I mentioned a little while ago that I was concerned the city could close my apartment building for criminal activity or repairs not being done.  Already one apartment building in East Vancouver and several residential hotels "SRO" (single room occupancy, had been closed down.  Residents are/were given three hours to collect up their things and get out.  Temporary shelter was found for one to three days, then they were told they would have help "relocating".

This terrifies me.  I realize the city is looking for more space to build accommodations for the Olympics.  Poverty is an ugly and unpleasant sight and they want it gone, or at the very least swept under the rug for the duration.  They have two more years in which to accomplish this.  So the poor need to be relocated, quickly, minimal fuss, and land needs to be found for the city to build what it needs to live up to their "world-class" promises.

There was a storm last night.  The rain came down in a deluge and the wind was furious, the kind of storm that took the roof off my sister's North Vancouver home last year.  She too was relocated, but ownership of the house remained my sister's and she was relocated to a very nice house while repairs were made.  She was given ample help keeping the property secure and moving out her belongings to the rental home.  Not so for the residents of an apartment building one block away from my building.  Same age building as mine, probably the same owner, a nearly 60 unit building full of tenant in the lowest tax bracket.  Families, elderly, disabled, addicts, recovering addicts, the entire strata that call this neighbourhood home.

The roof which was supposed to be repaired could not stand up to the storms and collapsed sending a veritable waterfall through the apartments on the west side of the building.  Tenants tried in vain to manage the damage to their apartments with buckets, pots and pans.  The damage was assessed by the fire department as unsafe, fearing short circuits and further collapse.  The tenants were given three hours to collect their stuff and get out, leaving behind what the could not carry.  Rooms were found at motels, emergency stays will be covered by the city for three days, then the city will "relocate" the tenants.  The building will not be habitable again according to the news.  However my sister's house was made habitable again and she moved back in.

I passed by the building today while walking the dog and it was silent, no kids playing around and coming home for lunch as was usual.  Their bicycles are still there, pull wagons and other today on the lower balconies sit left as they were yesterday. I noticed no security, makes for easy pillage. The side of the building not damaged by the roof collapse is in the same shape my building is in.  I worry, a lot.  If this building were closed down, with no vacancies in my price range in Vancouver, just exactly where are they relocating people?  Not something I see on the news as a follow-up.

It doesn't seem to concern anyone that these people have lives rooted in this community.  This is where they go to school, have friends, shop, socialize.  Wit little money a sense of community is even more important.  I have lived in this apartment for seven years, with rental availability being what it is, if I lose this apartment in all likelihood the next place I am moved to will be worse, and more than likely outside of this city, away from my doctor, my family, my community.  We're not people who have insurance to cover these eventualities.  I am not understanding why the building repairs cannot be made, charged to the owner and the tenants, who pay their rent, stay put and the few who were displaced, given the option to move back in after repairs or not.

I get ther feeling what the city wants, the city gets, the city wants us moved away, they want to take over these properties and use them as part of their 2010 Olympic overhaul.  The statistics will say that the city got rid of most of their poverty and homelessness, because they will be "relocated" to other communities and it will become their statistic and the major will look like some kind of hero.

Eventually if this kind of callous relocation does not stir up any outrage it opens the way for abusing the poor by using them in forced labour, putting people in cramped poorhouses,  The poor can't fight back, they have no lawyers, no legal aid.  We have to accept what we are given, causing a ruckus over it might cause a sudden loss of paperwork, who knows, they are holding all the cards.

While publicly the government claims more housing for the poor will be made available I am not seeing it, what I am seeing is a sharp reduction of housing using as they continue to close these older buildings.  More people will be living on couches ad in rooms and the city will consider that "housed" in their statistics, absolving them from having to provide any further emergency shelter. Since when is a room with shared bath and no cooking facilities a "home"? A home is a place of your own where you can have privacy, feel secure and live with dignity.  Chopping up families into different shelters and kids ending in foster care while the parents try desperately to put it all back together is not relocating or housing anyone.  This just heaps trauma on top of trauma.  Why then is anyone surprised that mental illness is higher among the poor, it should be, they've earned it.  They are hurting and the community is indifferent and even manages to make a profit out of their misery.  Bastards. If I am wrong, prove it, because what I see around me and have been experiencing after being mugged and with bedbug scares and the building manager terrified the city will also close us down, what I see is not a benevolent government but a tyranny which makes cynical references to the unfortunate.  Their unofficial policy is kick 'em while they are down. The public is being sold that the poor are overwhelmingly criminal and lazy, which is not a true representation but it keeps the public from questioning these policies.  The poor are made up of the disabled, the elderly, poor families, new immigrants, there are children, grandmothers and lots of family pets.

MLA demands action on run-down building
CKNW, Canada - 4 hours ago
VANCOUVER - The local MLA is demanding the city or province do something about that rain-soaked three-storey apartment building at Pandora and Lakewood in ... ci

Heavy rain reveals dangerous leaks
Vancouver Sun,  Canada - 11 hours ago
VANCOUVER - City officials removed more than 50 people from a rundown east-side Vancouver apartment Thursday after ordering it closed immediately because ...

City shuts down apartment building
The Province, Canada - 13 hours ago
Authorities moved about 50 low-income residents from "shameful" living conditions in east Vancouver last night after declaring their building "unsafe to ...

Vancouver police charge 38 alleged drug dealers
Vancouver Sun,  Canada - 45 minutes ago
He said gangs are involved in supplying street-level dealers, with many high-level drug traffickers living an affluent lifestyle of fancy cars and high-end ...

Downtown Eastside loses 76 rental units
Georgia Straight, Canada - 11 Oct 2007
According to popular folklore, an early Vancouver madam by the name of Marie Gomez once owned a place on this site where weary loggers and travellers sought ...

http://www.straight.com/article-114473/un-examines-homelessness
http://www.straight.com/article-113542/downtown-eastside-loses-76-rental-units