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Have refugee resettlements reached the rim?

> Refugees struggle during housing shortage

Aaron Guillen
Staff Reporter

Reo Vancouver took a
ve-day break from accepting

any refugees. At the moment,
the current housing shortage is
wreaking havoc across the Lower
Mainland, and Syrian arrivals
from months back are dealing
with the situation.

Twenty-two government-
assisted Syrian families began
settling down in Abbotsford
in February. Attempts to find
housing has proven challenging
as four of them have moved into
their homes, but 18 families still
remain in a local hotel.

In New Westminster, a
2012 poll found that just over 50
per cent of immigrants in the
area found obtaining housing
a significant problem. Now,
with the refugee crisis, it can be
presumed that the numbers have
spiked since then.

“Since this time, the rental
housing market, which is the
preferred tenure type for new
immigrants and refugees, has
become tighter,” John Stark,

 

New Westminster’s senior

social planner explained to

the New Westminster Record.
“Compounding matters, new
immigrant and refugee families
tend to be larger [typically with
five or more members], thus they
often require housing with two or
three bedrooms.”

With the booming
immigration rate to high profile
cities such as Vancouver, the
pressing need for affordable
housing is preventing anyone
without an abundance of cash to
lock in on the market.

According to Stark, housing
vacancy rates as of last October
were low with apartments at
0.9 per cent and two-bedroom
spaces at 0.8 per cent, and three-
bedroom spaces at 0.0 per cent.

“It was noted that the
vacancy rate is at a historic low
and there is a very limited supply
of two- and three-bedroom
units,” said a council report in
a press release. “The lack of
housing could create added
stresses and would delay the
settlement and integration
process.”

In a recent news release,
the province's Ministry of Jobs,
Tourism, and Skill Training and
Responsible for Labour stated
their plans to take on the influx of
refugee settlement efficiently and
immediately. Five organizations,
comprised of MOSAIC (Metro
Vancouver), DIVERSEcity
Community Resource Society
(Fraser Valley), Victoria
Immigrant and Refugee Centre
Society (Vancouver Island),
Kelowna Community Resources
Society (Thompson Okanagan),
and Immigrant and Multicultural
Services Society of Prince George
(Cariboo) have been assigned
a collective goal to settle and
integrate incoming refugees
within communities across BC.

Though these Refugee
Response Teams will be expected
to work tirelessly to provide a
better life for newcomers, the
housing market isn’t expected
to release tension anytime soon.
Many fingers point at welfare
rates and the urgency for an
increase.

Jenny Kwan, Vancouver-East
NDP MP, spoke with CKNW

AM 980 and commented on the
matter: “I think we do need to
look at that question to make
sure that we can enhance our
capacity.”

“[We need] to ensure that

Douglas College speaks on climate
change and energy

> Student-led discussions, student research posters, and energy experts will occupy concourse

Jamal Al-Bayaa
Staff Writer

 

n April 1, FortisBC and
Douglas College will be

putting on their energy and
climate change themed event
titled “Climate Change: Beyond
the Headlines.” This is the
third event that FortisBC and
Douglas are doing together.

The event will highlight
student research projects
and bring community energy
leaders together in a panel,
where they will be preparing
materials and engaging in
discussions with students based
on questions they might have.

The panel discussion will be
thought-provoking and exciting,
since students from one of
Douglas College’s Geology classes
will be coming prepared with an
array of questions that should
garner comprehensive responses.

Before the panel will be

more conversation. Eight
student-led dialogues will
be hosted by Siobhan Ashe’s
Environmental Sociology class,
with themes such as efficiency,
innovation, and conservation.
One of these groups is
linking energy, climate change,

  

Image via thinkstock

and agricultural choices together
in a way that hopes to shed light
on how our food choices can
positively or negatively affect

the planet. In these dialogues,
participants can expect a chance
to talk about what they know,
present their ideas, and listen

to the ideas of others. The

goal of these dialogues are to
present a “solution page” to
Fortis based off of the discussion
that each dialogue table has.

While all this is going on
in the Fishbowl, the concourse
will be teeming with student-
research posters, approximately
15 in all, that fall either under the
category of “Creative Solution”
or “Scientific Inquiry.” A vote
will take place, judging the
observers’ favourite posters. The
winner by majority will receive a
$200 cash prize for the efforts.

Voting on posters is one
of many ways that participants
can engage in the event
in a meaningful way.

“This is an event
for everybody,’ student
organizer Alina Alimbetova
said in an interview.

Alimbetova was pivotal in
organizing the event, and said
the hardest part wasn’t the event
itself, but in coordinating the

  

Image via www. brlets.co.uk

with the volume of people that
are here that need this kind

of support, that we have boots
on the ground to get that work
done.”

number of busy students who are
trying to balance work, school,
and other volunteering events.
She did add that what makes it
all worthwhile is that all of the
students she is working with are
interested and motivated to help.

Overall, about 12 students
will be needed to run the event
smoothly. Everything from IT,
to volunteer coordination, to
popcorn vending are equally
important in making sure
that everyone can enjoy the
event as much as possible.

One notable guest is NDP
New Westminster MLA Judy
Darcy. Environmentalism has
been an important issue to her for
over 20 years. In the late 1990s,
Darcy co-founded Water Watch,
a national and local alliance
of environmentalists, citizens
groups and blue-collar water
workers who showed enthusiasm
and commitment to preserving
clean water and making it
freely accessible to the public.