Solutions for homelessness offered to City

Three young authors had plenty of advice to offer the City of Vancouver on how to address the growing issues of a lack of affordable housing and a growing homelessness crisis yesterday.

The authors were winners of an essay contest held by Pivot Legal Society that challenged entrants to think outside the box on how to solve one of the most pressing issues facing the City of Vancouver: the future of housing in the Downtown Eastside.

“These essays represent real and pragmatic solutions to homelessness and the future of the Downtown Eastside,” said David Eby, who heads Pivot Legal Society’s Housing Campaign. “But more importantly they represent the possibility that creative thinking and collaboration could help Vancouver solve some pretty challenging problems.”

A panel of high-profile judges, including Cameron Gray of the City of Vancouver Housing Department, Nick Blomley, Professor of Urban Geography at SFU, and developer Robert Brown, evaluated the entries for creative thinking, the practicality of the recommendations, and whether or not the proposals drew from successful models in other jurisdictions.Key proposals from the essays included:

• A “master lease” program, modeled on a program in San Francisco, where the city pays the capital cost for half of a new build of social housing units, and leases the remaining units from a developer funded by private capital, capital secured by the half of the units paid for by the city. In the alternative, the City could lease existing operating SRO buildings from operators to ensure continued access to those most vulnerable to homelessness. Rents could help offset City costs.

• A “homeless connect” program, modeled on another San Francisco program, where government and non-government organizations gather in a single location to help homeless people get basic services like replacement identification, eyeglasses and medical care.

• Employing the recently homeless in building social housing to help build skills and self-esteem.

• Incorporating economic rights, like a right to housing and a living wage, into our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

• Considering the issuing of a special development bond by the City for the benefit of the DTES, where individuals could invest in ensuring socially sustainable and mixed income construction, instead of forcing the City to rely on private investment and developers for revitalization of the area.

Click here to download the report

Pivot calls for inquest into death of homeless man

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 4, 2008

Pivot Legal Society is calling for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Darrell Mickasko, a homeless man who burned to death on January 31 trying to keep warm on the streets of Vancouver. Mr. Mickasko was burned three blocks away from the Lookout North emergency shelter, which was full that evening.

“The mandate of the Coroner’s Service in B.C. is to ensure that no death is ignored or overlooked, and to attempt to prevent similar deaths from taking place in the future,” said David Eby, a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society. “Darrell’s death was entirely preventable, and we don’t want the circumstances of his passing to be overlooked – this man died of homelessness.”

Mr. Mickasko was well known to Mr. Eby, and had stored his belongings for weeks in the parking garage below Pivot’s offices as he searched for a place to live. Eby recalls that Mickasko was in and out of housing in the year before his death. Just two weeks before he died, Mr. Mickasko said he had saved up some money for a damage deposit and asked Eby whether he knew of anywhere he could rent. Eby told him there was hardly anything available.

“This is not a case of someone who didn’t want to live inside,” says Eby. “Darrell and his partner were trying to keep from freezing to death in Vancouver’s streets at a time when our shelter system is grossly overburdened and inaccessible. He wanted and needed a home, and we all let him down.”

Pivot Legal Society has written to the Chief Coroner of the Coroner’s Service of British Columbia requesting that they conduct a formal inquest into Mr. Mickasko’s death. An inquest is a public hearing, with five jury members, where witnesses who have knowledge about a death provide evidence, and the jury makes recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

In circumstances where someone does not die in police custody, a public inquest is held only if the Coroner’s Service feels that media or public attention, or family concerns necessitate the holding of the hearing.

Donation offers blanket protection for the homeless

IAN BAILEY
The Globe and Mail
December 19, 2007
VANCOUVER -- It's a single blanket with two key functions. Rights Blankets handed out to the homeless yesterday are supposed to protect their owners from rain and cold as well as wrongful arrest or harassment.

At a community centre in the poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside yesterday, members of the Pivot Legal Society were handing out waterproof nylon blankets produced by Mountain Equipment Co-op as part of a unique charitable effort that has been in the works for more than a year.

The green blankets are designed to shield against the wet chill that's a rainy routine in Vancouver these days. But there's also a printed list of rights for the homeless on issues that include dealing with the police, security guards, health care, welfare officials and "rights in relation to panhandling."

"People who are homeless all too often are illegally moved along by security, by police, by property owners who don't want to see the homeless problem," Pivot lawyer David Eby told a news conference.

"Too often, their rights are violated by any number of people. Our goal is to educate homeless people around what their rights are so they feel they do have a place, that they are citizens in our society."

Mr. Eby acknowledged that many of the homeless who might wrap up in the blankets are illiterate, mentally ill or speak languages other than English, among reasons for not being able to comprehend the text. But he hoped others might explain the words, leading to discussions about rights.

Five hundred blankets have been produced, with 200 to be handed out yesterday. Pivot is urging the public to donate $50 to cover the $30 cost of producing new blankets. The $20 difference is to go into programs to help combat homelessness, such as protecting single-room-occupancy dwellings in the Eastside and lobbying for more government attention to homelessness.

Developing the blankets - a tactic inspired by a program in France that produced tents for the homeless - brought those involved up against some hard realities.

There was some thought to producing them in red or yellow so the users would be more visible. "But the feedback we received is people would be less likely to use them if it was a bright colour and drew attention to themselves for fear of being moved along by security or by police or by other private-property owners," Mr. Eby said.

"So the idea was to have it a colour that would blend in with the background to some extent, and provide that level of security to them."

Mr. Eby and supporters took blankets into the Christmas party at the LifeSkills Community Centre, gently interrupting clients working their way through plates of turkey with the trimmings. They explained what the undertaking was all about, suggesting the blankets would help users stay alive and protect their rights.

Former Toronto resident Donald Williams snapped one up, but noted he would pass it on to a friend. Mr. Williams, 48, said he was on social assistance and had a room.

Link to article

See also Blankets given to Vancouver homeless offer legal advice (CBC)

and

Blankets with message handed out to Vancouver homeless (Vancouver Sun)

Lawsuit won't help homeless, Plant says

Pivot Legal's challenge against city is a waste of energy, Civil City commissioner adds

SHANNON RUPP
Special to The Globe and Mail
November 8, 2007

VANCOUVER -- Vancouver's Civil City commissioner believes that a lawsuit against the city for damages due to its reluctance to enforce building and maintenance bylaws distracts government from solving the real problem - a lack of affordable housing that forces tenants into substandard buildings.

Geoff Plant was commenting on a lawsuit filed by David Eby of Pivot Legal Society on behalf of James McQueen, who lost his possessions and was left homeless when the city closed the Downtown Eastside hotel he occupied Feb. 28.

The city argues there is no legal basis for the suit because the Vancouver Charter states that: "The city ... inspecting buildings, utilities, or structure ... has no legal duty on which a cause of action can be based ... to ensure buildings ... comply with the bylaw."

Read the rest here

City shrugs off responsibility for rentals

City of Vancouver argues it doesn't have to inspect or order repairs for rental buildings, court told

SHANNON RUPP
November 6, 2007

The City of Vancouver is mystifying renters and at least one councillor by taking the position that it doesn't have to inspect or order repairs for rental buildings that don't meet safety standards.

The argument is part of Vancouver's defence in a B.C. Supreme Court case by James McQueen, a former resident of one of the single-resident-occupancy hotels on the city's notorious Downtown Eastside.

Mr. McQueen, who is represented by David Eby of Pivot Legal, is suing for damages, including the possessions he lost, when the city closed the Picadilly Hotel abruptly on Feb. 28. According to Mr. Eby, his client had been living in a substandard building for about a year and a half due to the lack of regular inspection and bylaw enforcement by the city.

"The city should have been there way earlier," Mr. Eby said.

Read the rest here.

Pivot Legal Society agrees to drop complaints against police

Vancouver Sun
Published: Tuesday, November 06, 2007

VANCOUVER - The Pivot Legal Society has agreed to withdraw the last of its complaints against the Vancouver police department after acknowledging that the department has made major changes to its policies and procedures.

On Monday, the police department apologized to 52 people who made their original complaints more than five years ago and said it regrets not having those procedures and policies in place at the time.

Police said the new policies, instituted between 2004 and 2006, have "marked a new era in police relations with the Downtown Eastside community marked by increased sensitivity, accountability and responsiveness."

The police said Pivot's complaints prompted the department to undertake training to educate recruits, in-service officers and supervisors "about their obligations and rights under the Police Act, as well as providing information about the activities that often result in complaints, means of avoiding complaints and the importance of notes and documentation in resolving complaints."

Link to article

Memo shows Vancouver can afford social housing, say critics
Last Updated: Thursday, June 28, 2007 | 1:44 PM PT
CBC News

A document obtained under freedom of information rules proves the City of Vancouver can afford to fulfil its commitment to public housing, public housing advocates say.

The Pivot Legal Society and 2010 Watch released an undated city memorandum on Thursday, which they say show the city will earn millions more than originally anticipated from redeveloping Southeast False Creek for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The memo from the project manager for the False Creek Olympic Village shows the city on track to net $64.5 million from development of the Olympic Village, which is now under construction.

Pivot spokesman David Eby said that's almost $15 million more than the earlier projected return of $50 million, and he wants the difference spent on low-income housing.

Read the rest here.
Read the memo here.

3400

Here is a two pager that presents a viable financial proposal for building 3400 new units of supportive housing in the city. When people in power say it just isn't possible because the money is there, this document challenges that stance. It is possible, and we should be advocating loudly for construction to begin now. Ending homelessness can be an Olympic legacy; we need everyone to press for it. This document is another piece in support of this possibility.

(Report from David Eby, Pivot Legal Society)

Going, Going... II

Press Release - For Immediate Release

City moves to close another SRO;
Pivot calls for use of initiative approved yesterday

Vancouver – The City of Vancouver is moving to close another low-income single room occupancy building, this time the Picadilly Hotel, also known as the Pender Place Hotel, located at 622 West
Pender Street. A notice to tenants from the City of Vancouver tells the building’s occupants that if the owners fail to remedy deficiencies in the building by February 28, 2007, the building will have to be vacated. The Picadilly has 39 rooms, 12 of which are currently occupied by low-income residents at high risk of homelessness. The remainder of the rooms remain empty because welfare has refused to issue cheques for tenants who wish to rent rooms there.

“The twelve tenants have been given 19 days notice of their potential eviction,” says David Eby, lawyer with the Pivot Legal Society. “While this is an improvement on the half hour eviction notice the Burns Block residents received, it is hardly the approach that we want the City to take in this type of situation.”

Yesterday evening, Vancouver’s city council instructed staff to identify a “test case” low-income building for use of the Standards of Maintenance By-law. This by-law permits City officials to enter
residential buildings and make repairs to ensure the safety of tenants, and then bill those repairs back to the owner of the building. A 1990 decision of the B.C. Supreme Court called Carline Holdings v. City of Vancouver determined that the City’s powers under this by-law are well founded in the Vancouver Charter, refuting a defendant’s argument that the by-law only permitted “cosmetic” repairs.

“The timing is perfect for the Picadilly to be the City of Vancouver’s building maintenance test case,” said Eby. “Instead of punishing the tenants by sending them out into the street, the City could punish the owner for letting this building fall into such disrepair by making the necessary repairs to ensure tenant safety and sending the owner a bill. It’s a win win situation: the tenants stay housed and the building is improved at no cost to the city.”

The tenants have been advised by the Notice to contact the Tenant Assistant Program of the City of Vancouver for assistance relocating. Eby says that this is no remedy at all. “The Burns Block residents were supposedly offered relocation as well, but several of my clients from that building were homeless for periods of days, weeks or months. The one tenant who was assisted was homeless for two days first. The rest had to find their own housing, and those that are housed now live in even worse buildings. At least one former Burns Block resident is still homeless.” The Burns Block building, which was closed by the city in March of 2006, would have been another perfect candidate for the new initiative. Unfortunately, instead of making the minimum necessary repairs and billing the owner, the City closed the building, sending the 18 residents from that building into the street with half an hour’s notice. The building is now up for auction and will be sold on March 1, 2007,the day after the scheduled closure of the Picadilly.

For more information contact:
David Eby – Pivot Legal Society – (778) 865-7997
“Al and Raj” – Operators of the Picadilly Hotel – (604)682-3221

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About Pivot Legal Society
Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to the Pivot Newswire, just send a note with that subject line to newswire@pivotlegal.org.