Activist says B.C. should be building housing, not Downtown Eastside "propaganda" centre
One homeless person, on average, dies every 11.4 days in B.C., according to housing activist and Olympic critic Am Johal.
Citing figures from the B.C. Coroners Service, Johal said in a news release that 96 homeless individuals have died in the province between 2006 and 2008.
The chair of the Impact on Communities Coalition rolled out these numbers a day after the B.C. Liberal government and the City of Vancouver opened on February 1 a centre in the Downtown Eastside that will provide foreign journalists covering the 2010 Olympics with information about this impoverished part of town.
Called Downtown Eastside Connect, the centre is located in the new Woodward’s development, and its opening day was met with a protest by anti-poverty and housing activists.
Johal dismissed the putting up of the centre as a mere public-relations exercise.
“For the government to be engaging in public relations such as the new information centre they set up is a perfect example of how the Olympics have been an attack on civil society in this province,” Johal said in the release.
Johal also criticized the opportunity costs of one-time Olympic spending. These include $900 million for security, $500,000 for city uniforms, and $300,000 for event tickets.
“The money spent for this propaganda kiosk by B.C. Housing is beyond comprehension since it is the public agency responsible for building housing—they should be building housing, not investing in propaganda,” Johal said.
Johal’s release noted that, based on the figures released by the B.C. Coroners Service, the cities of Vancouver and Victoria had the most deaths, at 21 and 18 respectively. Sixty-two of the 96 deaths over the three year period involved street homeless people.
Of the 96 deaths, 77 were male and 19 were female. The average age of those who died was 45, according to the release.
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Comments
Or, to rephrase (in a sarcastic manner, for all those who have issues with subtlety):
Who the hell cares if a homeless person dies every 11 days? How often do non-homeless people die? I'm fairly certain it's more often than one per eleven days, so by the logic in this article we should say f*ck the homeless, save the senior-citizen cheeseburger choffing fatcats! they're dying way faster than the homeless!
Morons.
I stopped reading here. Why is it every-time I see an article in this publication that has either Olympics or Activist it is an article filled with half truths?
You can't solve homelessness with more funding. PERIOD. If you give them all the services in the world, you make it OK for more people to become homeless. I know a bunch of these people are mentally challenged... these are the exception. There is also a good chunk of those 2500 who don't want to work a regular job, don't want to do their fair share of the work, they just can't hack it. And if that's the life that you CHOOSE to live... maybe 45 is long enough.
no need to protest or get tasered by some insane cop its safe lawful and will do what needs to be done.
The crude death rate for Canada is pretty stable at 7 per thousand. According to the Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness the Homeless population of Vancouver is somewhere over 2500. If there are 21 deaths in a population of 2500 over three years that looks like somewhere around 60% lower than average.
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This must be BC Liberal math.
Applying a national average rate that is calculated from the entire population of all ages to a very particular and quite unrepresentative sub-group such as this can be misleading. If this population is concentrated in the years from 20 to 60, the crude figure of 7 per thousand would normally be too high, unless other risk factors raised their mortality.
The average age at death, 45, is more meaningful in terms of assessing the degree of risk. What other group of non-elderly adults dies on average at age 45? Over stressed investment bankers and hot-shot real estate promoters, perhaps? I rather think not.
I want to thank Investment for stating in a clear and emphatic voice the real attitudes and values of the governments and parties of Premier Gordon M. Campbell and Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper. It's good to see the "base" coming out of the shadows and standing in the clear light of day, so that everyone can see for themselves what's at stake.
Rod Smelser
Investment seems to be missing that thing that makes us human -- compassion. The MAJORITY of homeless people have mental illness and NOBODY wants or deserves to die at 45. Solving homelessness is not rocket science. It's a matter of political will. All we need to do is build homes and put the supports in them to help people be successful.
Obviously "Investment" doesn't refer to investment in people....
There is a huge social stigma towards mental illness in our society that prevents much effort or funding to care for people that are so hurt and despondent that they can't function well.
Ask the police what most of their efforts are in this region and they'll tell you it is in regard to mental disfunction, yet the answer to the problem from the decision makers is to increase the police budget.
Miguel