18 responses so far ↓

• 1 Max // Sep 6, 2011 at 8:47 pm

  Frances, not to sideline this blog, but this is important.

  A friend of mine, knows a guy who after 2+ years on the street, recently (approx 1 month) got into housing. He was located in socials at Cambie & 8th. Anyways, due to some sort of plumbing/leak issue, a bunch of them were just moved to Yukon House. Well, long and short, there have been problems.

  They are hoping to gather attention to the ongoing issues within the shelters themselves, which include theft of personal property (they are alledging staff) verbal/physical abuse, being lied to, being denied services, intimidation, threats of being put back out onto the streets etc.

  They are holding a push back meeting this Friday (9th) at the Carnegie Centre – 11:30 am.

  They are pleading for help.

  From someone who has volunteered at a shelter, I am not surprised and this is not the first instance I’ve heard of these troubles. It has been long know of the abuses, but people – the homeless that these workers say they are there to help – are afraid of speaking out.

  One of the organizers of this meeting, fully expects he will be back out on the street due to speaking out, and does not care, he wants to see things fixed.

  Thank you!

• 2 Morry // Sep 6, 2011 at 9:25 pm

  The Drug financed houses are easily spottable in the Burnaby – East Vancouver area. Just open your eyes.

• 3 Sean // Sep 6, 2011 at 11:30 pm

  @Morry #2
  Your comment is intriguing but uninformative. How exactly can I spot them?

• 4 Joe Just Joe // Sep 7, 2011 at 7:34 am

  The effect of the drug trade on real estate in minimal compared to the illegal rental suite. There certainly isn’t a drug financed home on every block but there are certainly several illegal suites.

• 5 City Observer // Sep 7, 2011 at 9:17 am

  Max,

  Not surprised by what’s happening at The Yukon. One of the staff there was transferred to The Yukon after being accused of (and admitting to) theft over at Lookout’s North Shore Shelter. Another one of the other Yukon staff is well known for intimidation and threats.

  Time for ‘The Dragon Lady’ / Order of British Columbia candidate / Lookout Executive Director Karen O’Shanneracy to get involved, methinks.

• 6 Max // Sep 7, 2011 at 9:53 am

  @ City Observer:

  Funny, you mention Lookout – that is another shelter that was mentioned.

  Sad thing – he was well on his way of getting back up on his feet. He is sober (had a mild, very mild drink problem) They made him go into detox for 1 week before placing him in housing. He has been job hunting and truly trying. Landing back into a shelter is a vast step backwards.

  One thing – he is smart and not afraid of speaking out regardless of what the consequence may be. He and his friends want to see change.

• 7 George // Sep 7, 2011 at 11:06 am

  I have been silent on the blog scene for some time now. I felt the political message was being lost by the angry sniping…this situation has opened a great wound for me.

  @Max if you remember I have been discussing the abuses in non profits for a very long time..from personal experience.
  There are many abuses that are heaped on the poor, the biggest is the use of the marginalized for political gain.
  Every politician that has ever used one of us to garner a pity vote should be running to assist this man,, if only to appear less hypocritical.

  It is usually the high functioning folks that are beat down the hardest, they are intelligent and see what is really going on… from experience I will enlighten you all to what will happen to this man…the powers that be, Coastal Health included, because they are one government branch that provides funding, staff will circle the wagons… they will do everything in their power to discredit this man… He will be pushed till he does get angry… mission accomplished, they have proven your friend to be unstable.

  The next step will be to say…see what we hard working staff must deal with, Sadly there is never such a thing as a mild drinking problem…if you have a problem that renders you homeless ..that is a problem.. that is where the staff of all poverty organizations have a responsibility to help … who do they help?

  Just look at the list of people in line for the Order of BC…

  Is this the same man you wrote about before Max? Didn’t I read your friend was supposed to get housing from Coast Mental Health Housing?….Where is your friends “case manager”, and why was he put into a shelter rather than another unit.
  Someone needs to look at funding for these non profits…because only a selected few of these homeless actually get assistance, and only if they are willing to do feel good fluff media pieces, and say nice things to the media.

  I fear for your friend Max…I was such a threat to an organization that I was physically assaulted by several staff (documented ) once in a room with a hundred people..and several of those folks were highly paid politicians..

  My life will never be the same…PTSD..

  I wish your friend all the best Max, but I fear he has a huge target on his back now..I fear for him..

  I sat at City Council yesterday, there were 3 speakers .. all marginalized.. they were scoffed by many/most sitting in the audience.. oddly they made the most sense of anyone in Council yesterday…their message was not about the riots, but the abuses of the marginalized, by politicians that don’t listen to those that have the answers..their style might be different when explaining the issue, but that is their disability..and the audience mocked them.

  I was sitting next to a young man that kept rolling his eyes and laughing at them with a holier than than attitude.. and in the next breath told me what a great man Gregor was, because he was a farmer and an amazing business man.. HUH..

  Thanks for bringing this forward Max..I think our addiction/housing specialist Kerry Jang needs to step up to the plate. while he’s at it my homeless friend is still homeless….

• 8 Morven // Sep 7, 2011 at 2:16 pm

  It is certainly arguable that there is a drug/housing connection.

  If there is, it is certainly a circuituous link as any reasonable dealer would make sure that the money is laundered through intermediate and non-traceable conduits before it goes to a house purchase. Realtors are, I believe, supposed to ask about large cash purchases. Whether they do so, is another matter about which I have no knowledge.
  -30-

• 9 Mary // Sep 7, 2011 at 7:00 pm

  Your story, Frances, reminds me again of the elephant-in-the-room question on drug policy “who is benefitting from our current mess of laws, and enforcement?” It certainly isn’t addicts and as you point out in your article, it isn’t the low-level street dealer. Your article talks about the higher echelon of criminals and how they gain, but what about our law-makers? and their friends and campaign supporters? How is it, that in a democracy, we end up with this totally dysfunctional array of laws and enforcement policies that allows some people to prey so completely and visciously on those who are vulnerable due to family violence, disability, genetics, and so on?

• 10 Morry // Sep 7, 2011 at 7:56 pm

  @Sean #3
  You have to ask? You think I’m going to write directions? Open thine own eyes.

  Again drive around and you’ll see these houses stick out …what more can be said.

• 11 Morry // Sep 7, 2011 at 7:57 pm

  @Mary – pay-outs… in many forms and guises ..

• 12 ThinkOutsideABox // Sep 8, 2011 at 6:41 am

  This is timely, Vancouver was mentioned in last night’s GOP leadership debate.

  Governor Huntsman:

  “…But let me just say one thing about legal immigration. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that our legal immigration system is broken. And if we want to do something about attracting brain power to this country, if we want to lift real estate values.

  For example, why is it that Vancouver is the fastest-growing real estate market in the world today? They allow immigrants in legally, and it lifts all votes. And we need to focus as much on legal immigration.”

• 13 Otis Krayola // Sep 8, 2011 at 8:24 am

  @TOAB #12,
  I watched the same debate, and I didn’t hear “…lifts all votes.”

  The word was “boats”, and comes from the well-worn and largely discredited metaphor regarding a ‘rising tide’.

  I prefer ‘The rich get rich and the poor get poorer’. Certainly more accurate.

• 14 karen // Sep 8, 2011 at 9:26 am

  hearing concerns in shelter operations is always a priority for Lookout. We have a complaint mechanism and a ‘safety-net’ whisle-blower policy should that be a concern. Where there are issues raised, we investigate and determine what we can do to address, including for the future. I would encourage the person who had complaints to speak to the manager and have the situation investigated. If the person disagrees with the manager’s findings, there is an appeal process. We try hard to meet the needs of everyone, keep everyone safe, including their belongings, to the best of our ability. Threats are not tolerated, and we actually receive complaints that we don’t evict people for abusiveness towards others, the staff or the facility. If there are problems, we need to know about them and work towards resolution. Max, if you can take that message to the person who is at Yukon, everyone will benefit.

• 15 ThinkOutsideABox // Sep 8, 2011 at 9:39 am

  Thanks Otis for clarifying. I actually only caught him in passing saying Vancouver as I was busy doing something else. So I googled for a transcript and just copied and pastedusing this. They wrote it as vote with a (ph) abbreviation following which I guess is supposed to mean ‘phonetic’? First time I’ve ever encountered that.

• 16 Max // Sep 8, 2011 at 9:49 am

  @karen:

  There is a meeting tomorrow – Sept. 9th – 11:30 am at Carnegie. I invite you to listed to these people air their griefs.

  The person(s) at Yukon have circulated a hand-out to encourage others to speak out against the issues. I have a PDF and will e-mail it to you at the Lookout addy.

  This person is far from stupid – as George mentioned, although some people have issues, they are high functioning individuals.

  I stepped into this as this person had been sleeping rough in my area of Kits for almost 3 years. He would panhandle for money for food. Alwasy polite, never aggressive. As I have had many conversations with him over the years I will attest he is not an addict. (which, for arguement sake, should not make a difference).

  He did what he needed to do to finally get int housing. Made the phone calls to various groups/people, went to any meetings he needed to be at and when he told me he got into housing I was thrilled for him. He was located at Cambie and 8th for about 6 weeks and as stated, was moved due to plumbing/leak issues. (I also understand there were electrical as well) There were a group of them moved into shelters – not just Yukon.

  He alledges a portion of his clothes that were taken by staff for laundry were never returned.

  Sadly Karen, this is far from the first time I and others have heard these accusations.

  George has suffered through the ‘system’ and has come out the others side, with war wounds but stronger.

  For those of you that think I am some sort of housing activist – I am not. I am an everyday working person who is tired of seeing these problems grow and has made the decision to help push for change.

• 17 George // Sep 8, 2011 at 11:33 am

  Karen
  With all due respect, and I do have great respect for you… the grievance process is never balanced…this man has by now probably already had his name flagged in the system. This report will follow him everywhere he goes. He will never be allowed to see what has been written about himself…confidentiality for the staff is the reason that will be stated, union privilege, a privilege not afforded the victim. The gossip by staff alone is overwhelming in most cases.
  I can only imagine how intense that pressure is when it goes on under the roof where you have to lie your head at night, the place you should be safe.
  This is one of those situations where civil liberties do not exist….when I was assaulted neither David Eby nor Gregor Robertson would assist me with my whistle blowing efforts. I stand corrected Gregor gave me his MLA card which I still have, and told me he was too busy with the Mayoral election…
  I was told I shouldn’t bother to try to lay charges by staff….. I was told who would believe me…due to my mental illness… I asked my friends son, a police officer, to explain to me what the exact terms of assault were so I could be very clear….I was very clear.
  I ask the question again.. where is this man’s case manager that is paid union wages to help him with his housing? Something is wrong when people need to go such extremes as this to be heard.

  This weeks Council meeting is a perfect example 3 men stated many concerns about this system…why do they need to go to City Hall to voice these issues…what did they get for their efforts…. people laughed, rolled eyes…

  The biggest problem here, is where is the case manager and why is this man even in a shelter. He had housing!

  Max has stated that the man was in housing, faulty housing, which is both a provincial and municipal problem..where are the highly paid skilled employees…

  Karen I ask you this ..when this man had this problem and by the sound of this situation he was vocal, where were you? Or is that confidential? I’m not trying to be sarcastic I’m pointing out the imbalance of the system.

  I like Max, am fortunate I have a home, I’m very poor but I assist several men that are living rough, they prefer it to shelter living for these reasons…The grievance system is not a fair system it is protected by unions…the people they serve just don’t have a chance up against the unions.
  Tomorrows meeting will be very interesting especially since it will be held at Carnegie… where the abuses are legendary..

  I will give my vote to the politician that will call for a forensic audit of all non profits..that help the umm marginalized, and with so much money spent, why has there been no success in cleaning up the problems in the system.

  http://www.downtowneastsideenquirer.blogspot.com/

  My thanks to Frances for allowing this thread to be hijacked and heard.

• 18 Sean // Sep 8, 2011 at 1:57 pm

  @Morry #10

  I’m not expecting a map, I’d like to hear a general description of what I should be looking for. You said these drug-financed houses “stick out”. How?

  I’m honestly curious as to how I’d recognize one of the houses you’re talking about.

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