Housing For All
The Thorn on Thursdays | Jun 17 2021
Stories
Local
Vancouver City Council approves new non-profit rental building
On Wednesday, June 16, Vancouver City Council approved a new rental building downtown at 1317 Richards Street, on the southwest corner of Drake and Richards street. Nine councillors plus Mayor Stewart voted in favor of the project. Councillor Hardwick abstained.
The project, a collaboration between the Multigenerational Housing Society, the Ismaili community and the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, is being billed as a 100% social housing building, with 193 units of social housing -- though it should be noted that the City of Vancouver redefined social housing in 2014 to allow buildings where 30% of the units rent at or below Housing Income Limits (HIL) rates to be considered as 100% social housing, so it’s unclear how “affordable” these units will be.
The building also incorporates a rebuilding of the two-story Ismaili Community Centre and jamatkhana, which currently occupies the property at 508 Drake Street, which is part of the redevelopment.
The full specs of the project are available on the City of Vancouver’s page for the project’s rezoning application.
Related: An update on Vancouver’s bizarre definition of ‘social housing’
Democratic Socialists of Vancouver (DSoV) start Housing For All campaign!
The Democratic Socialists of Vancouver, an organization founded last year to bring socialism to Vancouver, has announced the launch of their Housing For All Campaign. Posters are going up around the city, demanding changes to make housing a human right in Vancouver. Here are some of the demands:
1) Social Housing Now - DSOV demands from all levels of government the construction of 5,000 units of new social and public housing per year in the City of Vancouver, and at 15,000 per year in Metro Vancouver.
2) Decommodify housing and protect renters - DSOV demands public acquisition of at least 2,500 units per year of private rental housing.
This will undercut the speculative investments from REITs and others who are incentivized to evict or displace existing tenants, and it will remove the split-cost incentive that prevents necessary energy efficiency retrofits. Expansion and retrofitting of newly-decommodified housing is a key part of any Green New Deal.
3) Enforce Housing as a Human Right: No more barriers to housing - This means no more credit checks, arbitrary waitlists and other excuses. Housing is a human right and must be provided to all. Just as with the fight for universal health care, the DSOV demands both the codification and the implementation of the human right to housing
Public protest events and online petitions are being planned. But for now, the DSOV is announcing its presence on the Vancouver political scene. Given the hunger for solutions to the housing crisis, and the cruel indifference of Vancouver’s Mayor Kennedy Stewart to people’s struggles to find decent housing, the DSOV anticipates a groundswell of support for the campaign.
Follow the campaign on their website.
Petition: Demand Healthy and Affordable Housing for All in BC - Acorn
Activists block boat from Israeli shipping company
Over the past couple of weeks, Palestine solidarity activists on the West Coast of North America have successfully blocked a ship from Israeli shipping company ZIM from landing at three different ports -- Oakland on June 4, Vancouver on June 8, and Prince Rupert on June 15 -- as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. Port workers at all three ports refused to cross the picket lines set up by protesters, which prevented the ship from unloading its cargo.
The following was posted on Facebook by one of the participants in the Prince Rupert action:
“Why this ship?
ZIM is apartheid Israel’s largest and oldest shipping company. It deals in Israeli-manufactured military technology and arms, as well as consumer goods.
The International Call to Action against ZIM called on the international community to support Palestinian human rights by putting pressure on Israel.
Indigenous communities across Canada face similar systems of violence and discrimination that the indigenous Palestinian people are being met with by Israel’s apartheid regime. We say no to settler colonialism anywhere, from Prince Rupert to Palestine.
Indigenous communities here are no strangers to their land continually being stolen, their communities torn apart, and to being systematically discriminated against. That’s why we’re here to #BlocktheBoat and stand with the Palestinian people.
WE DEMAND:
Canada must end its complicity with Israeli apartheid and human rights violations against Palestinians, and stop doing business with companies like ZIM that profit from Israeli apartheid.
Trudeau has shamefully condemned the peaceful BDS movement, which is modeled after the Boycott movement that brought down South African apartheid. We demand that Canada boycott, divest, and sanction the apartheid state of Israel.
We want an end to the Siege of Gaza and the continued expulsion of Palestinians from their indigenous lands and homes.
Hold Israel accountable for ongoing violence and oppression against the Palestinian people
Ultimately, we are uplifting the Palestinian struggle for the liberation of their homeland.'
AROC: Arab Resource & Organizing Center”
Read more:
‘Block the Boat’ Protests Continue Against Israeli Container Ship at Port of Vancouver
Protesters prevent Israeli container ship from docking in Prince Rupert
Provincial
B.C. defers old-growth logging in Fairy Creek and Central Walbran
The B.C. government has accepted a request by the Pacheedaht, Dithdaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations to defer logging in Fairy Creek and the Central Walbran areas on Vancouver Island for two years.
Environmental activists set up a series of blockades in the area back in August 2020, to try to prevent old-growth logging in the region. On April 1, 2021 the BC Supreme Court granted Logging company Teal Jones an injunction to allow RCMP to remove the protesters. Since May 18, RCMP have arrested over 150 people for violating the injunction.
A core group of protesters remains camped out in the area, concerned about activity that would violate the deferral agreement. They are continuing the fight to ensure that the old-growth forest is protected permanently. Reports are that tensions between protesters and the police remain high.
Full Story: A Future in Fairy Creek ‘that is fair, just and equitable’
Petition: End the logging of British Columbia’s old-growth forests
Independent Distributed Learning (IDL) schools have received notice that funding will be cut by 13% starting in September.
Few parents 'choose' to educate their children at home. "The lack of flexibility in public school is what forces us out," states the mother of autistic boy.
The recent cuts by the Province to funding for independent home-based learning will leave many families and IDL schools scrambling. Barbara's son is on the autism spectrum and by grade six had attended, and been removed from, six different schools. Finally, in Grade 7, Barbara was done with the public school system.
"When I asked his Grade 6 teachers to give me an idea of what grade curriculum he had completed, they had no idea."
Barbara chose an IDL suggested by a friend who was also the mom of an autistic child. The school started her son on Grade 3 curriculum. "By the end of the year, he was doing Grade 7 work," Barbara says proudly. "He was perfectly capable of completing age-appropriate school work."
Six years later, Barbara's son graduated with his peers and now lives independently.
"The lack of flexibility in public school is what forced us out," Barbara states. "The Distributed Learning School worked because the teachers were not only flexible and accommodating, they were committed to teaching him, and invested in his success. It was so refreshing to feel my kid was a priority to someone other than me!"
Barbara has two younger children, both on the autism spectrum. She currently has them attending Kindergarten and Grade 1 in an IDL school. "I regretted not doing this sooner for my older boy," Barbara says a little sadly. "I'm not going to make the same mistake with these two."
Many parents are afraid the IDL schools will have to start charging tuition. When asked what she thought of this, Barbara points out that in order to have her little ones in IDL, either she or her husband need to be home. The result is a reduced income. "I'm not sure how an average family home schooling neuro-diverse children could possibly afford to pay tuition," Barbara says.
While currently parents don’t pay tuition for most IDL schools, they pay out-of-pocket for many things, including community classes, textbooks and sports and music lessons that are needed to meet curriculum requirements. The cuts mean IDL students will be funded at about 34 per cent of the amount for students in bricks-and-mortar schools. Approximately 11,00 students are currently enrolled in BC IDL schools.
Read Barbara's full story here
Petition: Restore or increase funding to Independent Distributed Learning Schools in BC
International
Pedro Castillo—the Left wins in Peru!
On Saturday, June 12, Peruvians voted to make leftist Peruvian schoolteacher and union leader Pedro Castillo the next President of Peru. Castillo won 50.12% of the votes cast in the second-round vote, to 49.88% for Keiko Fujimori. Fujimori has refused to concede, and is contesting the result of the election. Scuffles have taken place in the capital city of Lima between supporters of the two candidates.
During the election campaign, Castillo campaigned with a comically large pencil, which symbolized his pledge to rewrite Peru’s constitution, which was imposed on the country during the dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori (Keiko Fujimori’s father). He also pledged to significantly increase taxes on large companies.
Peru is the world’s second largest copper producer, and its current constitution heavily favors large corporations, including the Canadian mining companies who play a large role in the country. Not surprisingly, workers in Peru’s mining sector voted heavily for Castillo.
Video: Socialist Upset Victory in Peru
Upcoming Events
DSOV Digital Social
June 18. 7:00 pm - late
Everyone is welcome to join us at our Digital Socialist Summer Social. Want to know more about the socialist movement in Vancouver? Drop by and meet some of the activists. Discuss issues. Or play games!
DSOV Reading Group -- Socialism & Feminism: What’s Next?
Thursday, June 24, 7PM
Readings and other meeting info at link
DSOV Events page - Facebook - collection of events around BC
Events | Vancouver Ecosocialist Group -- Roundup of events by other organizations
Media Roundup
Keystone XL is dead, and Albertans are on the hook for $1.3B
Israel Breaks Ceasefire After Forming New Government -- Youtube video from David Doel of the Rational National about Israel’s latest airstrikes on Gaza on June 15 which broke the May 21 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Storytelling for Power Graeme Lamb argues for a vision of storytelling as a crucial organizing tool – when mobilized in strategic ways.
Mountains of Oppression. Chief Byron Louis is calling on federal, provincial governments to help communities replace former day ‘schools’ with healing centres.