PCAP Vows to Step up the Fight for Affordable Housing

On January 22, 2004 the City of Peterborough bulldozed a house at 1130 Water Street. This building - formerly used for subsidized housing in Peterborough - became a symbol of the struggle for affordable housing when members of the Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty (PCAP) squatted the building last June.

The sick irony is that City Council spent $8900 to demolish the building - a full $2000 MORE than the costs to repair the building (and bring it up to code). All while over 1700 families in Peterborough are listed as waiting for affordable housing.

Although PCAP offered to make full repairs to the house, the city refused and brought in 20 police in riot gear to evict the homeless people who were living there.

PCAP sees the decision to demolish as an attack against affordable housing and an attack against low-income people organizing around homelessness. PCAP has vowed to step up its fight for affordable housing.

For the full story, read on.....

PCAP CONDEMNS CITY COUNCIL'S SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS: DEMOLISHING AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS NOT THE ANSWER

-- JANUARY 23, 2004 --

On January 22, 2004 the City of Peterborough bulldozed the house at 1130 Water Street - a building once used for affordable housing - but now reduced to rubble. This house, a symbol of the struggle for affordable housing in Peterborough, was demolished under the recommendations of a local non-profit housing organization -- the Peterborough Community Housing Development Corporation (PCHDC) -- and by orders of Peterborough City Council.

The demolition occurred in a city recognized as having the worst housing insecurity problem in the province - a city where more than 1700 families are on the affordable housing waiting list, shelters are overflowing, and an estimated 250 youth are without a place to call home.

After taking over the house in public squat last June, the Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty (PCAP) offered to make full repairs to 1130 Water Street. Although this initiative would have cost the City virtually nothing, Council refused, choosing to destroy viable housing, rather than work cooperatively with one of the only low-income groups in Peterborough. This is not only an attack against affordable housing - it is an attack against low-income people organizing against homelessness.

PCAP members, however, were not surprised. The City and the PCHDC have long excluded low-income people from participating in decision-making on housing issues. In July, the PCHDC refused to allow PCAP to make a presentation to its board when they were deciding the fate of 1130 Water Street. As stated in an e-mail to PCAP: "The Board of PCHDC, by consensus, agreed not to continue a working relationship with PCAP. Furthermore, as a private non profit organization, PCHDC has no obligation to share our minutes with anyone other than Board members."

The demolition of 1130 Water Street follows a long pattern of bad decisions by the PCHDC and City. Following the severe flood that occurred in the spring of 2002, the PCHDC failed to properly treat the water damage in the building. Soon after, a mould problem developed in the house and eventually, the City was forced to relocate its low-income tenant who had developed severe health problems as a result of the PCHDC and City's mismanagement and neglect. Rather than correcting the problem, the City let the building sit empty for another 7 months until PCAP took it over last summer. Last month, in order to stop a civil suit by the former tenant, the PCHDC settled the matter out-of-court under the conditions of an imposed gag-order.

In June 2003, when anti-poverty activists squatted the house to use for affordable housing, PCAP began making repairs to the house. Peterborough City Council responded with 20 police in riot gear to evict the homeless people who were living at 1130 Water Street. The City offered no emergency housing assistance to those it evicted. And despite PCAP's continued offer to repair the house for free, City Council chose instead to spend $8900 to demolish the building - a full $2000 MORE than the costs to repair the building (and bring it up to code).

The City and the PCHDC have proven themselves to be landlords of the worst kind: they have 1) treated tenants poorly; 2) failed to repair and properly maintain their property; 3) evicted homeless people; 4) destroyed affordable housing. Peterborough residents demand better.

If Council thought that bulldozing 1130 Water Street would deter PCAP from further squatting - nothing could be more wrong. By refusing to work with us, City Council has made it clear that working within the city's bureaucracy will not produce results - PCAP must fight on our own terms. The City's decision to demolish 1130 Water Street has only spurred our determination to struggle stronger, to fight harder and to win the battle for affordable housing in Peterborough.

PCAP has witnessed the benefits of squatting in other cities. Only last month, in the City of Toronto, a squat action by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, resulted in the creation of long-term affordable housing on Gerrard Street. This victory proves that squatting works.

THE CITY MAY HAVE DEMOLISHED OUR SQUAT - BUT THEY CAN NEVER DESTROY OUR STRENGTH AND OUR STRUGGLE.

So long as the City, Province and Federal Government refuses to take responsibility for affordable housing, we are left with little other choice, we will have to take matters into our own hands.

PCAP is ready to step up the fight for affordable housing in Peterborough. We will not let Council's actions go unanswered.

WE WILL FIGHT TO WIN!