Poverty Olympics Athletes’ Accomodation in Vancouver Downtown Eastside ( DTES)

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Poverty Olympics Athletes’ Accomodation in Vancouver Downtown Eastside ( DTES)

January 10, 2009 ahamedia Leave a comment Go to comments

AHA MEDIA shows the types of room that a Poverty Olympic athlete has to live in the Vancouver Downtown (DTES)

The following video is a satirical view of the REAL 2010 OLYMPICS – We’re showing how an homeless athlete in training lives in comparision to the plush accomodations being built now for the regular athletes.

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Making things worse, not building an Olympic legacy

Poverty isn’t new, but things weren’t always this bad. Until 2001, poverty in British Columbia was dropping faster and farther than the national (across-Canada) rate.

So what changed?

Between 2002 and 2005, the BC government cut spending on social programs by nearly one third. That included an end to annual funding for new social housing.

The BC government also made social assistance (welfare) much, much harder to get. It forced people to jump through a maze of bureaucratic hoops, such as making anybody seeking help go through a complicated computer-based application (even advocates had a heck of a time figuring it out). It forced people who could no longer pay rent or buy food to wait three weeks before even letting them apply for help.

During those years, the number of people getting welfare dropped steeply — and the number of homeless people in Greater Vancouver doubled.

The BC Government also cut welfare benefits for single parents and their children, and for older folks. Poverty rates among single parents jumped as a result.

All this happened at the very time when big promises were being made to win the 2010 Olympics bid — promises to build more social housing, reduce homelessness, and make sure poor people weren’t displaced by Olympics-driven development.

Bad decisions have made poverty and homelessness worse. Some small steps have been taken recently to change course, but more must be done.

The Vancouver Poverty Olympics are brought to you by a group of concerned citizens and community groups who want the 2010 Winter Games’ legacy to be one of reducing, not increasing, poverty and homelessness.

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The Second Annual Poverty Olympics will be held on February 8, 2009

1:00-3:00pm at the Japanese Language School, 487 Alexander St, Vancouver, BC.

http://www.povertyolympics.ca

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