_ iEE-donatieBie ~ SEPTEMBER
NEWSLETTER
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1, 2020
carnn~ws@vcn.bc.ca
401 Main Street Vancouver Canada V6A 2T7 (604) 665~2289
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B.C. Tenants Report Deteriorating Mental Health, Going Hungry, and Fears About Making Rent VANCOUVER With the province-wide ban on evictions for nonpayment of rent set to end Sept 1st, the Vancouver . Tenants Union (V'I'Ujsurveyed 400 renters about their rent situations and their overall well-being. The results were alarming. . A significant number of all respondents (63%) re~orted experiencing increased mental health Issues (high anxiety, insomnia, depression) related specifically to their housing precarity. Despite government programs like Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERE)
and the B.C. Temporary Rent Supplement (TRS), 32% of respondents reported having to borrow, use credit, or dip into savings in order to maintain rent payments. And, although there was no specific question about food in the survey; 28% of written responses describ~d sacrificing basic nutrition or going hungry m order to maintain rent payments. "Premier Horgan stated in March that nobody would lose their home as a result of COVID19 " said VTU volunteer Mazdak Gharibnavaz. "But rents are so .high that, even with financial supports, renters are sacrificing the bas.ics. going hungry, and those who have fallen behind are
still at risk of eviction because the protections are being withdrawn." When the provincial moratorium on evictions began in March, the province instructed renters to keep paying rent, if they could afford to. The VTU's survey reveals that a significant number of tenants are suffering immensely - economically, mentally, and physically - so that landlords can continue to be paid in full. The province has reported that 15% of.renters have accrued some level of rent debt, and has created a framework for repayment to landlords in installments, starting in October. Survey respondents who reported falling into rent debt identified themselves .as workers from across the income spectrum in sectors hardest hit by the pandemic - tourism, hospitali-
ty, small business, and the film industry. 69% of those in rent debt do not believe they can afford to begin paying down their debt by October. 32% of all respondents believed that they were at risk of falling into rent debt once government supports like CERB end. The YTU has been campaigning since March to keep B.c. 's eviction ban and rent freeze in place for the remainder of the pandemic. The VTU has also called on the province to forgive accrued rent debts in order to protect tenants who have been hardest hit and to avoid an evictions crisis. You can find the full report and survey results here: w"Ww.NoRentDebt.ca To connect with a representative ofthe VTU for comments, contact: Mazdak Gharibnavaz - 604-771-2539
Oppenheimer Park Totem Pole It seems to me that when someone dies it is the responsibility of those of us who are left to offer caring for that life for that death in the intensity of the love that reaches out from the unendurable loneliness of our separation.
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So did First N tions people, with their friends and allies, raise a totem pole in Oppenheimer Park on June 6, 1998, to remember the community of those who have died in the Downtown Eastside, and so did they rededicate themselves to the struggle for hope and for justice from one generation to another.
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Sandy Cameron
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A gathering in Oppenheimer Park was to remember the people, now in the thousands, who have died of overdose. In the 1990's the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users formed, health and justice allies kept fighting for a change in the way drug use is dealt with and Insite was opened. There has never been a fatality at North America's first & only supervised injection site. Now, nearing the end of2020, overdose deaths are obscene with 175 in one month. A demand for a safe supply is being heard but users are still one bad dose away from dying with toxic chemicals in the street drugs. Decriminalisation and treatment options are directly linked to safe and decent housing. Profit cannot be the bottom line.
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COMMUNITY
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Updated July 2020
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Monday............ 1rllesday
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the Library -
On August 11 the Camegie branch of the VPL re-opened, albeit in a very truncated form. Currently, we are set up in the theatre Tuesday to Saturday, from noon to 4pm. We have a small selection of books and DVDS to lend out, and we hope to expand our services and hours over the following weeks. Additionally, we have extended borrowing periods with no overdue fines, It's been a long, and challenging, few months. On behalf of everyone at the Carnegie branch, we have missed you dearly and look forward to seeing you in the theatre! Daniel
5th Annual SANDY CAMERON MEMORIAL WRITING CONTEST The talents and resourcefulness of Downtown Eastside writers and poets, regardless of where you reside, are extraordinary. Please consider sharing your work with others through this event. Categories of poetry. and non-fiction essay will have cash prizes, given at a special event during the Heart of the City Festival in November. For contest guidelines and entry form, either pick up an envelope at the Food Service window on Camegie's 1st floor or email carnnews@shaw.ca for a virtual copy .. Deadline for entry is noon, September 15,2020
Carnegie Community Centre Association Nomination Meeting for positions on the Board of Directors *be a member for 60 days prior to AGM *be a registered volunteer * 30 hours volunteer work in Carnegie
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MAr" PRo 8/..{;!1/
12 noon, September 3, Carnegie Theatre