SAVE SOCIAL HOUSING AT LITTLE MOUNTAIN
As of July 2009, over 200 homes sit empty at Little
Mountain. Vancouver’s oldest social housing complex - 224 homes on
15 acres beside Queen Elizabeth Park - is slated for redevelopment. The
publicly owned site is being sold to the highest bidder, who will want
expensive market housing. Tenants are being pressured to leave so the
developer gets ‘vacant possession’, even though construction won’t start
before 2010. 1, 2, and 3-bedroom apartments are vacant while
thousands in Vancouver are homeless and dying in our streets, parks, and
alleys. A well-functioning community where people have supported each
other for decades is being destroyed. Their former homes could be
temporary housing for hundreds of adults and children in desperate need.
Instead, our governments have decided to demolish habitable
buildings as they become vacant!
It is a scandal to leave homes empty while thousands of
people sleep on our streets.
Tell our governments:
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· Stop needless displacements
and let remaining families relocate on site during construction of
the promised social housing.
· Re-open vacant homes to
families in need of housing.
· No bulldozing
of any homes until construction is ready to
begin.
· Increase the amount of
social housing at Little Mountain and keep all housing
non-market.
· Keep public land public –
No sale of public land to private interests.
· Implement a comprehensive
housing program. We need
immediate action at all levels of government to build housing
accessible for people of all income
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More than 30 pieces added to Outdoor Gallery
for Affordable Housing
Vancouver—On January 11 more than 30 artists
participated in the Little Mountain Art-In 2nd Edition. The
results included:
- a family portrait and two other pieces by a
former resident of Little Mountain Housing, to be mounted on the
apartment the family occupied 20 years ago
- a giant PAID stamp designed by art students from
the Emily Carr Institute, which elicited a variety of intriguing
interpretations
- a series of six silhouettes by Tiko Kerr which
cover the entire lower section of a building facing Ontario
Street
- delightful children’s art
- a depiction of the lights coming back on in a
vacated building
- an elaborate, striking political cartoon
depicting the artist’s concept of Little Mountain financing
- many, many more colourful, lively statements in
favour of affordable housing
To see the assembled art, go to the corner of
Ontario Street and 33rd Avenue. Look along Ontario Street to
37th Avenue, and along 33rd to the two buildings
facing each other across a grassy (or snowy) expanse. Much of the art will
be mounted on the weekend of January 17 – 18.
To offer to contribute more art,
email
calmhousing@hotmail.com or call
604-325-7209.
NEWS COVERAGE OF THE ART-IN ON DECEMBER 7TH
Vancouver Sun Gallery, Dec
7th
The Straight, Dec 7th
24hrs, Dec 8th
Metro, Dec 8th
The Province, Dec 8th
The Province, Dec
15th
Between the Cracks Magazine
24hrs, Dec 16th
There has also been good
coverage on CBC tv (news at 6), CTV, City TV (Breakfast Television), and
CBC radio (the Early Edition).
Artwork that was censored by BC
Housing following the Art-In.... link
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