LILAHC

Low-Income Land use And Housing Coalition

c/o Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House

501 East Hastings Vancouver BC V6A 1P9

“Nothing about us without us” - motto courtesy of VANDU*

* Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users

Who we are

LILAHC is a coalition of those who live/work in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside [DTES] who affirm that the redevelopment of the DTES must include the voices and reflect the vision of the predominantly low-income DTES community who make up ¾ of its population.  Wise land use decisions as well as adequate government funding for housing will together secure the future of low-income people in this neighbourhood.

LILAHC is people of all ancestries, ages and classes, the underhoused and homeless, those in hotels, social housing and co-ops. LILAHC is DTES residents and service providers, families and individuals.

Downtown Eastside Residents

The DTES constitutes a community of intelligent, caring, creative people with a vision for the future of this neighbourhood. People are family to each other, use needed services and volunteer with organizations which would be crippled without the unpaid labour of low-income DTES residents.  Our daily lives in this neighbourhood, their patterns and traditions, are shaped by the presence and history of the founding DTES communities: Aboriginal, Chinese, Japanese and poor/working poor. LILAHC bases its definition of the geography included within the designation of ‘Downtown Eastside’ on that of the City of Vancouver, which includes Gastown, Strathcona, Victory Square, Chinatown, Thornton Park, Industrial area and the Oppenheimer area.  At this point in time, 75% of residents living in these sub areas are living below the low-income cut off line.

Impact of development

As of 2010, new condo development in the DTES outnumbers social housing development at a rate of 3 to 1. DTES condo speculation is taking away land which could be used for affordable housing and is putting extreme pressure on our low-income rental stock – that is, the residential hotels rooms [SROs] which are the last stop before homelessness.  As of June 2009, we have lost ½ of privately owned DTES hotel rooms to rent increases which are beyond what low-income people can afford. The current pause in what had become the frenetic DTES real estate market [a result of the global economic slowdown], makes the next few years  watershed ones for preserving any semblance of affordable housing for current DTES residents. We secure housing now or are forever dispersed from our DTES home.

Vision

LILAHC’s process is grassroots and takes its inspiration from the heads and hearts of 1000s of DTES residents, harvesting a resident driven script for the future of the DTES which keeps low-income residents at the centre of redevelopment plans.

What we’re doing

In July 2008, the first phase of DTES housing visioning research was completed by the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) – a LILAHC member – and summarized in a report entitled, “Nothing About Us Without Us.” This report surveyed a cross section of 950 residents and identified their strengths and priorities.  In Spring 2009, LILAHC convened 3 meetings of business and community representatives from the larger DTES under the banner of “Common Ground.” These meetings focused on key issues such as housing, small/retail business and the open drug market. UBC Professor Pilar Riano Alcana advised CCAP in designing a unique mapping format for the 2^nd phase of the visioning research that was used to gain further subtle information about the area from a total of 22 low-income groups including sex workers, Aboriginal and Chinese elders, tenants of housing cooperatives and others of all description.  A reflection committee, made up of a cross section of the low-income community, looked at the results and made recommendations.  The final report was published in July 2009 in tandem with a Planning Day, which brought community members together to assess everything we have learned and to articulate a vision statement for the DTES.

In the autumn of 2009, a vision and roadmap for the future was presented to Vancouver City Council and all interested parties.  These visioning results guide our own advocacy and hopefully influence the position of elected governments at all levels, in regards to key land use decisions for the DTES.

LILAHC endorses:

“Nothing About Us Without Us,” CCAP, June 2008

“Still Losing DTES Hotel Rooms,” CCAP’s 2009 Hotel Survey and Report, June 2009

Criteria for participating in LILAHC

• 100% allegiance to the DTES low-income community
• Confidentiality
• Commitment to non violence
• LILAHC is not about us, but about doing the work
• Ability to devote 2-5 hours a week to LILAHC volunteer work