January 12, 2024
Dear Mayor Sim and City Council,
Open Letter re: Human Rights and Respect for the Unhoused
I write to you with deep sadness and concern, regarding yet another action by the City against our unhoused friends and neighbours in East Vancouver.
Park Rangers had moved to decamp the unhoused in Oppenheimer Park. This effort follows a series of previous actions from the City to further displace the unhoused without a plan in place to house them. Shelters are at maximum capacity, people have no where to go and their meagre possessions were being confiscated, and their tents being dragged away in front of them.
This week we are seeing the temperature drop to -13 Degrees Celsius in Vancouver. These individuals are living in tents for survival. This decision will only put their lives further at risk. I find it unconscionable that anyone could support displacing marginalized people, and confiscating what little they have, when they have no homes to go to.
I am sure you are aware that the 2023 Point-in-Time Homeless Count for Greater Vancouver show that there is a 32% increase since the last count in 2020, and Indigenous peoples are disproportionately represented. This is the latest in a failed string of actions – decampments, street sweeps, and evictions. This approach is neither collaborative nor productive – it serves only to trample the human rights and dignity of our most vulnerable residents, hoping that their needs can be swept under a rug if they are displaced to a less visible part of the city.
I agree that to adequately address Canada’s housing crisis requires partnership from all levels of government. The last 30 years have demonstrated that successive Liberal and Conservatives governments’ market driven approach has failed Canadians.
Canadians need the Federal government to: a) ensure housing is treated as a basic human right and not a commodity; b) stop the loss of existing affordable housing; c) invest in the development of new social housing; and d) protect renters from reno/ demo-evictions and out of control rent hikes.
Canada’s social housing stock is lags far behind G-7 countries. We desperately need the federal government to commit to the right to housing in action, not just words. It is essential that the government invest in the creation of at least 2 million social/co-op housing units to help close the affordability gap. I have sponsored a motion with seven recommendations to ensure Canada adopts a human-rights based approach to housing and stop the profiteering of housing. You can find that motion here,. I also submitted a report on the Financialization of Housing at the HUMA Committee with a comprehensive list of 14 recommendations, which expands on that motion.
I will continue to fight for comprehensive solutions to protect renters and provide the homes people need and I ask that you to abandon using displacement as a tool to address the dire homelessness crisis.
Sincerely,
Jenny Kwan
Member of Parliament for Vancouver East
NDP Critic for Housing
