Vancouver Public Space Network » Civil City

VPSN Civil City Housing & Homelessness Workshop: Follow-up

Andrew Pask — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:35:38 +0000

Thank you to everyone who came out to our November 13 forum Civil City, Housing & Homelessness. The event saw a capacity audience gather to hear about some of the sticking points that are preventing more action from taking place on housing issues. A big thank you to Maureen Bader (Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation), Dave Eby (Pivot Legal), Matthew Nugent (Urban Development Institute), Greg Richmond (Triage Emergency Care Services Society), and Jean Swanson (Carnegie Community Action Project) for lending us their insight and expertise, to Monte Paulsen for moderating the evening’s event, and to the many volunteers who helped with the proceedings.

The event has also been recorded by VPSN member Lenore and will be on our website over the next couple of days.

In the course of the evening, a set of 15 brainstorming scrums took place, and we invited community members to give their thoughts on how to deal with the sticking points. Materials from these sessions is being used to develop a brief report and presentation – a portion of which will be presented to City Council on December 12. This is the date of Council’s “Special” session dealing with the recent announcement around Supported Housing. This meeting seeks to gather public input on the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and Province about the creation of new social and supported housing….

More information on the Report and how you can be involved:

Check out our Civil City webpage: www.civilcity.ca.

Not only is this an opportunity for the public to provide much needed support for the initiative, but it is also an opportunity to provide encouragement for a more proactive approach to housing issues.

Anyone can make a presentation at this event. For those of you who also wish to make a deputation please contact the City Clerk’s Office at 604-873-7276. Tell them that you want to be added to the speakers list for the session in question. It’s best to do this sooner rather than later.

When making a presentation of this sort, it helps to ground your comments in the immediate issue at hand, namely the MOU. You can view this document, and other relevant reports and background materials at the BC Housing website.

They’re also available on our www.civilcity.ca webpage, in the “Housing Backgrounder.”

Project Civil City & Housing: The “Sticking Points” Workshop – DATE CHANGED

Andrew Pask — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:17:24 +0000

Join us for our second Civil City workshop on November 13 between 7:00pm and 9:00pm at the Vancouver Public Library. The event features a number of experts on housing who will help us to explore the reasons why more isn’t being done to resolve housing and homelessness. For complete event details and background resources, visit our Housing Forum webpage.

Note: Link to Housing Forum webpage has temporarily been disabled.

Panel Discussion/Debate – Project Civil City

Andrew Pask — Tue, 01 May 2007 21:10:56 +0000

The VPSN, in collaboration with the Vancouver Public Library, is holding a public discussion and dialogue on Mayor Sam Sullivan’s Project Civil City initiative. The free event takes place at 7:00pm on Tuesday May 1 at VPL Central Library (350 Georgia Street). The event will be moderated by Peter McKnight of the Vancouver Sun and will feature a panel of distinguished guests presenting a range of views on the subject. It will be an engaging discussion and an important event!

Panelists include:

Professor Steve Herbert, University of Washington
Irwin Oostindie, Downtown Eastside Community Arts Network
Dave Park, Vancouver Board of Trade
Micheal Vonn, BC Civil Liberties Association
Sheryl Williamson-Harms, West End Citizens Action Network

Help us to pass the word on. Tell your friends and colleagues – and make sure you come out for one of the most important discussions of the year.

For more details, see our Project Civil City webpage – or punch www.civilcity.ca into your browser!