July Newsletter from Greater Victoria Acting Together - Save the date for Oct 2nd Housing Assembly!
Welcome to the July 2022 Newsletter from Greater Victoria Acting Together
Highlights:
● SAVE THE DATE! SUNDAY OCTOBER 2, 7:00 - 8:30 PM GVAT HOUSING AFFORDABILITY ASSEMBLY
● Write to support Gorge View affordable housing proposal today! (Public hearing Thursday July 28!)
● Win! Oak Bay allows secondary suites and boarders, without additional parking
● Profiles: Yvonne Hsieh & Camosun College Students’ Society
Greater Victoria Acting Together has had many successes. We have supported decision makers to take steps to protect us from a changing climate, address affordable housing and find community first ways to address opioid overdose deaths. Each newsletter will update you about our work and introduce you to one of our leaders and a member organization.
Our campaigns
We listen to people directly affected by an issue and other organisations working on it. We talk to decision makers and researchers. Once we have set a direction we talk to people in positions of influence, write letters, attend meetings and use the media to make our point. Our collective voice is large, and our impact is growing.
Our three focus areas often overlap: Climate Justice, Affordable housing and Mental Health and Addictions.
Affordable Housing
Save the date! GVAT Housing Affordability Assembly, Sunday October 2, 7:00 - 8:30pm, at Christ Church Cathedral and On-line.
Civil society can and will shape housing decisions to ensure housing is treated as a human right. GVAT members and their families and friends will ask mayoral candidates to make the commitments we decide are the most important. Come be part of the action as people impacted by the housing crisis invite constructive engagement with decision makers.
Email your support for the Chown Place Affordable Housing proposal today!
GVAT supports the Gorge View Housing Society (GVHS) Master Plan re-zoning application for Chown Place, which will allow the GVHS to build more affordable homes for seniors and families on their 5.6-acre property between Gorge Road and West Burnside. GVHS plans for a staged development, so current residents can move into the new housing before they have to leave their old unit."
Affordable homes for seniors and families are desperately needed in our community. Please write today and ask Mayor Helps and Victoria City Council to vote to approve Gorge View Housing Society’s re-zoning application for 11 Chown Place on July 28, 2022.
Please send emails of support to publichearings@victoria.ca and copy council members at mayor@victoria.ca malto@victoria.ca sdubow@victoria.ca bisitt@victoria.ca jloveday@victoria.ca spotts@victoria.ca cthornton-joe@victoria.ca gyoung@victoria.ca stephen.andrew@victoria.ca
You can also speak to City Council on July 28 – details on the Council agenda.
We are pleased to provide a slide show and presentation on affordable housing in the region. If your organization would like to host this and learn more about solutions, contact admin@gvat.ca
Win! Oak Bay allows secondary suites and boarders, without additional parking
Greater Victoria Acting Together members, as well as Camosun and UVic students, have been campaigning to get Oak Bay to improve their secondary suite and roomers / boarders policies for years. And now Oak Bay, after a vote on July 18, has directed staff to create a better policy than some other area municipalities!
In Victoria, Saanich, and most area municipalities, bylaws say you are not allowed to have a secondary suite and rent a room to a Camosun or UVic student. But now Oak Bay will be a leader in the region by allowing both in the same house. Read more about this win in this GVAT blog post.
Climate Justice
Stay tuned as we work to point out that the multi-million dollar Keating Cross Road flyover interchange is not in line with the Provincial government’s CleanBC target of reducing private automobile travel 25% by 2030. An inexpensive traffic light would make it safe to turn left at this intersection. A very expensive interchange makes no sense when provincial and regional climate policy calls for a future with fewer cars. The $77 million would be much better spent on making life more affordable with electric buses and bus lanes for BC Transit’s proposed RapidBus network. You will hear more about our proposals to integrate affordable housing with affordable low-carbon transportation at GVAT’s Housing Assembly on October 2nd.
Member organisations have also embraced deep conversations about climate anxiety and hope. If your organisation is interested, get in touch with Jane Welton, co-lead of the Climate Justice Team.
Mental Health and Addictions
Housing First! is good mental health and addictions policy so we are working hard to make our Affordable Housing Assembly on October 2 a big celebration as people with lived experience shape decision making in our region.
If you missed our preparatory work with the Existence Project, see our blog post. We continue to work with the community team helping to establish Victoria’s new Peer Assisted Crisis Team, which will start responding to mental health and addictions crises later this summer.
● Win! Victoria’s new Peer Assisted Crisis Team to start work this summer: Feds decriminalize opioids
Building leaderful communities
GVAT is full of leaders who support other leaders to step up. All of us are busy and all of us know community work is like running in a relay or singing in a choir. We participate when we can and when we cannot, others are there to take their part. This means we train a lot of leaders!
Profile: Yvonne Hsieh, co-chair of GVAT’s Housing Action Research Team
Organisational connection to GVAT
Holy Cross Catholic Parish
Roles within GVAT
Co-Lead of the Affordable Housing ART, Member of the Climate Justice ART, and Member of the Conflict Resolution Committee
What keeps you awake at night or is of special concern to you these days?
The only thing that would prevent me from having a good night’s sleep is news of the passing (or diagnosis of serious illness) of someone dear to me. Otherwise, I’m pretty good at convincing myself that worrying can wait till the morning! But the list of things I worry about is long: the war in Ukraine, the threat of global famine, climate change, increasing social inequity, rising inflation . . .
What gives you hope or gets you up in the morning?
My religious faith, and a desire to learn something new and do something meaningful every day.
Tell us about a hobby or interest you have.
I love studying languages. After my retirement, I learned Italian (or at least acquired a good reading knowledge of it) and studied Arabic for four years (without getting very far, alas!).
What motivates you to leadership in GVAT?
To be honest, I was arm-twisted into accepting the Co-Lead’s position in the Housing ART. My background as a Professor of French Literature did not exactly prepare me for it! However, I feel honoured that GVAT colleagues put their trust in me, and the two other Co-Leads (Lynn Beak and Kari Michaels) are a joy to work with. This motivates me to do my best.
What is one favourite action you have taken as a result of being involved with GVAT?
I spent my childhood in a concrete jungle (Hong Kong), with little opportunity to admire the great outdoors. Colleagues in the Climate ART have taught me to appreciate nature more. I spend more time now smelling the flowers and listening to the birds!
Any special thoughts to share with other newsletter readers?
Life is indeed a box of chocolates. When I retired from academia some years ago, I thought I would travel more, learn a new musical instrument, read to my heart’s content, and volunteer in the arts and culture sector. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would become a social and climate justice advocate!
Profile: Camosun College Students Society:
Where do your members live?
All over Greater Victoria, and up to the mid-Island.
How many members do you have in your organization?
9000
How does your organization see its participation in GVAT as helping advance its own work?
We are reaching out to community groups to try and change the understanding about the nature of being a student today. Being more involved in the community will help them to understand us better.
How has participating in GVAT helped your organization?
We have made connections in the community we would not have otherwise made.
Any further information to other organizations thinking about joining GVAT?
Yes, It takes drops of water in the ocean to make a wave. You need to get into the ocean to help the wave happen.
Make your summer more fun and meaningful! Come join us
GVAT External Communications Team - Jane Welton, Eric Doherty, Peggy Wilmot, Amalia Schelhorn & Patricia Lane
If you are not subscribed and want to receive future newsletters, please fill in the subscribe box at www.gvat.ca.