An Olympic Problem

Will Vancouver’s open house force the homeless off the streets of the Downtown Eastside?

Vancouver has been hard at work beautifying the city for the Olympic Games but the Downtown Eastside (DTES) still looks the same.

No matter where you are downtown, the problem is evident. Vancouver has a visible homeless and drug problem in the DTES. It has already attracted the attention of international media networks such as the BBC.

On September 18, Arlene Gregorius, of the BBC, wrote an article that depicted the DTES neighbourhood as “a sewer of humanity” as well as “the worst slum in Canada.”

However, homelessness has been a problem for other Olympic hosting cities like Sydney and Atlanta. During the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games the New South Wales State Labor Government and the Sydney City Council followed through with plans to remove the homeless from the city in order to create an artificial sanitary presentation.

Although their efforts to hide the homeless during the Olympic Games were successful, the New South Wales government and Sydney City Council failed to create a definite long term solution to their homeless problem.

Even though it is extremely difficult to assess the number of homeless people in the DTES, there is evidence that the homelessness problem is getting worse.

“It is known that wait lists for social and supported housing have increased significantly, shelters are operating over-capacity, and evictions are on the rise,” says Dr. Michelle Patterson, an active participant of the 2008 Vancouver homeless count and a professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.

“The fact that services and supports for homeless people are experiencing such pressure corroborates findings from previous one-day counts that homeless numbers are increasing significantly. Studies in other Canadian cities have shown that families and children are the fastest-growing populations among the homeless.”

“Hiding homeless people outside of the city will not address the problem of homelessness,” says Patterson. “This community is very resistant to being swept under the carpet. Addressing its plight involves acknowledging and accepting its scope, and taking concrete steps to address it.”

Critics of the 2010 Olympics now have reason to suspect that Vancouver is attempting to follow the examples of the past and sweep the homeless under the rug. Last month, the B.C. government confirmed a legislative plan that allows police to force homeless people off the streets during periods of extreme weather like freezing rain and snow.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association, along with other oppositional voices, was quick to respond to the government’s proposed law.

“Last year, on thousands of occasions, individuals were turned away from emergency shelters because the shelters were full,” said Robert Holmes, President of BCCLA.
“The government ought properly to focus upon providing necessary social services to those most in need instead of thinking up ways of treating the poor like criminals.“

According to a BCCLA newsletter issued on Sept. 22, Vancouver has 1,300 shelter spaces available during the cold weather season whereas the last homeless count put Vancouver’s street homeless population just over 1,500 people.

Rich Coleman, B.C.’s Minister of Housing, responded to the public outcry on an episode of The Current, aired Sept. 24 on CBC radio. Coleman reassured civil right defenders and government critics that the homeless will not be forced off the streets during the Olympic Games. Furthermore, Coleman states that during the periods of extreme weather, the homeless that are sleeping on the street will be advised to accompany an officer to the closest homeless shelter.

During the same interview on The Current, Coleman also denied that Vancouver’s homelessness is getting worse.

He insisted that his, “government has invested more money than any government in the history of this country per capita. There’s never been any jurisdiction anywhere that has a more aggressive housing strategy and investment in housing than Vancouver. I think visitors [during the Olympic Games] are going to find that this city doesn’t have the homelessness that that media wants to trumpet.”

Vancouver City Councillor Geoff Meggs has faith in Rich Coleman and the B.C. government’s plan to aid the homeless.

“Since this Vancouver City Council had been re-elected in 2008, we have been working with the provincial government to a solution to the homeless problem and making sure that not one of the homeless will be dislocated during the Olympic Games,” says Meggs.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested by the government in order to expand on housing and aid for the homeless in Vancouver.”
Despite the millions of dollars invested into social housing and government aid, it is expected that the Olympics will have a significant impact on the lives of the homeless. Vancouver will be drastically altered to accommodate the athletes, the festivities and Olympic ceremonies but what is the expected fate of the homeless in the Downtown Core?

“Traffic patterns and space will be altered,” says Meggs. “There will be changes that will make things difficult for the homeless.

“For example, B.C. place will be fenced off and the premises will not be accessible to the general public. The homeless people who live in the area will be forced to find shelter somewhere else. But there will be groups closely working with the homeless and, of course, business in the area will be big.”
The city claims to be calculating for the expected turmoil but their main focus is undoubtedly centered on turning an economic profit during the Olympic Winter Games.

For years, homelessness has been a prominent problem in Vancouver but there is no way to completely fix this problem in time for the Olympics.

What will happen to the homeless during the Olympics is a, “dangerous question and, at the moment, it’s anyone’s guess,” says Patterson. “If the Olympics left a legacy of affordable housing and galvanized efforts to provide housing and supports for people who are homeless with addictions and mental illness, the results would be positive and constructive rather than divisive.”