OPEN LETTER: Urgent Housing Crisis

As you know, the lack of access to safe, secured affordable housing in Vancouver has been a longstanding challenge. This was brought on by the cancellation of the National Housing Program in 1993 and the lack of action by successive federal governments to invest in the development of social housing. The pandemic in the last 2 years and the current heat wave has further exacerbated the situation. The latest available data indicates there are currently over 2,000 identified homeless individuals in the city, and a disproportionate number of them identify as Indigenous.
In my previous correspondence with you, I have outlined the seriousness of the housing crisis in Vancouver and called for federal action. Today, I am reiterating calls for action.
Since 2018, we have seen in our community, large scale homeless encampments erected by the unhoused, first in Oppenheimer Park, then in Crab Park, followed by Strathcona Park. In August of 2020, I issued a joint open letter with MLA Mark and Mayor Kennedy calling for the federal government to urgently address the housing crisis by entering into a 50/50 cost sharing agreement with the province to build more supportive housing and acquire new housing stock

August 3, 2022

The Honourable Ahmed Hussen
Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Via email: [email protected] Dear Minister Hussen,

Open Letter Re: Urgent Housing Crisis

As the Member of Parliament for Vancouver East and the NDP Critic for Housing, I am writing to you with urgency regarding the ongoing housing crisis in the Downtown Eastside and to call for Federal leadership and commitment to address this grave situation.

As you know, the lack of access to safe, secured affordable housing in Vancouver has been a longstanding challenge. This was brought on by the cancellation of the National Housing Program in 1993 and the lack of action by successive federal governments to invest in the development of social housing. The pandemic in the last 2 years and the current heat wave has further exacerbated the situation. The latest available data indicates there are currently over 2,000 identified homeless individuals in the city, and a disproportionate number of them identify as Indigenous.

In my previous correspondence with you, I have outlined the seriousness of the housing crisis in Vancouver and called for federal action. Today, I am reiterating calls for action.

Since 2018, we have seen in our community, large scale homeless encampments erected by the unhoused, first in Oppenheimer Park, then in Crab Park, followed by Strathcona Park. In August of 2020, I issued a joint open letter with MLA Mark and Mayor Kennedy calling for the federal government to urgently address the housing crisis by entering into a 50/50 cost sharing agreement with the province to build more supportive housing and acquire new housing stock as part of the decampment strategy. Sadly, the Federal government did not respond to this urgent call for support.

After a prolonged period, as the situation became increasingly untenable, the Provincial government managed to allocate substantive provincial resources to secure housing options for the unhoused, including the acquisition of vacant hotels. While the decampment of Oppenheimer Park and Strathcona Park were supported by the Provincial government with a decampment strategy, there was no such strategy for the decampment of Crab Park, which is located on Port of Vancouver lands.

Two years have passed since the Strathcona encampment was established, and sadly the situation has not improved. Currently, there are approximately 70 residents living at an encampment at Crab Park. In recent weeks, the homelessness crisis has come to a boiling point, as an increasing number of tents and structures are set up along East Hastings Street. Just last week, on July 25th, Vancouver’s Fire Chief issued an order to immediately remove these tents and structures, citing serious fire safety concerns. A statement from the City of Vancouver indicates that this situation in the Downtown East Side has grown increasingly unsafe since the beginning of July due to decreased accessibility and increased structures, and that if a fire were to break out, it would be devastating.

Yet, these tents along East Hastings Street provide shelter to approximately 400 unhoused community members who have no other place to go and who are experiencing the effects of another summer heat wave. Many community members are also dealing with serious physical and mental health conditions, while struggling to meet basic needs on no or little income.

The longstanding history of injunctions and moving campers from one location to another is an untenable strategy to resolve this crisis. It is imperative that the Federal government show leadership on this issue and take actions necessary to address the housing and homelessness crisis in our communities.

I am therefore calling on the federal government to re-establish the Vancouver Agreement – a tripartite initiative that brought all levels of government together to support social, economic and community development in Vancouver, with a specific focus on the Downtown East Side. We need an urgent and concerted effort between all levels of government working in collaboration with local non-governmental organizations to address the challenges in our community, with urgent interventions to find safe housing and supports for people in crisis, and long-term systemic solutions to address the needs of the community. The status quo simply cannot continue.

I share with you a snapshot of photos of the encampments for your reference. Lastly, I would also like to extend an invitation for you to tour Crab Park the next time you are in Vancouver for a media opportunity.

I look forward to your reply and to working with you on this urgent matter. Sincerely,

Jenny Kwan
MP for Vancouver East NDP Critic for Housing

encl.

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Parliament needs to “just get on with it” and address the issue of “lost Canadians” through amendments to the Canada Citizenship Act, according to Jenny Kwan, NDP critic of citizenship and immigration.

She told The Hill Times that she wonders if a judge would have the patience to grant the federal government a fifth extension on a court order requiring action before the current November deadline.

“This is astounding. What the current situation is right now is that Canada’s Citizenship Act, with respect to lost Canadians, is in violation of the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms], and [Bill C-3] will make it Charter-compliant,” said Kwan (Vancouver East, B.C.).

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When June “Juna” Miller filed her taxes in spring, she expected a refund, but instead, she was declared legally dead.

A few weeks later, she attempted to log in to her CRA account. It didn’t work, and she called the agency.

“The woman on the phone said, ‘Well, you’re deceased.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? You’re speaking to me!'” Miller explained.

What followed was a month-long ordeal that cost her her pension, Social Insurance Number, and sense of stability.

“It took them five seconds to say I was dead… without even asking for a death certificate,” she said. “Now I’m being told it could take six months to prove I’m alive. That makes no sense to me.”

But with her account frozen and no payments coming in, she was suddenly without any source of income.

Her Social Insurance Number had been cancelled, making it impossible to access her bank account or even apply for temporary work to stay afloat.

Even Service Canada wasn’t much help, Miller claimed.

She recalls one interaction with an agent who questioned why she kept insisting she was alive, while another refused to proceed because her name didn’t match across various documents.

When Miller attempted to order a copy of her marriage certificate to fulfill the requirement, her request was denied because her ID had already been flagged as invalid.

Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan stepped in as well, formally raising Miller’s case with the federal government.

Miller provided Daily Hive a copy of the letter dated June 30, in which Kwan wrote directly to Minister François-Philippe Champagne, asking that CRA fix the mistake immediately, restore her pension, and ensure all missed payments were sent without delay.

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On June 30, Miller received the call she’d been waiting for.

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NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the bill was delayed in the last session of Parliament by the Liberals' failure to act in a timely fashion and a Conservative filibuster that stalled the House of Commons' work for months.

The court has given the government yet another extension, and it would be incumbent on this Parliament to make sure that legislation is passed, Kwan said.

The previous lost Canadians citizenship bill died on the order paper when the House prorogued earlier this year. The Senate was engaged in an early study of the legislation to help it become law quickly.

The new legislation, Bill C-3, proposes giving automatic citizenship to anyone denied citizenship under the current law.

It also would establish a new framework for citizenship by descent going forward. The legislation proposes Canadian citizenship could be passed down to people born abroad, beyond the first generation, if their parents spent a cumulative three years in Canada before the child's birth or adoption.

Those were the two primary goals of the original lost Canadians bill.