“City of Oakland Sues Landlord For Conditions At Chinatown Tenement”

July, 1, 2016 – Aol.On (Video)

Dozens of Oakland apartment tenants forced to share a few toilets and a single kitchen claim their landlord created the squalid conditions to force them out. Now the city is suing. Da Lin reports

“Only fraction of new social housing units in Vancouver guaranteed for low-income people”

May, 31, 2016 – The Mainlander

Downtown Eastside community members reject the city’s plan for housing at 58 W Hastings, paints their own vision for 100% social housing (May 21st,

In their annual Housing and Homelessness Report Card, the City of Vancouver reports that 1,683 units of new social housing are in development or have been built since 2012. Yet based on research by the author, under 6% of the new social housing is guaranteed for people on welfare. The vast majority of Vancouver’s “social housing”, therefore, will be unavailable for the 1,847 people reported as homeless in Vancouver this year, the highest number since counts began.

A large proportion of the City’s new social housing is also out of reach for the51,000 renter households who make below $30,000 per year and who are experiencing the brunt of the housing crisis. If “affordable housing is something that somebody can afford,” to quote Vision Vancouver Councillor Kerry Jang, who is that somebody?