Homelessness experiences in three Olympic host cities

Transcription

1 A Sporting Chance? Homelessness experiences in three Olympic host cities A St Mungo s Fact Sheet - April 2012 In summer 2012, the spotlight will be on London as the host of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. London made real progress in the 1990s and in the first decade of the 21 st homelessness. century in tackling However, in 2012, London must ensure that it doesn t drop the baton. We are calling for a commitment to an Olympic Legacy for homeless people to ensure that, after 2012, homeless people are neither forgotten nor left behind. St Mungo's runs over 100 projects across London and the South, providing accommodation and much more for over 1,700 people every night of the year. From emergency support off the streets to semi-independent housing and move on guidance, employment opportunities, training and health support, the charity helps thousands of people to make permanent life changes every year. This St Mungo s factsheet asks, What is the legacy from three other Olympic host cities? Atlanta, 1996: 30,000 people displaced "They forced middle-income people out. They forced low-income people into the streets. Then after the Olympics, no one wanted to rent the apartments. We've seen community after community destroyed." Levels of homelessness and preparation for the Games - Anita Beatty, Executive Director, Atlanta Taskforce for the Homeless 1 In the build up to the Games the oldest public housing development in the United States was demolished. In that neighbourhood alone 1,100 units of public housing were lost; and redevelopment in the area consisted primarily of expensive properties with only a small number designated for affordable housing. 2 The Olympics were linked to the loss of an estimated 10,000 units of affordable housing between 1995 and 2000, 3 and it has been widely reported that around 30,000 people were displaced by the Games and associated gentrification. 4 1

2 Law enforcement and rough sleepers A number of Quality of Life ordinances were enforced by the police that criminalised people begging and loitering, including those "acting in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals". 5 One-way bus tickets out of the city were distributed to poor and homeless people in the run up to the Games. 6 There were more than 9,000 documented arrests of homeless people from May 1995 to May 1996, a number four times greater than in other years. 7 Litigation brought by homeless people and local advocates led to the City being subjected to a Federal Court Order to cease and desist arresting homeless people without probable cause on the eve of the Games 8 Many people who were arrested were held for trial until after the Olympic Games: advocates allege that these were deliberate delays during the Olympic Games in bringing people before the court in order to keep them off the street and hidden away. 9 The Quality of Life ordinances continued to be rigorously enforced and broadened in application. The gentrification of the centre of the city and associated displacement of low-income households has also continued to leave individuals and families on low incomes with nowhere to live. 10 In January 2011 there were an estimated 2,075 men, women and children sleeping on Atlanta s streets, under its bridges and in its parks. 11 This is four times as many rough sleepers as were found in London in the same year. 12 Sydney, 2000: A new protocol for working with homeless people Levels of homelessness and preparation for the Games House prices in the city doubled between 1996 and 2003, combining with a rise in rents to reduce the supply of affordable housing. 13 The number of requests for assistance from Sydney City Council s housing advice service tripled between 1993 and Sydney s Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services recorded a fourfold rise in number of enquiries from people facing eviction in inner Sydney between 1998 and The State Housing Department helped to reduce the impact of the games through housing people in emergency accommodation in the run up to the Games. 16 Despite this, the 2000 Olympic Games were dubbed the Homelessness Games in the New South Wales Parliament. 17 2

3 Law enforcement and rough sleepers We are not going to round them up...no-one will be forced to move. We cannot afford to be a world city with fantastic fireworks and the Olympics without also showing that we are dealing with our problem of homeless on the streets Frank Sartor, Mayor of Sydney, Local volunteers and campaign groups mobilised to ensure that any incidents of police harassment could be quickly reported. The city also deployed street outreach workers alongside police to respond to incidents involving homeless people. 19 The police and other agencies were given stronger powers to move anyone perceived as an annoyance or inconvenience using reasonable force from popular tourist areas. 20 There is, however, little evidence of these laws being enforced or of homeless people being mistreated throughout the games. 21 A survey of 189 homeless men in the city found that 42 per cent said that they had noticed a change in the way that they were treated by the police. Although one man is quoted as saying that he was checked four times in one day by police, another said that the police were friendlier than normal. 22 Shelter New South Wales reported on radio that many homeless people participated in the citywide enthusiasm for the games, enjoying the festive atmosphere and live television broadcasts around the city. 23 A protocol introduced for the Olympics, which police and other agencies followed when working with homeless people, may have contributed to these positive experiences. The protocol states that Homeless people have a right to be in public places and to participate in public events...homeless people should be left alone unless they are in distress, in danger, are a danger to others or are damaging or likely to damage property or the environment. 24 The protocol introduced in the run-up to the Games was kept in place after the Games and expanded to cover more agencies and the whole of the state of New South Wales in The committee formed by the Department of Housing before the Games, the Partnership Against Homelessness, set a pattern of multi-agency cooperation dedicated to addressing homelessness that continues to operate across the city and state. 26 Despite a continued shortage of low cost housing in the city, Sydney has recorded a 25 per cent reduction in rough sleeping in recent years and has also met Federal targets around reducing the overall level of homelessness. 27 3

4 Vancouver, 2010: Using the Olympic Kidnapping Act to get homeless people off the streets Levels of homelessness and preparations for the Games Between 2005 and 2010 Vancouver s homeless population increased by 26 per cent. 28 Canada has an extremely large homeless population for a developed country; in 2006 the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights took the unusual step of urging Canada to address homelessness and inadequate housing a national crisis. 29 Law enforcement and rough sleepers In December 2009, British Columbia, Vancouver s province, passed the Assistance to Shelter Act allowing police officers to use compulsion to remove the homeless from public areas and put them into winter shelters. The act was dubbed the Olympic Kidnapping Act by campaign groups. 30 The Chief of Vancouver Police made an independent statement to the press that his officers would not uphold the legislation, saying that officers would use only minimal, non-forceful touching to persuade people to accept a lift to a shelter, and would not force people to comply if they resisted. 31 Jacqueline Kennelly, a researcher in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, interviewed 100 marginalised and homeless young people in the city and found that they had common experiences before and during the Games, "If they were panhandling or even if they were just sitting, they felt as if they were being asked to move on much more by the police," she said. "They felt that this was because the Games were coming." 32 Before and during the Games, the police were accused of targeting homeless people in particular parts of the city for committing minor infractions for which they were given fines that they could never hope to pay. 33 Vancouver was named the world s most liveable city throughout the years leading up to the Games. 34 However, the 2010 Winter Olympics were accompanied by the Vancouver Poverty Olympics, an event organised by protestors to draw popular and media attention to the plight of the city s homeless and low income residents. 35 The Mayor made an electoral pledge to end rough sleeping by 2015, as well as to prioritise supportive and low cost accommodation. 36 The federal and local governments have recently announced they will be working together to deliver $11 million worth of investment services to try and address homelessness in the city. 37 4

5 References 1 Foster, S. (1999) Atlanta's Olympic Legacy: More Poverty, Less Freedom Salt Lake City Tribune, March Ibid. 3 Foster, S. (1999) Atlanta's Olympic Legacy: More Poverty, Less Freedom 4 COHRE (2007)Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights 5 Smothers, R (1996). As Olympics Approach, Homeless Are Not Feeling at Home in Atlanta New York Times. 6 COHRE (2007) Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights 7 Smothers, R. (1996) As Olympics Approach, Homeless Are Not Feeling at Home in Atlanta New York Times 8 COHRE (2007) Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights 9 Ibid. 10 Beaty, A. (2007) Atlanta s Olympic legacy: Background Paper Geneva: COHRE 11 Pathways Community Network (2011) The 2011 Metro Atlanta tri-jurisdictional collaborative continuum of care homeless census: city of Atlanta, Fulton county and Dekalb county Atlanta: Pathways Community Network. 12 Department for Communities and Local Government (2012) Statutory Homelessness: October - December Quarter COHRE (2007) Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights 14 Darcy, M. (2004) Sydney as a case study of housing and social justice in Australia pp in Leonard, R. (ed.) A Fair Go: Some issues of Social Justice in Australia Altona: Common Ground Publishing. 15 Blunden, H (2007) The impacts of the Sydney Olympic games on housing rights: Background Paper 16 Rhiannon, L June 22, Parliament of New South Wales Hansard. 17 Rhiannon, L.- speaking an in an Adjournment that was agreed on June 22, Recorded in Parliament of New South Wales Hansard. 18 Walker, F. (2000) Swept under the carpet The Sun-Herald 16 January. 19 Blunden, H (2007) The impacts of the Sydney Olympic games on housing rights: Background Paper Geneva: COHRE 20 New South Wales Parliament, Homebush Bay Operations Act and Regulation 1999 and Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority Act and Regulation Blunden, H (2007) The impacts of the Sydney Olympic games on housing rights: Background Paper. 22 Polakow, V. and Guillean, C. (2001) International perspectives on homelessness Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, quoting survey figures from from Vinson, T. (2000) Counting Sydney's street homeless: Interim Report Shelter New South Wales 23 Polakow, V. and Guillean, C. (2001) International perspectives on homelessness 24 New South Wales Department of Community Services (2003) Protocol for Homeless People in Public Places: Guidelines for Implementation. 25 Ibid. 26 see 27 Munro, K. (2012) Rough sleeper numbers down in Sydney: council The Sydney Morning Herald February Kraus, D. et al. (2010) Vancouver Homeless Count 2010: Off the street and into shelters, Final Report Vancouver: Eberle Planning and Research. 29 Comments of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Miloon Kothari. See United Nations expert on adequate housing calls for immediate attention to tackle national housing crisis in Canada; available at 30 Carnegie Community Action Project (2009) Olympic Kidnapping Act denounced by DTES residents November Jerven, T. (2010) 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony: What about Vancouver s homeless? Christian Science Monitor, February CBC News (2011) Homeless youth pushed out for 2010 Games available at 33 Condon, S. (2010) Olympic treatment of the poor wins no medals Real Change Vol. 17 (11) 34 Economist Intelligence Unit. 35 see 36 City Of Vancouver (2010) Housing and Homelessness Strategy 37 Sinoski, S. (2012) Metro Vancouver to direct $11 million towards homelessness Vancouver Sun February 29. 5