Portland Hotel Society

Last updated

Portland Hotel Society (PHS) is a Canadian non-profit society created in 1993 to provide advocacy, housing, services, and opportunities, for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Its 451 staff support 1,153 rooms, North America's first legal supervised-injection site, known as Insite, [1] a Downtown Eastside credit union branch (Pigeon Park Savings), [2] a food service that feeds people in Single-Room Occupancy residences (Downtown Eastside Central Kitchen) and a pest control service (Bugs Be Gone). [3]

Contents

In 1991, the Downtown Eastside Residents Association (DERA) converted a local hotel to housing for homeless people and named it after the American city of Portland, Oregon due to its reputation for aiding homeless people. [4]

A co-founder of the society was former Vancouver city councilor Jim Green. [5]

Housing

As of 2019, PHS operates over 24 supportive housing facilities across Vancouver and Victoria for community members who have experience with mental illnesses, challenges with substance use, a history of homelessness, past experience with the criminal justice system and other encounters with oppressive or structural violence. The program is funded by the BC Housing Management Commission (a provincial Crown corporation) and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. Approximately 40 percent of residents remain in PHS housing for about 10 years, while the balance of residents stay 4 to 6 years. This contrasts dramatically with the prior history of residents, who typically registered 6 to 8 addresses – or none at all – in the year before moving to the Portland Hotel. [4]

It currently operates several buildings owned by BC Housing, including the Washington Hotel, the Rainier Hotel, the Roosevelt Hotel, the Beacon Hotel and the Sunrise Hotel. [3]

Insite

In September 2003, the PHS forced Vancouver Coastal Health to found Insite by constructing and opening the site illegally. Insite became North America's first supervised injection site. The Government was forced through the pressure of public opinion to issue a special exemption to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. [6] [ failed verification ]

On August 13, 2007, the Portland Hotel Society and two citizens filed suit in the BC Supreme Court to keep the centre open, arguing that its closure by the federal government would be a violation of the Charter right of Insite users to "security of the person". [7]

On September 29, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously in Canada (AG) v PHS Community Services Society that the federal government's failure to renew Insite's exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was

arbitrary, undermining the very purposes of the CDSA, which include public health and safety. It is also grossly disproportionate: the potential denial of health services and the correlative increase in the risk of death and disease to injection drug users outweigh any benefit that might be derived from maintaining an absolute prohibition on possession of illegal drugs on Insite's premises.

The Court ordered the federal government to grant an exemption to Insite forthwith, allowing the facility to stay open. [8] Although the Court noted the government could later withdraw this exemption, "where [...] the evidence indicates that a supervised injection site will decrease the risk of death and disease, and there is little or no evidence that it will have a negative impact on public safety, the [government] should generally grant an exemption." [9]

Governance

According to filings with Revenue Canada, PHS revenue for 2013 exceeded $35.5 million, with 61 percent provided by the provincial government of British Columbia. For that year, management costs accounted for nine percent of expenses. In 2013, six full-time employees received compensation between $120,000 and $159,000. [10]

In early 2014, the provincial minister responsible for housing Rich Coleman disclosed that an external audit by accounting firm KPMG found concerns about administration costs. [10] [11]

As a result of the audit's findings, the nine-member board and (husband and wife) co-executive directors Mark Townsend and Liz Evans resigned in March 2014. Replacement board members included Vancouver Coastal's former CEO Ida Goodreau and current Chief Medical Health Officer Patty Daly. [12]

Related Research Articles

Skid row Impoverished urban area in North America

A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people "on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, either considered disreputable, downtrodden or forgotten by society. A skid row may be anything from an impoverished urban district to a red-light district to a gathering area for homeless people and drug addicts. In general, skid row areas are inhabited or frequented by individuals marginalized by poverty and also drug addicts. Urban areas considered skid rows are marked by high vagrancy, dilapidated buildings, and drug dens, as well as other features of urban blight. Used figuratively, the phrase may indicate the state of a poor person's life.

Supervised injection site

Supervised injection sites (SIS) are medically supervised facilities designed to provide a hygienic environment in which people are able to consume illicit recreational drugs intravenously and prevent deaths due to drug overdoses. The legality of such a facility is dependent by location and political jurisdiction. Supervised injection sites are part of a harm reduction approach towards drug problems. The facilities provide sterile injection equipment, information about drugs and basic health care, treatment referrals, access to medical staff, and, at some facilities, counseling. Most programs prohibit the sale or purchase of recreational drugs at the facility.

Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The Downtown Eastside (DTES) is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, the DTES is the site of a complex set of social issues including disproportionately high levels of drug use, homelessness, poverty, crime, mental illness and sex work. It is also known for its strong community resilience, history of social activism, and artistic contributions.

Jim Green (councilman)

Jim Green was an American-Canadian who was a longshoreman, taxicab driver, community activist, non-profit housing developer, municipal politician, university instructor and development consultant.

Insite Safe drug injection facility in Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Insite is the first legal supervised drug injection site in North America, located at 139 East Hastings Street, in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. The DTES had 4700 chronic drug users in 2000 and has been considered to be the centre of an "injection drug epidemic". The site provides a supervised and health-focused location for injection drug use, primarily heroin. The clinic does not supply any drugs. Medical staff are present to provide addiction treatment, mental health assistance, and first aid in the event of an overdose or wound. In 2017, the site recorded 175,464 visits by 7,301 unique users; 2,151 overdoses occurred with no fatalities, due to intervention by medical staff. The site also offers a free checking service so clients can check their substances for fentanyl and carfentanil. Health Canada has provided $500,000 per year to operate the site, and the BC Ministry of Health contributed $1,200,000 to renovate the site and cover operating costs. Insite also serves as a resource for those seeking to use a harm reduction approach for people who inject drugs around the world. In recent months and years, delegations from a number of countries are on record touring the facility, including various U.S. states, Colombia and Brazil. 95% of drug addicts who use Insite also shoot up on the street according to a British Columbia health official.

John Wilfred Turvey, was a long-time advocate for the disadvantaged in Vancouver, British Columbia. After becoming a heroin addict at 13 years old and dropping out of Barr Beacon School in year 10, John Turvey went on to found and serve as the Executive Director of the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society for 20 years. He died of mitochondrial myopathy in Comox, British Columbia at the age of 61.

Vancouver Agreement

The Vancouver Agreement was an initiative undertaken jointly by the governments of Canada, British Columbia, and the City of Vancouver, to develop and revitalize Vancouver, and in particular its Downtown Eastside, through collaboration between projects and ministries at all three levels of government, as well as community and business groups. While other parts of the city are also targeted by the initiative, its Downtown Eastside area is notorious across Canada for its deep problems with poverty, substance abuse, prostitution, violent crime and homelessness, and the agreement’s stated goals include promoting the health, safety and economic and social well being of the neighbourhood. The initial five-year agreement began in March, 2000 and expired in March, 2010.

Gabor Maté Hungarian-Canadian physician

Gabor Maté is a Hungarian-Canadian physician and author. He has a background in family practice and a special interest in childhood development and trauma, and in their potential lifelong impacts on physical and mental health, including on autoimmune disease, cancer, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), addictions, and a wide range of other conditions.

Riverview Hospital (Coquitlam) Hospital in British Columbia, Canada

Riverview Hospital was a Canadian mental health facility located in Coquitlam, British Columbia. It operated under the governance of BC Mental Health & Addiction Services when it closed in July 2012. In December 2015, the provincial government announced plans to replace the obsolete buildings with new mental health facilities scheduled to open in about 2019. As of 2019, several unsafe buildings have been torn down but no new construction has started.

Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users

The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users or VANDU is a not-for-profit organization and advocacy group based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The group believes that all drug users should have their own rights and freedoms. The group's members have been actively involved in lobbying for support of Insite, North America's first safe injection site, located in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.

Founded in 1983, AIDS Vancouver (AV) is a non-profit and community-based health organization whose mission is to alleviate collective vulnerability to HIV and AIDS through support, public education and community-based research. The organization exists to both ameliorate the life of persons living with HIV and AIDS, and to prevent the spread of HIV by educational initiatives. Based in Vancouver, it is Canada's oldest and Vancouver's largest HIV and AIDS service organization.

Community Builders Group is the founding member of a group of humanitarian organizations operating in Burundi, Canada, DR Congo, Haiti, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The network is known for supporting indigenous groups attempting to find their own natural pathways to self-sufficiency and wellness through bottom-up community initiatives.

Joseph Arvay Canadian lawyer

Joseph James Arvay, was a Canadian lawyer who argued numerous landmark cases involving civil liberties and constitutional rights.

Homelessness in Vancouver Social crisis in Vancouver

Homelessness in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is a social crisis that has been rapidly accelerating over the last decade. According to the United Nations, homelessness can either be relative or absolute. Absolute homelessness describes people living in absence of proper physical shelter. Relative homelessness describes people living in poor conditions of health or security, including an absence of both personal safety and steady income despite having physical shelter to reside in. As of 2011, roughly 2,651 people in Vancouver are subject to one of these types of homelessness, or are transitioning between them. Homelessness as a social issue in Vancouver originated from federal funding cuts to affordable housing. After market housing increased, the cost of housing became one of Vancouver's main causes of homelessness, alongside lack of income. The homeless population in Vancouver is subjected to high amounts of crime-related victimization. There have been several approaches to reducing the homeless population in Greater Vancouver by the city and other organizations. As of 2011, the rate of homelessness in Vancouver has stopped increasing, but it is not being reduced either.

Harsha Walia Canadian activist and writer

Harsha Walia is a Canadian activist and writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has been involved with No one is illegal, the February 14 Women's Memorial March Committee, the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, and several Downtown Eastside housing justice coalitions. Walia has been active in migrant justice, Indigenous solidarity, feminist, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist movements for over a decade.

Bud Osborn was a poet, community organizer, and activist in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Following his prolonged struggle with heroin addiction and alcohol dependency, Osborn became a founding member of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and advocated for the creation of a legal supervised injection site. His poetry commented on poverty and homelessness in Vancouver.

<i>Canada (AG) v PHS Community Services Society</i> Supreme Court of Canada case

Canada (AG) v PHS Community Services Society, 2011 SCC 44, [2011] 3 SCR 134 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada case dealing with the application of the criminal law and healthcare heads of power found in section 91 and section 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867 and the principles of fundamental justice in section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Perry Kendall, is a Canadian Public health physician who was Provincial Health Officer (PHO) for the Canadian province of British Columbia's health ministry from 1999-2018 and was awarded the Order of British Columbia for contributions to Public health field and to harm reduction policy and practice.

Liz Evans is a Canadian nurse and harm reduction pioneer. She is the founder of the nonprofit Portland Hotel Society and a cofounder of North America's first sanctioned supervised-injection facility, Insite.

Travis Lupick

Travis Lupick is a Canadian journalist and author. Lupick has worked as a staff reporter for The Georgia Straight and as a freelance reporter for the Toronto Star, and Al Jazeera English, among others.

References

  1. ↑ Leung, Marlene (21 September 2013). "As InSite turns 10, others fight for supervised drug injection sites across Canada". CTV News. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  2. ↑ in partnership with Vancity CU.
  3. 1 2 Mackie, John (19 March 2014). "Leaders of Portland Hotel Society resign in battle over funding". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Portland Hotel Society". Initiatives Profile. Shared Learnings on Homelessness. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "Jim Green: The democratic solution". Globe & Mail. 3 March 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Koshan, Jennifer. "Safe Sites for Illegal Drug Consumption: In Need of Insight". ABlawg.ca. The University of Calgary Faculty of Law. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  7. ↑ "Advocates of B.C. safe-injection site go to court to keep it open". CBC News. August 17, 2007. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  8. ↑ Canada (Attorney General) v PHS Community Services Society, 2011 SCC 44, p. 150
  9. ↑ Canada (Attorney General) v PHS Community Services Society, 2011 SCC 44, p. 152
  10. 1 2 Lupick, Travis (19 March 2014). "Portland Hotel Society founding members resign following provincial government ultimatum". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  11. ↑ Rob Shaw; Tiffany Crawford (20 March 2014). "Portland Hotel Society audit finds hundreds of thousands of dollars in questionable expenses". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  12. ↑ Lupick, Travis (19 March 2014). "Incoming Portland Hotel Society board members have strong ties to Vancouver Coastal Health". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.