Vancouver becoming 'apartheid city' in housing crisis, says former UN rep

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Vancouver becoming 'apartheid city' in housing crisis, says former UN rep


10 years after he visited Vancouver for the UN, 'the situation has become worse,' says Miloon Kothari

CBC News Posted: Jun 05, 2017 4:17 PM PT Last Updated: Jun 05, 2017 4:17 PM PT


Miloon Kothari tours the 'Ten Year Tent City' in Vancouver, which was started in April 2017 on the same vacant lot where another tent city existed in 2007 that Kothari, as UN special rapporteur for housing, toured at that time. (Errol Richardson/CBC)


Vancouver is becoming an "apartheid city" in terms of the divide between rich and poor, said Miloon Kothari, the former UN special rapporteur for housing.

Kothari, who visited Vancouver a decade ago in that role, has returned to give several talks and spent Monday visiting the Downtown Eastside, Balmoral Hotel and the "Ten Year Tent City," which stood in the same place in 2007.

"I'm very disturbed to see that not much has changed. In fact, the situation has become worse," said Kothari.

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He was referring to the steep increase in homelessness in the city and region, alongside "unbridled speculation" of land and property.

Kothari said it was "shocking" that welfare rates haven't changed over the 10 years.

"It's sheer neglect," said Kothari, who lives in New Delhi.


Kothari tours the 'Ten Year Tent City' with resident Keya Archibolt. Last month, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled the homeless squat can stay, despite a city request for an injunction, because the safety of the occupants outweighs potential harm to the city. (CBC)

"When you look at Vancouver ... it seems to me very quickly becoming sort of an apartheid city, where it is not only off-limits ... to low income people and they're concentrated in one neighbourhood and a little bit across the city, but it's also increasingly out-of-limits for middle-class residents."

National housing strategy coming

Kothari said the housing problem requires co-ordination between municipalities, the province and Ottawa.

"I don't see steps being taken to control speculation," he said and was critical of the province's foreign buyers tax noting much speculation comes from Canadian buyers.

He is heartened the federal government has promised a national housing strategy and new money for housing.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, when asked about Kothari's comments, agreed that all levels of government need to work together, and called on the next provincial government to do more for housing.

He also echoed the anticipation for federal investment.
"We should see Ottawa step back in as a major partner in terms of funding," said Robertson on CBC Radio's The Early Edition.

"I'm looking forward to major changes to CMHC [Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation], and that they go back to their traditional role of creating housing rather than just doing some financing on the side."

"We need to see the province doing that as well," Robertson said.
Robertson said the city's role is approving increased density to create supply. Vancouver has also offered the B.C. government 20 city-owned properties worth about $250 million to build more social housing.

Kothari said he is meeting Tuesday with city officials.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...sing-1.4146672

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CBC interview with Miloon Kothari at 26:50 mark: http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/960768579669

[whatnext]

B-b-but we have bike lanes!

[Caliplanner1]

This observation/comment by the former U.N. rep could hurt Vancouver's ranking as a livable world class city.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by Caliplanner1

This observation/comment by the former U.N. rep could hurt Vancouver's ranking as a livable world class city.

Well to be a livable city, you must be able to live in it...

[connect2source]

There's really not a lot I can do with first-time-buyers with budgets of less than 600K, doesn't sound too livable to me.

[WarrenC12]

Holy shit. A guy who lives in New Delhi (which has slums on par with Rio), compares Vancouver to the racist policies of South Africa.

What an ass, and what an insult to the people who suffered under apartheid.

[Vin]

I thought Robertson was the one who said he could end homelessness like yesterday? Now he wants "all levels of government to work together"? Start delegating like he knows what he's is talking about after failing to fulfill a promise? Hmmm. Same thing with the issue regarding the viaducts removal: Robertson is also requesting funding from the BC government.

In reality, this UN rep is only getting over-dramatic criticizing about Vancouver's housing policies. How can someone judge to say our housing is in shambles when he is only shown illegal slums where spoilt people on welfare choose to get into such deplorable environments like living in makeshift tents and rat-infested Downtown Eastside slums? How many of these residents become what they are now because of domestic abuse or bad luck? All of them can become better but most choose not to. Even if they came from broken families, the root of the problem is cultural failure, and governments should be focusing on family counselling, and implementing work-based welfare systems, rather than providing more free housing for these people, which will never ever help with the situation.

I think the middle class consisting of hardworking people are still living well in this city. Although they are paying more for housing compared to residents of other Canadian cities, there is no comparison to the slums of places like Delhi or some other third world cities, where many can't get out of the situation even though they toil hard to seek work daily.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by Vin

I think the middle class consisting of hardworking people are still living well in this city. Although they are paying more for housing compared to residents of other Canadian cities, there is no comparison to the slums of places like Delhi or some other third world cities, where many can't get out of the situation even though they toil hard to seek work daily.

They're "living well" in Abbotsford and Chilliwack and driving four hours to and from work every day, essentially never seeing their family. Anyone who lives west of Langley is struggling now.

Although yes an Indian giving us shit is pretty funny.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Pinion

They're "living well" in Abbotsford and Chilliwack and driving four hours to and from work every day, essentially never seeing their family. Anyone who lives west of Langley is struggling now.

Although yes an Indian giving us shit is pretty funny.

It may have been pretty "funny" but it's largely very true. Just look at all the hoopla about the dynamic emergence of downtown Surrey ... then consider Tent City.

[BobLoblawsLawBlog]

-Only city in Canada that won't kill you in the winter because 2 degrees and rain is better than -13 with a blizzard

-All homeless people move to the place where they won't die

"Oh my god why does Vancouver have a homelessness crisis"

If this is the worst Canada has to offer then I think we are doing pretty well.

Also, what is this guy from New Delhi talking about. There a literally miles and miles of slums as far as the eye can see there and we have like a couple hundred tents lying around.

[casper]

Originally Posted by BobLoblawsLawBlog

-Only city in Canada that won't kill you in the winter because 2 degrees and rain is better than -13 with a blizzard

-All homeless people move to the place where they won't die

"Oh my god why does Vancouver have a homelessness crisis"

If this is the worst Canada has to offer then I think we are doing pretty well.

Also, what is this guy from New Delhi talking about. There a literally miles and miles of slums as far as the eye can see there and we have like a couple hundred tents lying around.

As it turns out he is not with the UN anymore. He is now the head of a non-profit based in Geneva called UPR Info, that as far as I can tell provides consulting to third world countries on what to do to score better on UN Human Rights rankings.

If he did an in-depths analysis of the local economic and housing system I might take him seriously. If he comes in from Geneva for a few days, spends a day visiting the downtown east side and giving a talk, who is going to take him seriously providing a professional view on the local housing problem and tax structure.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by BobLoblawsLawBlog

-Only city in Canada that won't kill you in the winter because 2 degrees and rain is better than -13 with a blizzard

-All homeless people move to the place where they won't die

"Oh my god why does Vancouver have a homelessness crisis"

If this is the worst Canada has to offer then I think we are doing pretty well.

Also, what is this guy from New Delhi talking about. There a literally miles and miles of slums as far as the eye can see there and we have like a couple hundred tents lying around.

Sounds like you are OK with what we have on our streets. Got used to it I see?

For me, it's a real shame seeing the appalling situation on our downtown streets, and no, we are not doing well at all. In fact, the situation is getting worse. It's even more daunting when I visit supposed "developing country" cities and they are starting to have cleaner inner city streets than what we have here. It's shameful especially when you see tourists in Vancouver staring in disbelief at people shooting up in public around the corner of major tourist belts, or zombie-like people flaying their arms about yelling their heads off. Some people pretend that it's normal but it is not. It is sickening.

It's never OK to take the negative effects of illicit drug use or other forms of addictions lightly. Doing that compounds the situation, and we see the result today.
Canada is a wealthy nation. No one is forced into homelessness due to their surroundings. There is always a way to get out of it if the individual really wants to. For those who can't or choose not to, authorities should step in and make them get better, not encouraging them to further their addictions.


See all the photos here and you tell me this is "normal":

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Drug+...w=1575&bih=974

[BobLoblawsLawBlog]

Originally Posted by Vin

Sounds like you are OK with what we have on our streets. Got used to it I see?

For me, it's a real shame seeing the appalling situation on our downtown streets, and no, we are not doing well at all. In fact, the situation is getting worse. It's even more daunting when I visit supposed "developing country" cities and they are starting to have cleaner inner city streets than what we have here. It's shameful especially when you see tourists in Vancouver staring in disbelief at people shooting up in public around the corner of major tourist belts, or zombie-like people flaying their arms about yelling their heads off. Some people pretend that it's normal but it is not. It is sickening.

It's never OK to take the negative effects of illicit drug use or other forms of addictions lightly. Doing that compounds the situation, and we see the result today.
Canada is a wealthy nation. No one is forced into homelessness due to their surroundings. There is always a way to get out of it if the individual really wants to. For those who can't or choose not to, authorities should step in and make them get better, not encouraging them to further their addictions.


See all the photos here and you tell me this is "normal":

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Drug+...w=1575&bih=974

I agree all I said was if this was the worst Canada had to offer, then we are doing far better than most places on earth. I didn't say we were perfect, all I said was we're going pretty well. At the same time, it's kinda strange that every Canadian party is so eager to help refugees when we could be putting that effort into helping our own homeless people first.

We could get a lot more homeless people off the streets with we put drug addicts in asylums/rehabs than insites (but not all homeless people are homeless because of drugs but a big fraction are)

[Aroundtheworld]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Holy shit. A guy who lives in New Delhi (which has slums on par with Rio), compares Vancouver to the racist policies of South Africa.

What an ass, and what an insult to the people who suffered under apartheid.

Agreed. When you say ridiculous hyperbolic things like that you lose all credibility in my book.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by BobLoblawsLawBlog

We could get a lot more homeless people off the streets with we put drug addicts in asylums/rehabs than insites (but not all homeless people are homeless because of drugs but a big fraction are)

I don't pretend to know what's best for the junkies, but enabling a drug addiction to prevent a death from infection or overdose seems to address the symptom rather than the actual problem; I'd rather spend money on ways to cure the addiction.

[casper]

Originally Posted by Vin

Sounds like you are OK with what we have on our streets. Got used to it I see?

For me, it's a real shame seeing the appalling situation on our downtown streets, and no, we are not doing well at all. In fact, the situation is getting worse. It's even more daunting when I visit supposed "developing country" cities and they are starting to have cleaner inner city streets than what we have here. It's shameful especially when you see tourists in Vancouver staring in disbelief at people shooting up in public around the corner of major tourist belts, or zombie-like people flaying their arms about yelling their heads off. Some people pretend that it's normal but it is not. It is sickening.

It's never OK to take the negative effects of illicit drug use or other forms of addictions lightly. Doing that compounds the situation, and we see the result today.
Canada is a wealthy nation. No one is forced into homelessness due to their surroundings. There is always a way to get out of it if the individual really wants to. For those who can't or choose not to, authorities should step in and make them get better, not encouraging them to further their addictions.


See all the photos here and you tell me this is "normal":

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Drug+...w=1575&bih=974

There are two or three separate issues at play in this thread.

Does someone who use to be an unpaid, independent consulted to a UN agency (the definition of what a special rapporteur is) is somehow an authority on housing in Vancouver? I think not. I would have more trust in the position of someone who has spent more than a few days trying to figure this out.

The other issues is the problem with the downtown eastside. It is a problem. No one should be forced to live in those conditions. The area needs to be cleaned up. The physical environment needs to be redeveloped. At the same time something needs to be done to create housing and medical treatment opportunities for the people who live there now.

There have been a lot of people (with non-profit and government resources) who have tried to do just that over the past decades. I assume some of it has had a positive impact but we are still where we are today. I am not certain there is an easy answer as to what to do.