City
The Vancouver Poverty Olympics
There are the Vancouver Olympics, and there are the Vancouver Anti-Olympics. In this divided city we have two torches and two sets of mascots running around town. With days to go before the opening of the 2010 Olympic Games, yesterday (Sunday, Feb. 7th 2010) Vancouver hosted the third annual Vancouver Poverty Olympics.
Between 600 and 700 people took in the Poverty Olympics held in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside at the Japanese Hall on Alexander Street to watch "events" titled Wrestling for Community, the Housing Hurdles and the Broken Promise Slalom. Present at the Games were The Poverty Olympics' 12-foot-tall, 200-pound torch (which just spent a week making its way around Greater Vancouver) and Poverty Olympic mascots (a rat, a cockroach and a bedbug).
Volunteers from the Carnegie Community Action Project took to the stage to lead the singing of the Poverty Anthem at Sunday's event:
Oh Canada
Our home on Native land
A billion for security
Instead of building homes
Olympic spending has gone sky high
While thousands sleep outside
From far and wide
Oh Canada
Invite the world to see
A quarter million souls
Poor and freezing cold
Oh Canada, where is e-qual-i-ty
Oh Canada, we are ashamed of thee
The Poverty Games are in protest to the billions of dollars spent on the upcoming Olympic Games - money many believe could have funded social housing for the homeless and drug-addicted in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside community (DTES). Messages included "Homes Not Games" and "End Poverty."
The Poverty Olympics Organizing Committee is made up of concerned citizens and community groups who favour ending poverty and homelessness over hosting the Olympic Games, including Raise the Rates, DTES Neighbourhood House, Carnegie Community Action Project, BC PWA, Streams of Justice and VANDU.
The Downtown Eastside has made international headlines as media have turned their focus on Vancouver leading up to the Games. The Seattle Times, New York Times, USA Today and other major media outlets have shared images and stories of the city's major blemish.
With issues like HIV and AIDS, mental illness, homelessness and drug addiction overshadowing athletic glory, not only will Vancouver hopefully be forced to take care of its own, but the world will be forced to reassess the importance of an event that nearly cripples its host cities.
Several anti-Olympic groups are planning to hold rallies on February the 12th, the same day the official Olympic Games begin. The Georgia Straight has set up a guide to local anti-Olympic protests.
These great photos were taken by Streams of Justice and Goh Iromoto on Flickr.
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Do they really have to be against each other? Isnt is possible for someone to to support the development of sport and housing the homeless?
I realize I have just enraged most readers of the blog. Let me just say I dont really support the olympics. Could I have voted at the time I would have voted no. But to say that the olympic money would solve homelessness is probably untrue.
I am still a believer that more money will not solve homelessness. The easier life is for the homeless the more people would become homeless. I am not saying we should take any funding away, but I think the funds should be better spent.
Anyone wanna take a stab at how much money was spent on the DTES from 2000-2009? The globe and mail says $1.4 billion. Yet from 2002 - 2008 the number of homeless in Vancouver went from 2100 - 5300, making the average number of homeless for that time somewhere around 3700.
$1.4 billion / 9 years = $155.5 million / year
$155.5 million / 3700 people = 42K per person per year
I dont know about you but if someone gave me 42K/year I could live very comfortably on that. I am not saying they get that money directly, but you would think with that kind of cash they could get all these people into homes. Afterall rent on a 1 bed in vancouver is about 1K which would leave 20-25K for other stuff and maybe 5-10K for the people who help them.
What im trying to say is lack of funding is not the problem. I dont know what the solution is. Something to do with helping the mentally ill would be a start, oh wait, they closed riverview, I wonder how much they saved then vs what the extra costs are now. Something tells me it doesnt seem so budget friendly now.
Anyway: Olympics, waste of money? Hell yes. Would that money have ended homelessness? I dont think so.
This is all about the poverty industry making money off of the homeless. Something readers of this and other socialist blogs fail to realize. Time for a reality check!
So you are saying that people make money off of poverty? I would agree. What do you think we should do to make sure more help gets to those who need it instead of getting money into other peoples pockets?
Homes SHOULD BE a right for everyone.
It's embarassing that homelessness is such a major issue in this city.
The massive $$$ that has gone into the olympics could OF COURSE have created housing options thus lessening the impact that severe poverty has had on this community.
Honestly, I think some people would simply resent the low cost housing because their own rent/mortgage costs are through the roof.
@davers
We've all heard the philosphy behind "if you allow people to be bums, they'll ALL be bums", but this is so untrue I can't believe anyone outside of a campus still spews such crap.
Don't be so naive. The proof is in the pudding. Davers outlined it exactly and yet you still want to look at this through the wonder world of tunnel vision. Give me $42,000 a year and I'll move to buttfuck Manitoba and live quite well. Hell I'll own a home quicker than most in this city ever will.
Living in Vancouver is not a right, it is a privilege. Once you get that through skull, you will understand the cosmic forces of the world.
"Living in Vancouver is not a right, it is a privilege. Once you get that through skull, you will understand the cosmic forces of the world."
Sure...tell that to the homeless who came here via ONE WAY TICKETS doled out by Alberta's politicians to get them off of their streets.
These people aren't trash and clearly the old ship-them-off-to-anywhere-but-here method doesn't work.
Re: your home in buttfuck Manitoba: if you're that much of a lazy opportunistic ass, you may want to rethink your own value system.
I agree that the money wouldn't end homelessness on its own and the closure of Riverview was a dumb move. I think this population might be better served if all the fragmented organizations and groups trying to tackle the issue would work more together and share resources, brain power and energy instead of trying to do their own thing.
I will always have a soft spot for Olympic Games, as a sporting event that promotes hope, pride and dreams for youth. But I also do know that all this cash put into the Olympics would sadly never have all gone towards one single issue or need. That being said, it is still interesting to fathom what could be...: http://www.matthewgood.org/2010/02/the-what-ifs/
Idea for a future Games?
Why can't they circulate the Olympic Games amongst the handful of cities that have already hosted it and built the venues and infrastructure to do so?
Kate
Homes ARE a right for everyone. There is no one in Vancouver who doesnt have the right to own or rent their own home. Thats like saying pizza should be a right for everyone. It is, but it's not free.
Lets take this to an extreme to see if I can make my point. If you could earn the same amount of money you have now and not have to work, would you? Most people would say yes. The easier it is to be homeless the more people will likely become homeless. Most people dont intentionally become homeless, but if they do and find it is really easy, do you think they will work very hard to get back to supporting themselves again?
I dont mean to say being homeless is easy (search "streets of plenty" on youtube and decide for yourself) but the easier it is, the less incentive there is to get back on your feet. You might read this as "we should take away all homeless support," but that isnt what I said.
jenn
Re: the what ifs,
I wonder what number he used for the cost of the games. I have heard they cost around 6 billion. I also heard 4 billion of that went to stuff like the sea to sky and the skytrain. You know, stuff that will still be useful after the games are gone. I also have no idea how much we got from ticket sales and sponsorship. What I'm saying is, I have no idea how much the games actually cost.
And "Why can't they circulate the Olympic Games amongst the handful of cities that have already hosted it and built the venues and infrastructure to do so?"
Because 1 olympics is enough of a headache for a town. Not that it isnt a good idea, but it puts a hole in my argument that the olympics are never coming back so we should all just try and enjoy it.
No, Moron. It's not like saying pizza is a right for everyone...but FOOD is.
Jesus - it's like there's a bunch of fucking Americans posting here.
Kate:
Just because something is a right doesnt make it free. There is no law that says certain people dont get shelter. I agree shelter is a right for everyone, but I have the right to a lot of things that I dont have. I have the right to own a Ferrari (as long as I drive it the speed limit) but that doesnt mean I get a free Ferrari.
I am not saying people should be forced to sleep in the streets, I am just pointing out that housing is a right for everyone. You said "Homes SHOULD BE a right for everyone," but they already are.
if homes is a right for everyone ,the flip side to the is that everone who chooses to take responcability for themselfes is also repsonsable for (providing that right )life is not easy for everyone ,getting up to go to work every morning sucks .homes must be paid for thae takes money from joe average.its not the goverments money it comes from all the rest of us .if people get bent out of shape because the attitude of some that they have the right to homes under all circumstances ,its not hard to understand
i think most people would be willing to support diability claims and the old age ...just my perspective
I am ashamed at my countries ability to sell out the canadian indigenous by avoiding poverty issues and exploiting our arts and young talents.
The young talented Indigenous did a fantastic job I assume. We are still a proud nation of people living in a country that has shunned us. Now they call us to take action to prove to the rest of the world they are not taking our land and natural resources without our approval. Not to mention the genocide commited againt aboriginal canadians over the last 100 plus years.
I am also ashamed that our mascots are asian kids fantasy and not something out of the canadian reality.
Miga the sea bear can kiss my brown ass.