A Have an idea for a story? Mi news@theotherpress.ca New homes for women and children in violent situations » Housing project is the first step in a larger housing plan Naomi Ambrose Staff Writer I a recent press release from the Office of the British Columbia Premier, it was announced that 280 homes are scheduled to be built in BC for women and children who are escaping violent situations. The release also indicated that the housing project is the “first major investment in transition housing in more than two decades.” The houses will be built in 12 phases throughout British Columbia. The project is also part of a larger initiative undertaken by the BC government. According to the release, the houses “are the first step in the government’s new Building BC: Women’s Transition Housing Fund. The [fund] was launched in the 2018 budget as part of the Province’s 30-point housing plan.” The fund is a $734 million investment with at least a 10-year duration that will facilitate the construction of “1,500 transition housing, second-stage housing and affordable housing spaces for women and children fleeing violence.” The release also elaborated on the operational aspects of the housing project. Providers in the non-profit sector that are involved in housing support for at-risk women and children will be in charge of the housing. The housing project will also involve the creation of new, affordable rental housing for more permanent accommodations. The press release included insights from Joanne Baker, executive director of the BC Society of Transition Houses. “Fleeing violence often results in poverty and homelessness for women and their children if they can’t access safe, secure housing,” she said. “The reality or risk of homelessness frequently results in women returning to violence. The investment in affordable housing through the Women’s Transition Housing Fund that is dedicated to women and children escaping violence is crucial.” Although the release did not specify how long the women and children can stay in the houses, the new houses may help to provide additional housing to balance transition houses that usually have a limit on the duration of a stay. According to information retrieved from the website of the Ending Violence Association of BC, Advocacy Week 2018 » Students meet with government to ask for change Katie Czenczek News Editor ile many others celebrated Halloween, post-secondary students from all over the province came together to lobby for policy revisions. From October 29 to 31, student unions tied to the British Columbian Federation of Students (BCFS), UBC Alma Matter Society, and the Simon Fraser Student Society sent representatives to Victoria. During their trip, these representatives met with elected officials from the provincial government—and their opposition—to discuss some of the asks the student unions had for the government. The students were given 25 minutes per meeting to discuss three main topics they wanted the government to focus on, along with providing research about the importance of these topics. The DSU sent a number of representatives to the legislature including Tanysha Klassen, Director of External Relations, and McKenzie Hutchinson, Director of Finance. The two of them had a phone interview with the Other Press and broke down some of the topics they discussed at the meetings. Klassen said that the big three topics covered were financial assistance for students, open educational resources (OERs), and a review of sexual assault policies. “We'd want them to conduct a needs- based assessment to see if institutions need funding for properly implementing those policies,” she said in regard to the sexual assault policy review. For financial assistance, the main focus was on eliminating interest rates on provincial student loans and implementing a needs-based grant system. As it currently stands in BC, financial assistance for post- secondary education as a grant is generally done post-completion. Hutchinson said that the student representatives wanted to change that. “We found that only 152 of those completion grants have been given out, and so our ask and question for the government is to reallocate the funds already there for the competition grant to a needs-based grant system,” she said. “That way, students are able to prevent debt before it happens and focus on their success in the classroom as opposed to being stressed about how they will pay for tuition.” Both Klassen and Hutchinson said that the meetings were overall a success and felt that there was strong dialogue between the politicians and the representatives. many transition houses only allow people to stay for up to 30 days. The Association’s site also elaborates on the difference between transition housing and second stage housing. The former offers temporary, 24-hour shelter free of cost to those in need. The latter can house women and their children for up to 18 months to help those fleeing abuse plan and prepare for their futures. ¢ Activists interrupt Canada Goose store opening * Bike to Work Week ..and more! Photo by Province of British Columbia on Flickr BC Housing's website also contained information about transition housing. The transition houses are staffed and are usually residential houses. These communal houses are in private, secure locations, staffed by support workers who provide a variety of guidance and emotional support. The BC government's press release did not state when construction is scheduled to begin or when the houses will be opened. Photo of student representatives meeting with Premier John Horgan via BCFS “I think oftentimes it was definitely a dialogue. At all of the meetings, everyone seemed pretty receptive on both sides,” said Hutchinson. Klassen also added that they made no guarantees. “There were no promises made, obviously, by anybody,” she said. “There were definitely people who were more supportive of certain things and I think we got the most support for open education resources, which was great. There was a lot of ‘There’s been a lot of unexpected costs since we've been elected, so we can't promise anything, blah blah blah, kind of political speak.’ At the meeting, students asked for $5 milliont to be invested into OERs in order to make free textbooks more likely to bea reality. The money would be given to BCcampus to work on creating more free textbooks. Hutchinson also agreed with Klassen about OERs being the most supported policy ask. “John Horgan was very excited about the OER ask,” she said. “He was so pleased with the documents and the information surrounding them that he actually went to Minister Melanie Mark and said, ‘This is great, we love this ask, and we could commit to working on this.” In order to find out more about these policy asks and the twelve asks for the BC government, you can check out BCFS’s policy document.