karen ward Profile picture
Jul 4, 2018 13 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Thank you Kathy Shimizu (of @WePress_YVR) for introducing that idea about a new definition of social housing! appropriately doing so in the context of this #ChinatownYVR session at council. i can explain #vanpoli
(i was hoping to be there today, but i'm still really sick.) 1/..
at present "social housing" can include a rental range from $375/mth (the "shelter rate" portion of bc social assistance) to 30% of income at the HiLs rate - for one person, that's an annual income of $38,500. @BC_Housing @selinarobinson bchousing.org/housing-assist…
which would mean rent for a studio would max out at $962/mth. world of difference between $375 and $962. i understand that HILs represents the low end of average incomes - but how is that measured? $962/mth doesn't feel like "social housing"
and $375? wow what a deal right? no. why do you think so little social housing at that rate was built all that time? $375/mth bears no relation to the market and hasn't for a very long time. "Demolition by neglect" is a familiar strategy to deal with an aging structure....
$375/mth is indictative of the attentiveness that successive bc liberal gov'ts dedicated to the housing needs of low-income people. the minister of housing and mining indeed he is a rich coal man.
Anyhow. The city already has another way to measure what "low-income" means. How about the city go with the city's already existing definition how about that vancouver.ca/parks-recreati…
if that were the case, rent for a studio, for a single person using this formula - the maximum possible rent in social housing - is $633/mth. and this council has passed motions and made statements calling for the shelter rate to be raised to at least $600. ? @andreareimer
right now, the housing problem is so serious at the lowest income levels that new social housing must be weighted towards people who have no housing, who are unsafe, the "most vulnerable." but we must acknowledge that there's a range of poverty
and if you're making minimum wage, by definition you can't get on social assistance and qualify for social housing. you have to lose your job, or get sick, or have your life fall apart. become homeless. you're making less than 25K/yr, you are not rich, not The Gentry
now that sort of social mix is what makes sense to me, plus it is a powerful way to advocate for raising that shelter rate. i live in a %100 @375 situation and it is not cool; let's check with professionals @BuiltJustice
This would achieve several aims. It would help to normalize social housing. Put it everywhere. You can't build vienna in a day. But you can't create a situation where people feel so trapped in supportive housing that they become dependent, isolated, and feel warehoused.
+ it's important that social housing be sustainable. so this is an idea, thx Kathy for raising it, for a new definition of social housing that meets social realities. hopefully answers yr questions @AdrianeCarr @andreareimer it's all about keepin promises @MelissaDeGenova
that's the idea - kathy felt bad that she didn't explain it well, but she gave me a chance to talk about it. let me know if it makes sense, @Khelsilem @BuiltJustice i appreciate yr thoughts about it.
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More from @kwardvancouver

Jul 18, 2018
Thanks for the call @bctoday appreciate the time to talk about the @BCCSU report on "Strategies to Strengthen the Recovery System in BC." An overall review is long overdue, given the situation - #overdose #bcpoli #harmreduction
and there is much to be encouraged by in the report. Dr. Wood states clearly that recovery is a process, by definition long-term, so more is needed beyond harm reduction and acute care. bccsu.ca/news-release/n…
This is the bit that troubles me. I read the report closely and remember seeing a very early version of it well over a year ago. It's about "Therapeutic Communities":
Read 16 tweets
Jul 15, 2018
Identifying as a 'person w/ lived experience' has become a route for marginalized ppl to be, in some ways, 'on the inside', of policy processes that are about us. the example of a formal process that springs to mind is the task force on mental health & addictions, 2013 onwards.
at the time, it was nearing the end of the DTES planning process, therefore terrible. i was the rep from gallery gachet, the token out nutcase on the committee. but the whole point for many of us there was that the diversity of our collective experiences, as low-income
and marginalized residents, had given us knowledge & insight that would improve the planning process, and so plan would centre low-income residents. but the danger is that while you might be in the room, you simply don't have the resources & capacity to participate meaningfully.
Read 16 tweets
Jul 14, 2018
Delightful! note that the province committed over 30mil. the nonprofit developer, vancouver chinatown foundation, raising the same. city contributing land, & more, & headaches. #vanpoli after oct, pls ask why the gov't won't meet w/ you. (can't wait.) #homeless ppl need homes,
idiots,. they can't live in your millitant post-post-modern dissent. you're using people you've coerced to be there as props. and none of you read the RZ report or attended subsequent meetings. you are not actually interested in housing at #58WHastings. clearly. #HousingJustice
you'll weaponize the whole project, and THIRTLY MILLION DOLLARS from the province, they are willing to try something here. you do this shit, do you think they'll spend another dime in the #DTES? its ok for you, b/c then you can Fight the Government! so hardcore radical.
Read 7 tweets
Jul 4, 2018
@andreareimer i don't think such a definition would do nothing, or provoke the developent of 231 units of nothing. both senior levels of government have significantly shifted gears on housing since the last instance of re-definition that you cited
@andreareimer i guess it's a legit debate - eg 10 units at shelter rate in a 100 unit building, 50% condos = gentrification/displacement, therefore "no building at all," which is the local position. i don't want to get stuck in the past, i hope that is the past.
@andreareimer unlikely there are perfect actions. 100%/375 has become an ideologically-driven ideal; it is a terrible way to live in reality. and "social housing" that includes $962/mth provokes confusion, anger, cynicism... the hopelessness emoji
Read 6 tweets
Jun 26, 2018
"Based on the agenda of the City of Vancouver’s Urban Design Panel on Wednesday (June 27), the development will have 38 housing units as well as 12 micro dwelling units above commercial spaces on ground level." Those are the only details about the 'development'. #dtes #vanpoli
cw: the thread that will undoubtedly ensue may contain various not-exactly-on-topic freak-outs, references to harsh things, bitter yet nuanced literary allusions, & images i spend too much time making (gifs gifs gifs). Because this is worth it. #ThisIsWhy
This 'development', the article does not note, is beside this capital-generating structure, and an important public space. Good thing I checked, because if you read @tlupick's article, I am already pissed off about this! straight.com/news/1015846/r…
Read 23 tweets

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