Rally: Public Housing for All
33rd Avenue and Ontario, Vancouver
4:00 - 6:00 pm
For more info FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/events/4261893577210190/
Rally and press conference: Housing for All
Join us Sept. 8 outside the vacant lot at Little Mountain for a press conference and rally demanding thousands of new units of public housing. We want all federal candidates running in this election to make clear their positions on rapidly expanding the amount and the percentage of publicly-owned high-quality housing in Vancouver.
Wednesday, Sept. 8, 4p.m. to 6p.m. at the corner of 33rd Ave. and Ontario St.
Bring a sign, and bring your family and friends. Please wear a mask and respect social distancing.
This event is the launch of a Housing for All campaign organized by the Democratic Socialists of Vancouver. We welcome endorsements and participation for all individuals and organizations that agree with our basic demands. Housing is a human right!
Housing For All: Our Basic Demands
1) Build Public Housing. Lots of it!
We demand from all levels of government the construction of, at a minimum, 5,000 units of new social and public housing per year in the City of Vancouver, and at least 15,000 per year in Metro Vancouver.
Across Canada, we need to see a massive investment in public housing. Since the early 1990s, Conservative and Liberal federal governments have disinvested in support for public, social and coop housing across Canada. This failure from the federal government is part of a larger trend towards privatization and disinvestment in public goods. We will never have the housing we need without reversing this trend.
2) Decomodify housing and protect renters.
It’s time to reverse the privatization of housing. Further, we demand public acquisition of private rental housing so that existing affordable units of rental housing can be protected. This, together with strong rent control, will undercut the speculative investments from landlords who are incentivized to evict or displace existing tenants, and it will remove the split-cost incentive that prevents necessary energy efficiency retrofits.
Expansion and retrofitting of newly-decommodified housing is a key part of any Green New Deal. It is possible to reverse the widespread privatization of existing social and public housing. In Berlin this month, a referendum is taking place to expropriate hundreds of thousands of apartments that used to be public housing. It’s time for dramatic public policy action to guarantee housing for all.
3)Enforce Housing as a Human Right: No more barriers to housing.
No more credit checks, arbitrary waitlists and other excuses. Housing is a human right and must be provided to all. Just as with the fight for universal health care, we must demand both the codification and the implementation of the human right to housing
Want to help out?
Here are things you can do, just for starters, to help us win Housing for All!
1. Talk to your neighbours and co-workers. Show them this webpage or the poster. We’ll win Housing for All one conversation at a time.
2. Put up some of our posters in your neighbourhood or at your workplace! Take a picture and share on social media with the hashtag #HousingForAll
3. Join the Vancouver Tenants Union! Renters are getting organized in this city. Join the VTU and find out about their neighbourhood chapters. If you own, or live in a housing co-op, you can donate to support the VTU. Info: https://www.vancouvertenantsunion.ca/
4. Tell your local MLA, MP, or city councillor you support the demands of Housing for All. Write them a letter, or better yet book a meeting to talk with them. We need all levels of government to deliver housing for all - no more letting politicians pass the buck!
5. Last but not least, you can sign up as a member of the Democratic Socialists of Vancouver, and get involved in our Housing for All working group. Join here: https://www.democraticsocialistsyvr.ca/join-us
