From the Pivot Legal Society. On Monday Abbotsford City Counsel held a public consultation about the development of a 20 room housing project (notably the smallest proposed BC Housing project in history) for men who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The community support at this meeting was outstanding.
Photo: Roy Colin Roberts is a DWS member and grew up in Abbotsford . Photo by Bas Stevens
What was also outstanding was the vocal minority that displayed a truly unfortunate level of misunderstanding, fear and at times, dare I say, hate for these members of their community.
What was also incredibly clear is that those who stand to gain or lose the most weren’t heard. In fact, they don’t even have the right to have a say. It was repeatedly noted that each speaker needed to provide their residential address. Not one man living on the streets in Abbotsford took to the microphone. It would appear that their invite got lost in the mail.
There are a lot of caring people in Abbotsford. Hopefully Abbotsford takes this moment in history to realize that all Abbotsford residents are an equal part of the community. Just because not everyone has a roof doesn’t make them homeless. Abbotsford is their home. Now let’s work to give people safe housing to call their own.