Reposted from the Streams of Justice blog. Written by Dave Diewert
Standing for Homes – Fasting for Justice
Oct 14 – 18, 2008
One year ago, Streams of Justice organized and carried out a squat on an empty lot owned by the City of Vancouver that was designated for social housing. The action brought attention to the lack of political will in addressing the homelessness crisis in our city.
One year later, the Homeless Count has registered an increase of 19% in homelessness in the city of Vancouver, 39% in the greater Vancouver region. While municipal, provincial and federal politicians make public statements that assert their achievements in addressing this crisis, thousands remain homeless and on the streets. And still, the vacant lot we occupied one year ago remains empty.
While homelessness increases, substantial public money is being spent on Olympic preparations, the implementation of Project Civil City, and other initiatives. In the Downtown Eastside, market condo construction is outstripping social housing 3 to 1 and the resultant land speculation is propelling a wave of rent increases, soft conversions and evictions, generating increased displacement and homelessness. All of this under the watchful gaze and willing compliance of city officials.
Maintaining the status quo is not an option in the face of substantial and unnecessary human suffering. Purchasing already-occupied residential hotels and increasing shelter beds are not acceptable alternatives to providing stable housing for those who are currently homeless.
What we desperately need is to move beyond a civil city to a just city, one in which the basic human needs of adequate housing and sufficient income are made available for everyone. For those who have homes and resources, there is a social and moral responsibility to ensure the well-being of others in our city who lack these essentials. When one suffers, we all suffer. Where there are some who experience the on-going affliction of structural inequality and the violence of legislated poverty, we all must take up our responsibility to raise a cry and pursue the social, political and economic changes necessary to achieve true justice.
For this reason, we are inviting all people who desire justice and long to see the erradication of poverty and homelessness to undertake a five-day vigil at City Hall, to bear witness to the urgent need for a just city, one in which adequate housing, sufficient income and meaningful support are made available to our brothers and sisters who are currently homeless and living in poverty.
This vigil will take the form of a fast, in which we suspend our customary practices of privilege (enjoying abundant food, inhabiting warm, safe homes, and pursuing lives focused on comfortable self-preservation) in order to express our solidarity with those who lack the essential necessities of food and shelter, and to lift our voices along with theirs in a cry for justice.
In this vigil, we seek to bear witness to
- the ongoing suffering of many in our city afflicted by poverty and homelessness,
- the need for a civic leadership that takes concrete and substantial action on these issues, and
- the common moral responsibility of all citizens to take up the practices of solidarity and compassion in pursuit of a just city.
Isaiah 58:6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
More details to follow.
For those of you in the Greater Toronto Area and are looking for a place to discuss theology in a casual setting, you will want to check out Toronto’s Theology Pub.
This is the first in a series of reports written while attending Renov8. Hopefully others will post their thoughts, reflections, questions and frustrations also.
