Ten Years Later: I Am Tired
In 2016, I tried to organize a sleepover at Vancouver City Hall.
Yes. A sleepover.
It started partly as a joke, partly as an artistic protest, and partly because I didn't know what else to do.
The idea was simple: if Vancouver was in a housing crisis, perhaps we should bring the crisis right to City Hall.
I suggested pyjamas, sleeping bags, teddy bears, music, poetry, puppet shows, bedtime stories and popcorn. I wanted it to be creative, funny, peaceful and impossible to ignore.
I wrote:
“The more artistic and creative it is, people remember it.”
I also wrote that what we wanted was:
“lower rents and affordable housing for everyone in this city, not just rich people.”
That was 2016.
I am going to include some of those old posters and links to those old posts here because I want people to see them for themselves.
We actually tried.
The sleepover didn't turn into the huge demonstration we had imagined. Not enough people came. There were problems with dates and organization. I wrote afterward that we didn't have enough people power.
But we did make the news.
And more importantly, we were talking about something that Vancouver has now spent another decade talking about.
Housing.
Empty condos.
Speculation.
Homelessness.
Unaffordable rents.
Who gets to live here?
Who gets pushed out?
Who gets protected?
Who gets rescued when the market changes?
Ten years later
We've had the Empty Homes Tax.
We've had endless housing announcements.
We've had arguments about Airbnb.
We've watched homes become investments.
We've watched developers, investors, landlords, renters and governments argue about who is responsible.
We've watched Vancouver prepare for and host FIFA.
People worried about where visitors would stay.
There were calls for more short-term accommodation.
Airbnb wanted more hosts.
And now FIFA is over.
The visitors have gone home.
The stadium lights have gone out.
The temporary excitement is finished.
But Vancouver still has a housing crisis.
And here I am.
After all these years of writing about housing, homelessness, social justice and the right to a home...
I am tired.
And the hardest part is that this isn't theoretical for me anymore.
I am facing homelessness.
Again.
I don't want another slogan
I don't want another politician telling me that housing is a priority.
I don't want another glossy housing strategy.
I don't want another announcement telling us that someday, somehow, things will get better.
I don't want to hear that we just need to build more and everything will work itself out.
I want to know:
Where do people like me go?
What happens to the older person who has worked, created, contributed and survived, but doesn't have enough money to compete in Vancouver's housing market?
What happens when the rent is higher than what someone can actually afford?
What happens when there are homes, but they aren't affordable homes?
What happens when housing is treated primarily as an investment instead of somewhere human beings live?
I remember that City Hall sleepover
I remember the ridiculousness of it.
The pyjamas.
The teddy bears.
The idea of having a puppet show about a housing crisis.
I remember thinking that maybe humour could make people listen.
Maybe art could make people care.
Maybe if we approached people with empathy instead of anger, something might change.
I still believe that.
But I am tired.
Really tired.
I have spent years writing about these issues.
I've photographed protests.
I've made art.
I've written blog posts.
I've tried to document what was happening around me.
I've asked questions.
I've tried to get people to care.
And now I find myself wondering:
What happens when the person writing about homelessness becomes homeless?
Maybe this is the post I was always going to write
Ten years ago I asked Vancouverites to care about their neighbours.
I quoted Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says that everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living, including housing.
I asked why people could mobilize for distant disasters, refugees and climate change, but sometimes seemed unable to see the person experiencing homelessness right in front of them.
I wrote:
“One day it may be you that is being evicted or some other housing horror story...and you will have wished you had taken a stand with us then.”
I never imagined that sentence would come back to me like this.
So yes, I am tired.
I'm tired of watching people fight over housing while people don't have homes.
I'm tired of hearing that the market will fix it.
I'm tired of watching housing treated like a commodity.
I'm tired of seeing enormous amounts of money move through this city while ordinary people wonder where they are going to sleep.
I'm tired of being told to wait.
I'm tired of being resilient.
I'm tired of having to figure everything out.
I just want a home.
Not a luxury condo.
Not an investment property.
Not a vacation rental.
Not a speculative asset.
A home.
A small place where I can put my things.
Make my art.
Plant something.
Close the door.
Sleep.
And know that I am not going to lose it simply because I cannot compete with people who have more money.
We tried in 2016.
Maybe we were naïve.
Maybe we were ahead of our time.
Maybe we weren't loud enough.
Maybe Vancouver simply wasn't listening.
But I still have those posters.
I still have the photographs.
I still have the words.
And now, ten years later, I'm putting them back on the internet.
Not because I want to say “I told you so.”
I don't.
I would much rather have been wrong.
I would have loved to look back at those old posts and say:
“Look how much better Vancouver became.”
Instead, I'm looking at them while wondering where I will live.
So this isn't really a political speech.
It's a tired person's question.
After ten years of talking about housing justice, when do we finally decide that people actually need homes?
Because FIFA is over.
The tourists have gone home.
The parties are finished.
And some of us are still here.
Still looking for somewhere to live.
And yes...
I'm tired.
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