DNC monthly general meeting this Saturday January 14, 3pm at Dodson Hall (25 E. Hastings)

Pantages NOT sold for 100% social housing… it’s a hoax!

DNC members who saw this news this morning were overjoyed with the news that the Pantages site had been sold to the city for 100% social housing… but it was an election-eve dream… a hoax!

Just hours after the news broke that Marc Williams sold the Pantages Theatre to the city for a fair assessment price, the developer and the city have both come out and denied the sale. Here’s some news coverage of the story and the hoax. See especially the Jeff Lee story at very bottom.

Three solutions to Vancouver’s housing and homelessness crisis

The Vancouver civic election has once again focused on housing and homelessness as a major problem for whichever party governs city hall. But for all the posing in front of over-announced social housing construction sites and manipulation of homelessness numbers, the city has yet to step forward and take simple but serious actions to stop the loss of low-income housing and build the social housing everyone admits we need. These two pieces by DNC board members, an interview broadcast as a Pivot Podcast, and an article published on the Mainlander, outline what a city that was serious about ending the Vancouver homelessness and housing crisis would do.

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Solutions to Vancouver’s homelessness crisis
http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/pivot-legal-society/2011/11/solutions-vancouvers-homelessness-crisis

Dave Murrray talks about homelessness and addiction in Vancouver, and in the run-up to municipal elections on November 19, Ivan Drury explains 3 easy steps that would be easy for city hall to implement to solve the homelessness crisis, at almost no cost to taxpayers. Ivan also explains why gentrification of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is the worst thing that could happen to that community.

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Three solutions to Vancouver’s housing and homelessness crisis
http://themainlander.com/2011/11/15/three-solutions-to-vancouver%e2%80%99s-housing-and-homelessness-crisis-2/

At the recent Homelessness and Affordable Housing debate (Nov 7, St. Andrew’s–Wesley Church), mayoral candidates Gregor Robertson and Suzanne Anton said a lot of things, but they didn’t debate much. They both admitted that they will not slow down or pause destructive market development in the Downtown Eastside (DTES). They agreed that a municipal tax on real estate speculation and non-resident property ownership would not be appropriate. They also agreed that inclusionary zoning, a soft and widely used development permit mechanism that forces developers to include affordable housing in all market developments, would not be good for Vancouver. They even agreed that the solution to the affordable rental housing and homelessness crisis caused by the real estate market is to be found back in the market itself. Put simply, their differences were of degree, not principle.

2011 DNC board election results are in…

DTES NEIGHBOURHOOD COUNCIL BOARD ELECTION RESULTS FROM THE 2011 AGM

*Congratulations to the new board of the DNC!

We encourage those who ran and were not elected to stick around, come to the board and committee meetings and keep working with our growing team for the betterment of our neighbourhood.

*The DNC board will bring recommendations to the next general meeting to fill the remaining 6 at-large seats, particularly paying attention to representation of people on the board around race, gender, sexuality, youth, senior, Aboriginal, drug user, sex worker, and people with disabilities and mental and physical health struggles.

SRO CATEGORY

- Richard Cunningham
- DJ Joe
- Irene Mountain
- Jaime Richardson
- Paul Martin

SOCIAL HOUSING CATEGORY

- David Hamm
- Harold Lavender
- Anne Livingston
- Ann Marie Monks
- Wendy Pedersen

HOMELESS CATEGORY

- Roland Clarke
- Dave Murray
- Louie Alexander
- Joe LeBlanc

MARKET HOUSING CATEGORY

- Tami Starlight
- Jada Martinson
- Ivan Drury

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DTES Neighbourhood Council

http://dnchome.wordpress.com

dtescouncil@gmail.com

Foreclosure against Palace and Wonder Hotels delayed, but low-income housing is still in danger…

For Immediate Release
November 4, 2011

“THE REAL ESTATE MARKET IS AN UNSAFE SPACE FOR LOW-INCOME HOUSING”
Foreclosure delayed against Wolsey’s Wonder and Palace SRO hotels, residents call for urgent City protections for low-income housing

Contact: Ivan Drury, DTES Neighbourhood Council, 604-781-7346

VANCOUVER, UNCEDED COAST SALISH TERRITORY: On Thursday October 27^th Vancouver news outlets reported that the beleaguered tenants of the Wonder Rooms and Palace Hotel, who have been facing off since June against their abusive landlord George Wolsey, could be facing a new threat of mass eviction due to the imminent foreclosure of their homes. The foreclosure hearing happened yesterday, November 3^rd and Kimberly Robertson, counsel for the foreclosing company IMOR Capital, reported that they made a deal that morning with Wolsey’s lawyers granting a nine-month redemption period: The $2.5M loan must be repaid in full by August 3^rd 2012 or a yet unappointed receiver may take possession of the building.