In 1973, the Vancouver general public was introduced to the name Downtown Eastside. This is when the City of Vancouver incorporated the Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) to move staff on a Federal Government grant to an independent agency.
At the same time, City Hall began closing down almost all of the SRO Rooming Houses in the single-family neighbourhoods. The first street homeless that appeared in Vancouver around 1990 told workers they were there because their Rooming Houses in other neighbourhoods had been shut down.
Since that time, the situation has grown steadily worse such that the Downtown Eastside has unprecedented overdose deaths, tragic untreated illnesses and business bankruptcies. Is there any jurisdiction where an area of drug addicted homeless people has had their population re-integrated with society and become a healthy neighbourhood?
Switzerland had the largest open drug scenes and homeless areas in Europe in the 1990s. They ended this and now have one of the best records of managing this in the world.
Switzerland credits Harm Reduction for their success. But they use techniques and approach that are different from the ones used in Vancouver. Now there is a movement to use the Swiss approach but for a Vancouver context, called Accountable Harm Reduction.
You can help improve our cities and the lives of people with addictions by signing our petition here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/e...
Негізгі бет Beyond the Downtown Eastside: Ending Vancouver's Drug Addiction Overdose Crisis
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