
Frank
2 years ago
Trolls
I see the Public Affairs Bureau has sent Wilf out again after his previous banning.
Wilf only supports housing for himself, everyone else should live in the street.
Frank
2 years ago
In a better world
In a better world the people whose policies increase homelessness and poverty would realize those policies are wrong and would implement better ones.
But in the world of the provincial Liberals ideology trumps facts all the time and the weak be damned.
Wilfride Laurier
2 years ago
Now, Frank...
I support government housing for people no matter how many kitties they may have. What is more, I would support a Constitutional Amendment to make housing available to all people with ten or more kitty-cats.
Just because somebody has 19 kitty cats does not give anyone the right to evict them. General Strike!
morechatter
2 years ago
Meow
You will find evictions increasing as the new found unemployed are unable to pay their rent and find themselves the now down and out. In the new year it is going to be devastating as job loses will increase and those who find themselves jobless and homeless will also find themselves under arrest as Government makes it easy to rid its self of the down and out. Thanks to government incentives like reducing interest rates and cash bonuses for first time buyers makes hay of real estate so developers can win big. It is going to blow as increased real estate prices are passed on to business and this will add to the unemployment and foreclosures. I was reading people making $17 an hour are picking up real estate and I'm thinking the smuck can't even afford a bus pass much less an over priced condo.
Chris Keam
2 years ago
The real joke
black as it may be, is that there are homeless people who treat their pets better than society treats them.
No doubt Wilfred's attempts at humour, beyond the transparent attempt to paint everyone mentioned in the article with one broad, careless stroke, is a type of defense mechanism. Once you realize a homeless person can be the type of person who cares for animals, one also has to move them from the category of 'Them' to 'Us'. Which seems to be anathema to some.
realisticman
2 years ago
Meow
Your compassion is welcomed Wilfride.
We want the NDP right now to launch a massive campaign to have the government exempt WHISKAS and Friskies from the HST.
Cheap cat food is a basic feline right!
Wilfride Laurier
2 years ago
Good Points, Chris
This couple's plight has absolutely nothing to do with the fact they have like a dozen cats and, although the article does not mention it, there is no way said kitties had anything to do with their eviction. It was, in fact, a neo-con conspiracy to get them out of their rental accommodation so that developers could make a lot of money and pass part of it to Gordon Campbell.
I have it on good authority that now, since the election of Daryl Dexter in Nova Scotia, Bubbles has been appointed as Minister of Kitty Social Housing and that all people in said province who get evicted for having their kitties crap and pee all over the place are now given housing geared to 20% of income. My chat with Carole this morning also confirmed that the first thing she plans to do as Premier in 2013 (and her victory is a 100% certainty) is to implement the Feline Housing Strategy. I am for one waiting with bated breath for such a progressive social policy in British Columbia.
Frank
2 years ago
Chris
Its nothing new from Wilfride and realisticman, they always find other people's lack of food and shelter to be highly amusing.
NightTrain23
2 years ago
A better world indeed...
A nation as wealthy as ours should not have such poverty. I believe no one willing to work 40 hours/week should go hungry or homeless. And I think the minimum wage/cost of living should match, and that no one earning under that minimum should pay income taxes.
But it's not just a provincial Liberal issue, much as many in these fora are willing to focus their ire exclusively there - federal and municipal government and politics need to be included. It's also not just a government problem, it's also a people problem - non-participatory "democracy", NIMBYism that doesn't want subsidized housing near them, and an attitude that screams against taxation without recognizing social services need to be paid for somehow. It's also a social problem - mcmansions and car-dependant suburban lifestyles eat up a lot of land and resources - both for society *and* those who have trapped themselves in those lifestyles. How much more could people contribute (not just financially, but time & energy) to making the world a better place if they weren't maxing out their higher incomes on commuting and houses and gas and gym memberships that they don't need?
We *all* need to live more simply, and there will be more for everyone.
Wilfride Laurier
2 years ago
I may add....
Realisticman, while we are at it, the Medical Services Plan must be expanded to include pets!
carfreed
2 years ago
homeless
rich or poor, one pet per person is enough.
pet industry is huge.
every hardware store now has huge pet section.
most of the homeless don't have an automobile.
average Canadian spends $8750 just on Maintenance for 1 automobile.
Social costs of autos is $200 Billion.
Go figure.
Shows where our priorities are.
morechatter
2 years ago
Chris Keam
I truly appreaciated what you had to say because its been easy for government and its die hearts to paint the homeless as anything but human. It obvious as even the police leave their foot print on the homeless as local police take the boots to the homeless on a regular basis. What is it like to be without an address in BC? Well just think of yourself like the Olympic torch as the homeless become regular victims of violence as torching, stabbling,slicing and dicing and freezing become the local norm for those who find themselves without a place to call home.
BC Housing blows off clients on a regular basis as it takes its time getting to landlords in a market where there is a high demand resulting in increased homelessness as clients forced to use intent to rent form and waits until government gets around to it in a week or so. BC Affordable housing has a no pet policy but dosen't have a problem renting a family unit of 3 bedrooms units to single males for market rents.
SicPreFix
2 years ago
realisticman and Wilfride ...
I suppose the best one can hope, being a socially conscious and ethically aware human being, is that neither one of you ever faces insurmountable hurdles, or health issues, or anything of the kind for which you may require help for the needs you so deride in others.
Shame on such narrow minded bigotry and social ignorance.
It's fascinating to see people of all classes treating pets (and their furniture for that matter) better than the middle and upper classes treat people in need. Are the better off acting so poorly out of fear? Perhaps embarrassment at their own riches? Shame? Go figure.
I've been well off, and I've been homeless. I've never forgotten that all angles of that picture have as much to do with plain old chance and swiftly passing opportunity as with any kind of moralistic higher ground held with such dreadful self-righteous vigour as we see in such pathetic souls.
make_up_another...
2 years ago
Is This Living The Dream?
I have a job that pays about 50K a year. That sounds pretty good on paper, but I live in a rented room in a suburban home. If I rented a 'real' apartment, all of my money would go to pay gas, insurance, car payment, etc. and I would be unable to cope with any sudden cash emergencies.
My girlfriend lives two hours away, and has no desire to move to the city, and I can't blame her, I don't want to be here either. I came here when my job was eliminated and a position was available here. I've been unhappy ever since. I couldn't imagine buying a house, which in the GTA run around 350 000+.
Of course, to move back home is to surely take a backward step financially, even risking unemployment for a long time, without EI. It may be hard for some policy people to believe, but not everyone wants to live in a city. Most of the small towns that are still alive, are so because they are bedroom communities, or have some kind of tourist appeal.
This isn't living, it's a suburban fucking nightmare.
I know this doesn't have much to do with the story, but I feel like I live on the edge. I live this way, not by choice, but because if I tried to live normally, I'd risk too much. All it takes is one transmission problem and I could face having to make a choice between rent, car payment or food.
I feel like there are many people out there like me and that there are many subtle layers of working people, each facing problems trying to fit into this make believe model of prosperity.
JIm
2 years ago
"I believe no one willing to
"I believe no one willing to work 40 hours/week should go hungry or homeless"
So what would you say about the example couple in the article? One person of the couple was working part time, yet they are used a prime example of the so called "working poor". The question then becomes why would the so called middle and upper classes, who are working 10 hour days to make ends meet, want to give away every last cent to a couple who aren't even willing to carry one full time job between them?
Frank
2 years ago
Surrey
"But whereas Vancouver outreach workers have literally thousands of shelter beds and government-owned hotel rooms into which to place homeless clients, the Options team has just 35 beds at the Hyland House shelter and sometimes a few more at smaller shelters nearby."
Way to go Dianne Watts, you're a natural do-nothing leader for the Liberals.
Frank
2 years ago
JIm
"So what would you say about the example couple in the article? "
I'd say its proof the Liberals are terrible at job creation. After all, they've created less jobs than the NDP did in the 1990s.
Luke
2 years ago
Frank.. Burnaby Is Where It's At...
The Socialist Republic of Burnaby kicks out these folk so they have to move on to places like Surrey.
Remember Vision Vancouver, which is dominated by New Democrats?
Well, a key Vision Vancouver strategist, Jonathon Ross, has this to say about your Socialist Republic of Burnaby:
http://civicscene.ca/derek-corrigan-hurts-people-in-his-battles-with-the-provincial-government
Miserable Mayor Derek Corrigan to replace Carole James? Possibly.
Yep, the Socialist Republic of Burnaby - a very socially progressive city... ain't it Frank? ;)
Frank
2 years ago
Luke
"Remember Vision Vancouver, which is dominated by New Democrats?"
Would that be the same Vision Vancouver whose mayor is a gushing fan of Gordon Campbell? The same Vision that our anti-NDP friend Herman loves so much?
Dianne Watts should already be Liberal leader considering her refusal to help the homeless. She'll fit right in with you pro-poverty guys.
Frank
2 years ago
JIm
A 78 year old homeless war vet died in Kelowna a couple of months ago after being hit by a car.
I guess you guys only care about members of the Liberal party and even war vets don't count for anything eh?
Frank
2 years ago
Oh
And I know you guys find the phrase "homeless war vet" hysterical but that's why I'm here, to entertain.
realisticman
2 years ago
SicPreFix
quote: "I've been well off, and I've been homeless."
You've got one up on me. I've been homeless but never well off, unless I count living in BC where we are all, as Corky Evans said, well off.
By the way, when are we going to have our pets taken care of by our government? Why is it that I can take Puffy in for an ultrasound tomorrow but my mum will have to wait for weeks? Maybe I should dress mum in a cat-suit and haul her down to the Furry Friends Hospital.
frank2
2 years ago
This problem is not going
This problem is not going away. Rising unemployment, and lower wages for a majority of the employed, guarantee increased poverty and homelessness. Add in the fact that we have "overshot" carrying capacity (for the luxurious use of resources the society now "enjoys"), it is clear that major readjustments are needed. A peaceful outcome would see much higher taxes on higher incomes, highers taxes on unsustainable consumption (starting with consumption of non-renewable energy sources), and a concerted effort (minimum wages, living wage, proper support for the disabled, etc.) I'm not holding my breath.
Frank
2 years ago
frank2
I agree, its utterly depressing looking at the challenges we face and the incompetents that have put us here and are still leading us.
sdgreen
2 years ago
Affordability
A recent study conducted in Victoria indicated that a combined income of just over $60 K is required to live in the Capital Regional District. Sixty thousand dollars is a lot of money, yet that is the minimum and does not allow for saving, holidays or much else.
The outstanding cause of this is the high levels of taxation at all levels of government and the imbalance of wages/benefits of Public Service versus private businesses. Further the ability to save at that level of income is almost non-existent and even if you could the standard (even the best) rates are insignificant.
Other issues identified especially for the houseing industry is that there is just way too much 'red' tape imposed which increases the cost unreasonably to landlords and developers.
Taxation by all levels of government is massive. Government fees at all levels are way too high. Governments at all levels are too large and consume tax dollars in a wasteful manner on projects of questionable value.
All of this is causing undue harm to the poor, is placing immense financial pressure on what was the middle class (who are marching to the poor house), is making it difficult for small business to survive, and generally is screwing up the society we live in.
Federal, Provincial and Local governments are just taking in too much of the financial pie.
Only those who are 'rich' (whatever that figure now is?) are doing ok. The Rest of us are suffering.
Frank
2 years ago
sdgreen
Corporations are doing well. Mr Harper is lowering their rates down to 15% and the $14 billion or so a year in lost revenue will be made up by increasing taxes on the little guy or running up large deficits.
realisticman
2 years ago
Corporations
All those corporations are weerly, weerly, horrid and they make all that nasty black smoke that goes up in the air and all that dirt that goes in the water too. Yes, yes and all those nasty men that have those nasty corporations are big and smoke those horrid big cigars and dwive big nasty cars and that's bad too. Yes and they all have lots and lots money that they take from other people too. That's why those nice houses cost so much money to have. I know 'cause my mommy told me.
sdgreen
2 years ago
Frank
.... and Gordon Campbell is lowering corporate taxes by some 41%, after which the same amount is to be collected from consumers of everything. This means that the affordability index for the Capital Regional District just went up by several thousand dollars per family, not to mention increased costs for Schools, Health agencies, Local governments, and that means increases in Property taxes.
Then that translates to higher costs for rental properties etc.
Frank
2 years ago
realisticboy
I understand your mummy still cooks and cleans for you too.
Frank
2 years ago
sdgreen
Its based on the Campbell belief that the poor have too much money and the rich don't have enough.
Wilfride Laurier
2 years ago
True
We would be a lot better off without them wascally corporations but we really have to get back on topic, which is the huge abuse of human rights when a couple with a dozen kitties gets evicted from their place and can't for some unknown, dastardly, reason, find a place to live and how it is all Gordon Campbell's fault that they can't get a place that will take them and their twelve cats. It is not their fault they have twelve cats and can't find a place, it is Gordon Campbell's fault and it is not their fault they are broke from buying 12 gross of Tender Vittles every week it s Gordon Campbell's fault!
GENERAL STRIKE!!
mmphosis
2 years ago
a better class
> Rich joked that they've been finding "a better class" of homeless people this year. By that he meant people who are still working, and who had not yet slipped into the well of addiction or mental illness.
I really despise the notion that "homeless" are addicts and/or mentally ill. Addiction and mental illness cut across all classes regardless of whether we have shelter or not.
Frank
2 years ago
Watching kids grow in front of your eyes
I tell ya Wilf, your posts get a little more mature with each passing year. Your dad will be so proud to see you heading off to high school next September.
brg61
2 years ago
It's not about cats....
A 72 year old frightened woman sleeping in shelters, when she can find one is absolutely unacceptable.
I am not going to judge this woman for needing help at this point in her life.
How many affordable housing units have been built while we have been pouring billions into the olympics?
I hope Monte Paulson follows up and that this lady finds a safe home.
It appears to me that the other woman in his report will have to give up her cats and is in need of some
counselling; but of course none is available.
So this is the "best place on earth", huh Gord? Will the homeless problem be visible to media during our big party in February? A big part of it will be hidden in Surrey.
Jeffrey J.
2 years ago
A Deeply Moving Story
This was a deeply moving account. If only it was just one couple, among the 3 million people in BC. But it isn't just one couple ( with or without pets is irrelevant); they are emblematic of thousands of people, who, year by year, drop off the vine into the jungle of homelessness.
Make no mistake. Progressive democracies are few and far between around the world. Many countries are ruled by a few elite over the many. Canadians for many years were quietly proud that we weren't like that. But that was then. We are slowly becoming more and more like most non-democracies. Where the elite feel 'entitled' to their privileged position, whether they personally 'earned' them or not (usually, not). And the many, usually about 85% of the civilians, are left to fend for themselves.
I do hope the Wilf's of the world have had a chance to travel and see how other jurisdictions operate. This could be our future. Yes, it is the norm. But no, it is not just. Indeed, it is deeply unjust. Western democracies were not celebrated for the material wealth that few have obtained. You can go to Afghanistan or Mexico or India to see people living a life of fabulous wealth and privilege. But they have no resonance with the rest of the world.
It was Canada's progressive policies and democracies that caught their attention. That made Canadians proud. Where any person could prosper in a regular job. But now, those working people, at $8 an hour, are falling further and further behind.
It all revolves around social policy. it's what made Canada great. And is now making Canada cheap, and miserly, and common. And deeply unjust.
zalm
2 years ago
Easy, Frank...
The good burghers of Fairview Slopes clearly don't want any prawns eating their cat food or setting up any District 9 near them.
Gawd, Wilf, you used to make intelligent comments now and again. Since your banning and resurrection, you're nothing but an embarrassment now.
Bobby Peru
2 years ago
Falling down...
It's sad to see anyone slipping through our economic cracks and unable to overcome the inequities that will always exist in our society- no matter how much socialism we inject and impose on our system. Notwithstanding the cats- maybe the writer should dropped this factoid in order to defuse black humorists, many of the solutions proposed on this site will create more problems than they solve.
Vilifying 'the rich' or 'the elite' is working the propaganda and not the problem. Again, who are the rich and elite in BC. They're alot of people. If the solution is to build more social or subsidized housing in or near Vancouver the fact is it's too expensive. And how to you ration the stock of housing even if you could build it. The poor shall flock to the Lower Mainland from all over. The region is simply too expensive. Logical economics says if you can't afford the rent in an area then keep moving outwards until you can.
And maybe the govt should be building subsidized housing further away on cheaper land. Because taxpayers won't tolerate social spending that raises taxes more than they are now. Do any of you talk to any middle class, or what you might call the rich, people and ask if they'd pay more taxes to build social housing in Vancouver? Please tell me if they say yes.
Face it, Vancouver is a very expensive place to live. And even if you could roll back immigration, it'd still be expensive because it's an attractive location.
Bobby Peru
2 years ago
Falling down...
It's sad to see anyone slipping through our economic cracks and unable to overcome the inequities that will always exist in our society- no matter how much socialism we inject and impose on our system. Notwithstanding the cats- maybe the writer should dropped this factoid in order to defuse black humorists, many of the solutions proposed on this site will create more problems than they solve.
Vilifying 'the rich' or 'the elite' is working the propaganda and not the problem. Again, who are the rich and elite in BC. They're alot of people. If the solution is to build more social or subsidized housing in or near Vancouver the fact is it's too expensive. And how to you ration the stock of housing even if you could build it. The poor shall flock to the Lower Mainland from all over. The region is simply too expensive. Logical economics says if you can't afford the rent in an area then keep moving outwards until you can.
And maybe the govt should be building subsidized housing further away on cheaper land. Because taxpayers won't tolerate social spending that raises taxes more than they are now. Do any of you talk to any middle class, or what you might call the rich, people and ask if they'd pay more taxes to build social housing in Vancouver? Please tell me if they say yes.
Face it, Vancouver is a very expensive place to live. And even if you could roll back immigration, it'd still be expensive because it's an attractive location.
Frank
2 years ago
BobbyPeru
The amount of "socialism" in our system has been in decline for quite some time in spite of our expanding population. This government has instead stuck to its ideological guns and pushed ahead with its plan of leaving BC a very different place than it was when they assumed power.
That's all fine and dandy, but there are social costs. Rather than confront these head-on the Liberals have chosen instead to circle the wagons and label everyone who has been hurt a political enemy.
Those chickens are now coming home to roost as more and more people have been adversely affected and then subsequently ignored or worse.
"Vilifying 'the rich' or 'the elite' is working the propaganda and not the problem."
If you mean questioning why corporate taxes are being reduced by around $14 billion a year, I think that is a big part of the problem. You can't maintain existing levels of service when you reduce your revenue stream unless you plan on bankrupting the province, selling off every asset, reducing the level of service or finding additional revenue from citizens. There is simply no other way and the insistence of Harper and Campbell that they have a magic money tree on their lawns that allows them to do this is nonsense.
Economists have demonstrated that the tax burden on lower incomes has risen due to Campbell's changes while at the same those at the top are paying less. Rather than decry talk of "class warfare" why not treat that as a problem? The only answer is it was done that way on purpose for ideological reasons.
"The region is simply too expensive. Logical economics says if you can't afford the rent in an area then keep moving outwards until you can."
Its not that easy, there's a balance. There are things like having to be near aging parents, having resources for your children, having a job to go to and so on.
Besides the argument is a non-starter as the government isn't building enough social housing on expensive land or cheap land.
Skywalker
2 years ago
Make sure your target are vulnerable.
It is fascinating logging on to this site some days and finding out what issues Realisticboy, Wilfride, and the rest of these guys are obsessed with. They can't bear to deal with some of the issue of government corruption but give them a chance to ridicule the poor and the homeless and they are there like flies on road kill. Figures doesn't it. Policies that are indefensible pass without comment, the poor and homeless, yeah they are fair game. Sort of sick really.
And Bobby, when Campbell keeps shifting the tax burden off the rich, the rich become fair game. A CEO making half a million a year working for a government agency with nothing left to do is fair game. A fat cat who enjoys weekly access to Campbell's ear is fair game. These clowns have had 8 full years of gravy, let them tighten their belts for a change. Why must the rest of us pay more to support an economy that when it improves will just direct more of our money to those who already had more.
Jerry Munro
2 years ago
Peace and Law and Order...
Shades of the Great Depression returned to expose the underlying inhumanity and criminality at the root of capitalism. To which it endlessly and cyclically returns, to revisit misery and insecurity on ordinary folks.
We could debate here endlessly good people. But better that we accept that rage is the only appropriate and rational response in such circumstances. Use its energy to organize and prepare the revolt.
There should be no peace, security, nor law and order normalcy allowed to them of "civilized society", so long as they deny it to the working class and its lower orders. It is necessary to prepare to take them on.
That is the message that needs to go out.
That, or stand still and content oneself with taking it where the sun doesn't shine.
Chris Keam
2 years ago
oxymoronic?
"Logical economics"
I LOL'ed.
alive
2 years ago
adapting to real life under Harpo and Gordo
Sorry, really poor people would be eating their cats!
If you are on a limited income it is essential to pare down on anything and everything.
Most people seem to have to do without various things they feel are part of the good life, and that is the hard fact of life in a country that favours business above human dignity.
I would like to know if the subject couple bothered to vote?
Wilfride Laurier
2 years ago
Alive....
You are just a (kitty) hater!
Too true
2 years ago
Sadism
When I was young and naive, I used to think it was just an inhuman level of greed that prompted ‘people’ to cling tight to their coins while they watched people suffer.
The last ten years taught me that it’s not greed. Greed alone can’t cause ‘people’ to enjoy their victims’ suffering.
There may be those who mockingly chastise Gordon Campbell for the social disintegration he engineered, but it is they who are responsible. Campbell couldn’t get elected by decent people.
Troll is a fitting term. What kind of a creepy little existence leaves a ‘person’ thinking that suffering is funny? Do the trolls find it funny when another troll is suffering?
They clearly have nothing but contempt for the woman who gives of herself for the benefit of her pets, but they seem to have no complaints about the criminal. Professional camaraderie?
Seven cats becomes 30 or 40 or 19... yet another example of the right wing math skills that led to this fiscal meltdown.
Don’t despair neo-con-men, they certainly can't cause as much death and suffering as your crowd, but maybe some of this new wave of homeless people will have the ‘get up and go’ to rob you (thereby earning your respect).
one
2 years ago
Van Isle Hey Monte, come
Van Isle
Hey Monte, come this next Jan/Feb when the foreign press starts to show up for the Olympics, grab a few of them one day when it's a bit slow and take them to the places that you have described in this article.
++++++++++++++++++
Hey Van Isle, haven't you heard? The Liberals are drafting a law which will allow for the "voluntary removal" reporters who talk about poverty or homelessness. Of course it is being done in the best interest of the reporters themselves, since such discussions could lead to sadness and depression amongst the press, then spread to the general populace.
brg61
2 years ago
Logical Economics????
Bobby Peru....is it "logical" to pay hundreds of thousands a year to the CEO of a 40km railroad?
Is it "logical" to deliberately underestimate the cost of hosting the 2010 games and the Vancouver convention centre?
Is it "logical" to maintain the lowest minimum wage in Canada and expect people to find affordable homes?
Bobby, it's time to leave your economics theories in the classroom and take a walk in the real world.
ME2
2 years ago
Insight
One of the unexpected advantages of Free Speech is that it allows us to see how shallow and immmature are the thought processes of people like RMan and Wilfride.
ME2
2 years ago
Insight
One of the unexpected advantages of Free Speech is that it allows us to see how shallow and immmature are the thought processes of people like RMan and Wilfride.
ME2
2 years ago
Afterthought
And it occurs to me to wonder how. if it is foolish to waste meager resources on cats, why is is it not even moreso - even criminal - to waste them on multi-milliom dollar yachts?
zalm
2 years ago
alive
Most people seem to have to do without various things they feel are part of the good life, and that is the hard fact of life in a country that favours business above human dignity.
I would like to know if the subject couple bothered to vote?
I would like to know if they were able to vote. They could provincially, and probably not municipally - you're required to have an address, and they don't. I don't know what federal law says.
realisticman
2 years ago
Style
Compassion or not is besides the point. The reason this feature elicited black humour is because of the way it's constructed. Furry things and babies are frequently used to sell products and ideas. Ronald Regan would have loved this homeless feature woven into a 'tear jerker' story about people having a hard time and their cats. We are never told as to why the protagonists were evicted. Perhaps they have a hundred cats. In the journalism world this would not be a news story, it would be in the lifestyles feature section. CBC have a policy that this style is to be followed whenever possible. Weave the news item around a situation that relates to specific individuals. Sound effects are encouraged. Sometimes the Toronto reader will cover a tragedy abroad and background sounds of sirens or gunshots or moans in foreign languages are played along with the report. These days this story here could have a loop of cat meows running as we read it. That's its style. Some like it, some find it trivial when related to news.
Bobby Peru
2 years ago
I love cats
It's sad and funny how this thread became fixated on the couples' cats. What started as story telling methods ended up as points of derision. Now back to the real story. Is housing a right and if it is then how do we afford it. Really, someone has to pay.
All the arguments about providing social housing in Vancouver fail to address its high cost. Vancouver is one of Canada's most expensive cities. Giving housing away is an insult to tax payers. Of course, social housing must exist, but not at the level that homeless advocates think should be built. It's simply too costly. Instead, find cheaper land outside of Vancouver. That's a harsh statement, but it is free of the political agenda that the poverty pimps love to force onto the rest of us taxpayers in Vancouver.
Instead, the rest of us are inflicted with ridiculous projects like Woodwards where middle class folks will supposedly live pay big money to happily live next to social housing. You can't integrate druggies with the rest of us; it only leads to heinous crimes. The working poor need subsidized housing, but we have to determine how many of the homeless are working poor or druggies. After all, we can't afford to house everybody in Vancouver.
Frank
2 years ago
Bobby Peru
The point is that its not just housing in Vancouver, its housing across BC.
The high cost of land in Vancouver is not an excuse for not building it anywhere else.
SicPreFix
2 years ago
Bobby Peru ...
You must be living under a rock. Most homeless people are not druggies. Yes, a lot of homeless people have drug and other addictions problems, but the majority of homeless people have mental health issues.
Also, as been shown in several news stories here at the Tyee, the cost of housing homeless people would be far, far less than what is currently being spent on shelters and jail, and the improvement in the health of homeless folks would greatly reduce the strain on the health system and its associated costs.
C'mon, wake up and get your facts stright before you generalize and demonize entire block of population.
Chris Keam
2 years ago
living among us
"You can't integrate druggies with the rest of us; it only leads to heinous crimes."
Every neighbourhood from Shaughnessy to Surrey has its share of addiction issues. And yet, some have higher crime rates than others. Why is that? The answer is desperation. Ostracizing people won't address those issues.
SicPreFix
2 years ago
realisticman ...
You have a point about the framing of CBC stories, and so on. Nonetheless, making fun of and attempting to demonize people who are suffering, cats or no cats, is just not right.
And Wilfride is just offensive, shallow, and idiotic.
Jerry Munro
2 years ago
The New Order is Risen...
Something is wrong when the poor love their cats, and take good care of them. Hmmm. More like those that find that unfathomable have a seriously disturbed "classist" view of the world, akin to racism. Not surprising though, given the current way "The New (Amerikanized) CBC", soooooo modern and "colonially correct", frames the people's stories in this country. (Tastes like pap but sounds like Vichy.)
I used to think CBC was part of the solution, but I've changed my mind. It's already been irretrievably compromised to the enemy. It's been so CNNized, it's part of the problem "the country" is up against.
But pay attention to the seething, scarcely containable language and ideas of hate that froth out of the mouths of the conservative fascists and their trolls here, especially when they talk about our poor and homeless.
And know that they mean it.
Which is why the poor, the homeless and the broader working class, most of whom don't vote in the ruling class "managed", so-called democratic system, and most of whom are one or two pay cheques away from the same fate, need to start organizing themselves and their fight back, like yesterday. These people hold you in serious contempt, and before they share so much as their garbage with you, they would rather do you even more serious harm.
The New Capitalist World Order is now in full swing, with only their jackboots still in the closet. And they have their own "final solution" to the problem of you Untermenschen, which they are just seething to implement.
You dither organizing and digging in for a fightback for too long, they will only grow stronger and bolder, and more fascistic. How far behind can the "camps" of the New Natural (Class) Order be?
There is a need to pay attention here now.This is a case of where ignorance is not bliss, but increasingly deadly in its potential consequences.
Jerry Munro
2 years ago
Darwinian logic...
To the degree, to the degree... And I do Not buy into the theory that MOST homeless people have mental health problems. ....yet, to the degree that homeless people do have mental health problems, it was the earlier manifestation of right wing extremism under the former Socreds, as part of their early Restraint Programmes and social and health services cutbacks, in the 80s, that closed the mental hospitals and emptied the mentally ill out onto the streets of our communities, to be cared for by said communities. Then because of all the other cutbacks and closings, which they and other governments also imposed, or at least went along with, like the NDP, which care has never been really forthcoming or adequate to the task, of course... because that was not the intent really anyway.
I have been homeless and poor myself, in another life, and while I was certainly not mentally ill, nor are the great majority of the poor I lived amongst, if you are not "stressed" to the max and perhaps even "self-medicating" in one form, or to one degree or another, usually alcohol, then you are of a species something other than human.
The Peru's and other fascists of this ilk have less than insights into the underlying roots of poverty, than they do simple contempt for people who slip and slide, are pushed and driven into poverty by poor luck, and the vagaries and free market machinations and brutality of the capitalist system. But what BECOMES absolutely true for the poor, and intellectually and emotionally destroyed of the class system, is that if you do not come to realize these mechanism at work within the class system, that are at the root of your circumstances, and rise above them, organize and form a collective wall of resistance against it with your fellows, is that you will be crushed by its juggernaut, inexorable, battle tank-like rolling over everything in its way.
It's too bad, but it is also a kind of crude Darwinian logic. You must want to be one of the stronger and more determined as will survive, to crush that which was so smug and self-satisfied that it seriously misread you, as its fatal error. Which led to its own extinction.
For it is only you and your fellows who can become the vehicle, or a driving power to the vehicle of their, and their system's extinction. It really is quite that simple.
Besides, most of these guys harbour what is really little more than a religious zealots "belief" in capitalism anyway, and mouth Darwinianism only where it serves them, and those whose class interests they in turn serve.
Bobby Peru
2 years ago
Tell it like it is
The so called left does not have a monopoly on compassion for the homeless. The avg citizen wants to solve the problem rather than politicize it, which is what the left and the poverty pimps who hide among the left love to do. The subversives forget that they do themselves and their cause a huge disservice by offending everyone.
We will never discover the roots of homelessness or poverty in BC until we undertake an accurate study of what constitutes this population. While some are not drug addicts, most need housing assistance- temporary or permanent. Or maybe they should move far away to a more affordable place. Then there are the addicts, mentally ill and people who can't work because of a disability. They need to be hospitalized or cared for in an institutional setting even if that means forcing them into it. And where do they come from? Maybe some of them should be shipped back to their origins.
Although we'll never be able to create disincentives for addicts and the mentally ill, they need to either be treated, permanently hospitalized and taken off the street.
And that means large scale institutions built in cheap locations, probably way out of town. No way it can be affordable to taxpayers if built in the lower mainland. Building and maintaining a neighbourhood for the addicts or mentally ill, which is more or less what is occurring in Downtown Eastside results in, well, the Downtown Eastside- a downward spiralling slum of misery that simply gets bigger. Encouraging normal people to pay $600000 for apartments in Woodward next to social housing is insanely naive. The only normal people who will live next to the addicts are drug dealers and pimps. And 'beat goes on...'.
But then all of those downtown eastside support groups just love to perpetuate the misery because it justifies their existence and increases their power base. Some of them even discourage rehab because they say it's hopeless so it's better to just give comfort to druggies no matter what the consequences. It's about time we gave up the 'politics of political correctness' and the class war rhetoric and engineered sensible solutions.
Giving housing, ie apartments to the druggies means trashed residences and a bigger ghetto. It hospitalization or institutionalization is the solution then let's build hospitals. Otherwise, there is no way and no govt that can afford to build enough housing units to keep up with the growing number of poor who flock here from across the country.
But then this is far too rational for the BC left and subversives who want to grandstand and make a public nuisance rather than solve problems. No, your hard working BC'ers aren't going to pay for free housing without conditions and restrictions. Sure, keep expanding your ghetto kingdom. Almost everyone who can finds a way to drive around Hastings, to avoid the human blight.
So my message to all those Che Guevera T-shirt wearing subversives is: you are truly rebels without a cause.
Jerry Munro
2 years ago
Eyes but need see the obvious I...
"We will never discover the roots of homelessness or poverty in BC until we undertake an accurate study of what constitutes this population." wrote Peru.
Which is the only solution to poverty which has emerged time, time and again over the some three hundred years of capitalism. And poverty is not only still with us, but growing.
Though it needs to be pointed out that, the closest capitalism ever came to providing at least a serious narrowing of the gap between rich and poor was during the period of "Regulated" (sometimes called "Socialized" ) Capitalism, as grew up during the labour struggles of the Great Depression and the post 2nd World War. Which was also, not coincidentally, its time of greatest trade union organization and influence, but of prosperity as well, for the masses within capitalism.
With the collapse of this period representing the high point in the history and development of capitalism, in the 1970s and 80s,, capitalism has been in a series of up "bubble" periods, largely for the stock market and financial sector manipulators, but overall precipitous decline for the masses ever since.
And one of the interesting outcomes of this decline has not only been the re-emergence of increasingly mass poverty and income decline for the working class overall. But with that, it becomes increasingly clear, without the need for a whole lot of study, but only common "empirical" sense, that this impoverishment of the masses parallels in lock step, increased share being taken from the economic pie by the ruling class of capitalism ever since. In short, ruling class greed at the upper levels of the so-called free market system, results in reduced share and growing poverty at all the other lower levels of the class order of things. There is no great mystery to it, save for those apologists for the system who do not want to see the obvious, but obfuscate and blame the victims instead.
continued next post...
Jerry Munro
2 years ago
Eyes but need see the obvious 2...
Continued from above...
Likewise is the necessary social and political response to this repeated systemic failure of capitalism entirely obvious to anyone with half a mind and eyes to see. Unless, of course, one has an interest, real or perceived, in the maintenance of this unequal class arrangement of things and economic share distribution.
Drawing on the working class experience of the last Great Depression to build on, the response that is needed is for especially the various working class strata of society, from the poor through the proletariat, to all the other service and financial etc strata sectors of the working class, to draw the appropriate conclusion and begin to radicalize how they see their circumstances, the class system in which they find themselves, and how they organize and respond to it. They need to radicalize themselves, quite frankly, withdraw their support from capitalism, seek each other out and organize to profoundly democratize the economy especially, but also the State, securing controlling power there, and finally apply a mass social pressure to ease out the power and time of the current ruling class and its various strata.
Frank
2 years ago
Bobby Peru
"The so called left does not have a monopoly on compassion for the homeless. The avg citizen wants to solve the problem rather than politicize it"
Obviously the Left do have a monopoly on compassion since politicising it is necessary. Your party is into its 3rd consecutive term and yet homelessness is increasing. Not only have you not been able to cure it you can't even stop it from growing. And that is because in 3 terms your government hasn't even made an attempt. So yes, the Left does have a monopoly on compassion, which is too bad.
"The subversives forget that they do themselves and their cause a huge disservice by offending everyone."
You offend everyone on this site with every post you write. And you're right, you don't help your cause.
"We will never discover the roots of homelessness or poverty in BC until we undertake an accurate study of what constitutes this population."
its not rocket science. All one has to do is look at the policies that have led to it and continue to increase it.
"most need housing assistance- temporary or permanent."
And therefore building affordable housing would be a good strategy but the province no longer wants to do this.
"They need to be hospitalized or cared for in an institutional setting even if that means forcing them into it."
Why do right-wingers always jump so fast to the use of force? Why not build housing instead? But then that would go against your ideology.
"And where do they come from? Maybe some of them should be shipped back to their origins."
The idea they can't be born here at the same percentage as the rest of the population is hard to accept?
"But then all of those downtown eastside support groups just love to perpetuate the misery because it justifies their existence and increases their power base."
Their "power base"?!?! What freaking power base is that? Conspiracy theories to explain the failure of Liberal policies is I guess to be expected.
"t's about time we gave up the 'politics of political correctness' and the class war rhetoric and engineered sensible solutions.
Fine, tell Campbell, he's the architect of class warfare.
"there is no way and no govt that can afford to build enough housing units to keep up with the growing number of poor who flock here from across the country."
Less people have arrived in BC under Campbell than arrived here under the NDP. Yet homelessness was far less in the 1990s.
"But then this is far too rational for the BC left and subversives who want to grandstand and make a public nuisance rather than solve problems."
Its your party that its been in power for 3 terms and you simply don't want to face the facts that its been a colossal failure. You'd rather spout rhetoric from the rooftops and label everyone an enemy of BC. Campbell's acolytes are no different from the great Gord himself.
realisticman
2 years ago
Frank
Maybe you were not kept in the loop Frank. There has been much going on, perhaps you just missed it.
"... In 2009/10, $504.4 million will be spent on developing, maintaining and managing 92,650 housing units through a variety of program options available to those in greatest need in British Columbia. ..."
If you want to get back up to speed you can download the 2009/10 Reports here:
http://www.bchousing.org/aboutus/Reports/AR
You should probably become conversant in the info. in some of the Press Releases too.
http://www.bchousing.org/news/news_releases
It starts off with that Affordable Housing centre that opened this week in Vernon.
NEW $12.2-MILLION AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPENS IN VERNON
November 20th, 2009
There are many others.
It's always good to check what's going on otherwise one's blanket statements can make other arguments seem perhaps less realistic.
Frank
2 years ago
realisticboy
Coming from a man that has never admitted a single error or bad policy on the Liberals part and who thinks homelessness is funny I imagine its a waste of time to once again inform you that homelessness and child poverty have increased markedly on the Liberals watch.
The problems of the poor don't matter to this government which is why they continue to put in place policies that increase their numbers.
realisticman
2 years ago
Frank
You should try and speak with Rich Coleman, I have. You might develop a different opinion.
I will agree with you on the steel for BC Place. That should have gone to a BC company, even if it costs more.
Frank
2 years ago
Rich Coleman
I don't think Mr Coleman and I speak the same language. And unfortunately I know he's blind to the problems of the world.
Bob Watts
2 years ago
Same old stuff with no a little change!
Campbell is now paying shelters $309.13 per night for a mat on the floor, for a family of 3. Need to stay at the shelter a full month, that will cost $9,273.90.
No, no you can't have any part of these funds to rent a clean suite, No you can't have fresh food go to the food bank enjoy the shame, and enjoy the taste of out of date donated foods from mulibillion dollar companies who get an 80% tax exemption for not filling the local land fills. No you can't have welfare. Go find a job you low class bum. The best place on earth....get with the program. Welcome to the future.
sludge
2 years ago
Where are the Labour Leaders?
I agree with coyoteman. The only problem is, the capitalists and robber barons at the very top of the pyramid are beyond reach, they are global. They don't have a name, they belong to no state. It is akin to piracy; they live offshore and cannot be grasped. They are not just one step ahead, they are a million light years ahead. The masses, in order to wrest back that which they have lost these past few decades, would have to organize GLOBALLY.
Having said that, even something like bulked up trade unionism cannot respond to the multiple problems facing the world. Nonetheless, trade unions have proven themselves worthy in the fight for human rights, equality, and other forms of activism. Where trade unionism falters is with regard to environmentalism. Both business and industry make big bucks extracting raw materials from the ground. Nothing short of a new philosophy of civilization is required to get off the crack cocaine of resource extraction. I suspect we are decades away from that. Which is fine, things ought to happen gradually.
Now, to bring these thoughts home to a more real world scenario, I just finished reading a book about the Alberta tar sands. Does everybody know that this area composes 25% of the total landmass of Alberta, and it is destroying the third largest watershed in the world? It's also the epicentre of union-busting, where instead of paying folks time and a half for anything worked over a 40 hr week, workers now get a 10% 'premium'. Half of the workforce is intentionally temporary foreign workers, to keep Canadians in line with their mouths shut, lest the boss replaces them with readily available third world labour. To top if off, since developers know the tradespeople are making a lot of money, they charge what the market will bear. You cannot find a house in Fort McMurray for less than $600,000. A typical bachelor suite is $1300/month. Some workers rent cots in walk-in closets for $700/month.
Why am I saying all this? I think both business and labour are in the throes of an addiction. Making money feels too good. They know it's wrong but they cannot stop, even if it causes cancer or leaves the environment degraded. Most of the workers in the Athabasca tar sands will blow their money on drink and women. Normally I would say, ok, that's fine. But when even the businessmen, the captains of industry, have their snouts buried in a mountain of cocaine, and an area the size of Florida in northern Alberta is being plundered for short-term profit, then folks, we have a problem. We are now known around the world as a third world, environmental petro-state.
But now how does all this relate to the article? We need a New Deal, and conservation of the environment needs to be factored into any economic decisions. I actually think it is an emergency, and we need state intervention.
just my two cents.
Jerry Munro
2 years ago
Sludge Gets It I...
Sludge, I think, has made a few really important observations. One about the need for global organization, with which I agree, with only the following caveat, "Think globally and act locally." Which is what we have no choice but to do, brother. Deal with the national, provincial and local situations where we are And if everyone does that, as they are going to have to or slide into extinction, the "global" part will take care of itself. (That's basically how global capitalism evolved, over the time from the Industrial Revolution until now, by the way.)
Secondly; in my view there is nothing more sad to me, that I have watched evolve over my lifetime, than to witness the evolution of the, yes, corruption of the labour movement... the trade unions. The co-opting of it by the corporatist system.
First, over the postwar prosperity times they, along with most of the working class by the way, bought into what was a kind of "socialized" capitalism, becoming an integral part of its "labour management" system. Then as "the system" finally rejected and moved out of its "socialized" facade into what we have, by then the trade unions were too deeply enmeshed into the schemes and had become part of the new neo-liberal, global corporate capitalism. And even though that system turned on them, and drove them to eat much of their own, it is where they, or at least their leadership, is still pretty much today. Now they have so much real estate of their own, and are so invested with their funds into the success of "the free corporate market", that they are paralysed into inaction... except in the most token of ways, or where their own particular "union interest" is at stake.
And it is going to be a huge task, I know, but this has to change, either from within, or by stepping around, over or through the current trade union system.
And whammo! You are spot on. One of the litmus tests of success at this task will be the attitude that emerges amongst the organized working class and their unions toward conservation and the environment. In terms of population and at least most of the economy in the future, smaller is going to have to be seen as better-, a smaller footprint, not larger.
continued next...
Jerry Munro
2 years ago
Sludge Gets It 2...
Continuing from above...
For you are entirely correct, in my view,"We need a New Deal, and conservation of the environment needs to be factored into any economic decisions. I actually think it is an emergency, and we need state intervention."
I would only say, that even more than state intervention right now, in the way you describe, because it is simply not on with ANY of the current party or ruling economic interests to capitalism, we need "people intervention" to force it to happen, and to drive the process. And to democratize the economy and the process in new ways, compelling it to serve the interests of people, communities and the planet, not those concerned only with endlessly growing their personal wealth creation opportunities.
(Their time is already passing, as it did for the old feudalistic aristocracy, and the slave owners before that.)
My view.
realisticman
2 years ago
Frank
Your assumptions are incorrect and it's not just me but many who work tirelessly to alleviate the situation for the homeless and the unfortunate share this view about Rich Coleman.
I appreciate that your party has a plethora of issues to deal with internally and consequently probably not interested in seeing the forest for the trees.
Frank
2 years ago
Rich Coleman
Again, unlike you, I don't travel in circles where I play golf with cabinet ministers. Since you do, tell Mr Coleman for me that as his government is into its 3rd term and he has not found the answer to the homelessness problem and cannot even prevent it from increasing in scope that he step aside and let someone else give it a try.
You and the Liberals are very fond of private sector solutions, well, if you had an employee who failed miserably over and over for 9 years I have little doubt you'd sack him.
Frank
2 years ago
By the way
Admit it, over golf and latte's, Coleman thinks homelessness is as funny as you and Wilf do? Am I right?
realisticman
2 years ago
Frank
I do not play golf, neither do I drink lattes. You are in a bubble Frank with imaginary class ridden preconceptions and if you think that it's okay to wait until your team get power before trying to solve the problems then it's the solutions that wait, people will continue to suffer and I feel sorry for you as well as them. It's not funny.
ttmiddleton@tel...
2 years ago
The New Homeless
I worked in the Social Service industry (yes it is an industry) for over 25 years. It is set up to keep the problems of homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness continuous. Just band aide solutions. Now with the ridiculous Olympics (sports entertainment for the rich) and the HST which will cost everyone 7% more for EVERYTHING, what do you think will happen then. More homelessness, more crime, more crap. We as a society have to realize we cannot maintain a life of spending and consuming without there being consequences both environmental and societal. We have to wake up and realize there is more to life than a new cell phone or computer game. We have to care about one another and actually take care of one another. Nothing else will do.
Frank
2 years ago
Spare me the sanctimonious bit
Was it not your side that spent the entire decade of the 1990's attacking the NDP every minute of the day in every form of media? Even taking the government to court in an attempt to overturn the election? And again because the premier got a neighbour to help with his deck?
And when your side got into power the class warfare policies you support forced more people into poverty and out onto the streets. 9 years of failure after failure and now you want me to help you?
The best thing that could happen for the poor in BC is to see the Campbell government resign en masse.