Nothing About Us Without Us: Interim Report on Community Visioning

Between August 2007 and April 2008 the Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) conducted 15 visioning sessions with almost 300 Downtown Eastside (DTES) residents. In March and April, CCAP had 655 residents fill out a one page questionnaire about the community. The number of people CCAP met with in both stages is far higher than in most public input processes.

The results of the vision sessions and questionnaire show that the overwhelming majority of low-income residents agree that the TES is a real community where people know each other and feel comfortable and at home. Ninety-five percent said they would like to continue to live in the DTES if they had safe, secure housing. There is also overwhelming agreement about what residents want and need: affordable housing, better incomes and services, mostly health services. Most current residents do not want the area to become dominated by condos and many fear that they will be pushed out with nowhere to go.

Publication Date: 
2008
Location: 
Vancouver, BC, Canada