For Immediate Release

October 16, 2007

 

 

 Carnegie Action Calls for Foreign Aid to Help Homeless

 

 

At 3:00 pm in Vancouver, the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) met with Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing and appealed to the United Nations to intervene on behalf of homeless people in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. 

 

CCAP coordinator Jean Swanson asked Kothari to "put as much pressure on the provincial and federal governments as he could to get them to build housing".  "We asked him if there's another country that could donate to housing for homeless people," said Swanson. "We're at our wits' end." (full presentation)

 

CCAP's letter to the Special Rapporteur outlines several ways that Canada and BC, two of the richest jurisdictions in the world, are violating the human rights of its poor and homeless residents.

 

During their discussion, CCAP submitted the letter requesting intervention below, plus details about the federal and provincial surpluses, the location of the locked up $250 Housing Endowment Fund, a backgrounder that challenges provincial homebuilding claims, an analysis of the Oct 12, 2007 Provincial "shelter" announcement and photographs of homeless people with quotes submitted by Downtown Eastside residents.

 

 

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Contacts:

Jean Swanson, Coordinator, CCAP:   604.729-2380

Wendy Pedersen, Community Organizer, CCAP:  604.839-0379

 

CCAP Letter to United Nations:

Carnegie Community Action Project

401 Main Street, Vancouver

British Columbia Canada V6A 2T7

Phone:         604.665-2105

Cellular:         604.839-0379

                       

“Since I have been down here, I’ve seen my people dying on the

street.  A lot of them are homeless.  They can’t clean themselves

up physically or mentally to get away from this situation. There is

no support for them. We need the United Nations to help us.”

Phil Whonnock, Elder, Aboriginal Front Door

 

“Government abandoned homeless people in New Orleans and are

doing that here in Vancouver.  Our government has millions and

billions of dollars and there is no reason for our rich nation to

not look after people” DTES hotel resident, Jacob Rikley, member

of Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU)

 

 

Miloon Kothari

Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
UNOG-OHCHR
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

 

 

October 16, 2007

 

Dear Mr. Kothari,

 

We are writing to you on the occasion of your visit to Canada to investigate the crisis of homelessness and inadequate housing in our country. We urgently seek your assistance, and we wish to offer you any help that you may need to effectively carry out your important work.

 

 

Who we are:

 

We are the Carnegie Community Action Project—accountable to the 6000 members of the Carnegie Community Centre Association in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, the poorest neighbourhood in Canada. We are working to get better incomes and housing because we care about what happens to the poor. We live mostly in hotels, social housing, on the streets and in shelters and we are affected profoundly by the growing homelessness and poverty. We are also deeply concerned about the escalation of property values in our neighbourhood without housing plans for those who live here—i.e., gentrification.

 

 

What we request:

 

We ask you, as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, to intervene on our behalf with the Vancouver municipal government, the government of British Columbia, and the government of Canada, to urge them to end homelessness and improve housing conditions in our neighbourhood, the city, province and country.

 

 

The situation in Vancouver:

 

Homelessness in Vancouver was estimated in 2007 to be at the level of approximately 1500-2000 people sleeping outside at night and hundreds more in shelters and couch surfing (Judy Graves, City of Vancouver’s Tenants’ Assistance Program). It is expected to reach 3000 by the year 2010 when the Winter Olympic Games will be held here.

 

The initial cost of hosting the Winter Olympics was thought to be about $600 million.  But estimates of the cost have now more than doubled.  If that money were spent on building social housing instead paying for games, homelessness in Vancouver could be solved by 2010.

 

But we do not even need the Olympics money to solve the problem of homelessness.  The provincial government is running a budgetary surplus this year of $4.1 billion.  The federal government had a surplus of $6.4 billion in the first quarter of 2007.  To build 3,200 units of social housing to get a start on solving homelessness by 2010 would cost $640 million, according to Marc Lee of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Canada has ample resources to solve the problem of homelessness and inadequate housing.

 

In the run-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics bid, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee and the three levels of government—municipal, provincial, and federal—made five housing commitments.  These were:

 

1)      Provide an affordable housing legacy and start planning now;

2)      Protect existing rental housing stock;

3)      Provide many alternative forms of temporary accommodation for Games’ visitors and workers;

4)      Ensure people are not made homeless as a result of the Games;

5)      Ensure residents are not involuntarily displaced, evicted or face unreasonable increases in rent as a result of the Games.

 

Last year, the provincial government set up a committee of government, business, and community-based organizations to determine how to implement the commitments. This group was called the Inner-City Inclusivity (ICI) Housing Table.  It recommended that 800 units of social housing be built each year up to 2010, starting in 2007.  Also, it recommended that social assistance rates be raised by 50 per cent and barriers to obtaining welfare be eliminated.

 

On June 28, 2007, the ICI report was brought before Vancouver City Council, and adopted—but City Council made implementation of the recommendations subject to “funding constraints.”  In other words, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) and the three levels of government have provided themselves with an excuse for breaking their Olympic promises, even though there are more than sufficient funds available to meet the commitments.

 

In our opinion, by not meeting the Olympic promises and by allowing thousands of people to be homeless, our municipal, provincial and federal governments are violating human rights treaties and commitments that have been agreed to by the international community and ratified by Canada.

Rights that are being violated:

 

1) The right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and shelter

 

This right was first articulated in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in

Article 25, which reads:

 

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

 

This right is also set out in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Canada ratified in 1976. [1] Article 11 says:

 

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.

 

Canada is not currently implementing this right. Instead of continuous improvement in living conditions, Canada has seen a continuous decline. As we have indicated, there is increasing homelessness and many poor people in Vancouver do not have adequate housing. The federal government has contributed to, if not created this problem, by abolishing its national housing program in 1993, thus depriving those in need of the building and subsidization of approximately 25,000 units of social housing per year.

 

In its 2006 Concluding Comments, after reviewing Canada’s adherence to the rights set out in the ICESCR, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) made a strongly-worded recommendation to Canada. [2]  It said:

 

 

The Committee reiterates its recommendation that the federal, provincial and territorial governments address homelessness and inadequate housing as a national emergency by reinstating or increasing, where necessary, social housing programs for those in need, improving and properly enforcing anti-discrimination legislation in the field of housing, increasing shelter allowances and social assistance rates to realistic levels, and providing adequate support services for persons with disabilities. The Committee urges the State party to implement a national strategy for the reduction of homelessness that includes measurable goals and timetables, consultation and collaboration with affected communities, complaints procedures, and transparent accountability mechanisms, in keeping with Covenant standards (CESCR, 2006, para. 62).

 

Violations of the right to adequate housing are contributed to by inadequate social assistance rates, which do not bring recipients above the poverty line, or permit them to pay for adequate shelter. CESCR noted with concern in its 2006 Concluding Comments that:

…in most provinces and territories, social assistance benefits are lower than a decade ago, that they do not provide adequate income to meet basic needs for food, clothing and shelter, and that welfare levels are often set at less than half the Low-Income Cut-Off (CESCR 2006, para. 21).

 

Because of poverty, too many people in Vancouver do not enjoy the right to food.  A network of charitable “food banks” attempts to make up for lack of adequate assistance from the state by offering some free food to poor people. But they are unable to offer adequate, healthy food to all those who need it. This too has been a subject of concern to CESCR since 1993. The Committee recommended in 2006 that Canada: “significantly intensify its efforts to address the issue of food insecurity and hunger in Canada.” The Committee reminded Canada “of its core obligation to fulfil (provide) the right to food when disadvantaged and marginalized individuals or groups are, for reasons beyond their control, unable to realize these rights for themselves…” (CESCR, 2006, para. 61)

 

2) The right to remuneration capable of providing a decent living

 

This right is set out in Article 7 of the ICESCR, which says:

 

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work which ensure, in particular:

 

(a) Remuneration, which provides all workers, as a minimum, with:

 

 (ii) A decent living for themselves and their families in accordance with the provisions of the present Covenant…

 

Minimum wage levels set by the federal government and by the government of British Columbia do not provide an above-poverty-level income for full-time workers. This violation was also noted by CESCR in 2006. The Committee expressed it dismay that, despite repeated recommendations, Canada has not addressed the treaty body’s principal concerns about Canadian implementation of the ICESCR, including:

 

[t]he insufficiency of minimum wage and social assistance to ensure the realization of the right to an adequate standard of living for all (CESCR, 2006, paras 11 and 11(f)).

 

3) The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health

 

This right is set out in Article 12 of the ICESCR, which says:

 

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

 

Violations of the right to an adequate standard of living cause violations of the right to health. They also cause violations of the right to life. The Human Rights Committee, which oversees the implementation by States parties of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, expressed its concern in 1999 that homelessness in Canada has lead to “serious health problems and even to death”. [3] The Committee recommended that Canada take positive measures to address this serious problem (HRC, 1999, para. 12). But those positive measures have not been implemented and conditions have deteriorated since 1999.

 

 

Summary

 

Canada has been rebuked repeatedly by the UN for human rights violations. Despite all the UN treaties and conventions that it has ratified, Canada has not moved forward in a concerted and positive way to ensure that residents actually enjoy the substance of their human rights. We note that in the pledge made at the time of the elections to the new Human Rights Council, Canada, then an eager candidate said that it “commits to actively pursue the implementation of human rights domestically.” Yet this is not what we witness. Instead, homelessness and poverty continue to plague the poorest people of Vancouver, despite British Columbia having one of the most prosperous economies in Canada, and despite Canada being one of the richest countries in the world.

 

The legacy of Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics as outlined by the ICI Housing Table report was supposed to be ending homelessness.  Instead, our governments, which have the capacity and resources to end homelessness and poverty, are making only token, not real, efforts.

 

We ask for your assistance in addressing this pressing human rights problem. Please help us.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Jean Swanson, Coordinator

Carnegie Community Action Project

Wendy Pedersen
Carnegie Action