Whistler Homeless Forced to Squamish

Olympic organizers are 'locking down areas,' he charges
By Andrea Woo, Vancouver Sun, January 9, 2010
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Whistler+homeless+forced+Squamish+socia...

Homeless people in Whistler are being forced to relocate to Squamish as the Olympics draw near, according to a Whistler outreach worker.
Peter Harker, who works for Sea to Sky Community Services, said Olympic organizers are taking over roads and parking lots, leaving many visible homeless people with no choice but to go to Squamish.
Squamish is home to the Squamish Helping Hands Society, the region's only 24-hour emergency shelter.
"With the Olympics coming, they're locking down areas," said Harker, citing as an example one man who slept in a parking lot for two years and was recently asked by private security to leave.
"They're forced out circumstantially through this gradual lockdown of Whistler and the corridor."
Harker said Whistler Community Services Society has given bus tickets to homeless people wishing to go to Squamish.
They provide return tickets as well, he added.
Melinda Peters, coordinator of the Squamish Helping Hands Society, said it is common for homeless people to go to Squamish from Whistler, as the shelter is mandated to serve people from Lions Bay to Pemberton.
Peters said 83 people have stayed at the Helping Hands Society since Sept. 1, and no one has been turned away in that time.
"The shelter has 15 beds and we haven't had more than 15 people needing a bed at one time," she said.
Harker said he views the situation in a positive light, and believes the homeless are being provided with services in Squamish rather than being swept out of Whistler.
"I'm a pretty optimistic person and that's the only way I can look at this," he said. "I have to frame this whole thing from that perspective. Being angry doesn't get me anywhere."
David Eby, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said Vanoc broke its promise to provide adequate housing for the homeless.
"The [2010 Winter Games Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement] said that nobody would be displaced as a result of the Olympic Games," said Eby.
"That's an unambiguous promise. Bus tickets are not what people had in mind when they were thinking about the social promises that were made around the Olympics."
awoo@vancouversun.com