The mood in the building was palpable, as tenants woke up in a new world they had helped create. PHS released a statement saying that a broken wire was found and replaced by sheer coincidence, but it was clear that the tenants had forced PHS’s hand, and everyone knew it.
This week, the Portland Tenants Union obtained a major victory in securing the immediate repair of the elevator in their building. This is only an inaugural victory and residents will continue to fight for the rights of tenants in supportive housing.
On November 1st, after 4 months of consultation & deliberation, a provincial committee released a report titled Closing Gaps, Reducing Barriers: Expanding the Response to the Toxic Drug and Overdose Crisis. In response, individuals and organizations have responded in unison to express disappointment, and call for what is truly needed to address the poisoned drug supply underpinning the overdose death crisis: a predictable and regulated supply of drugs accessible to all within a prescriber model and beyond.
This is about context. And in the current context where there is no housing for unhoused people, calls to clean up the streets mean violence – displacement, dispossession, banishment, death.