Super In-Tent City, Victoria
In Victoria Alliance Against Displacement works with SIC Society (formed by residents of Super InTent City, a tent city that operated from 2015-2016), others who are homeless or precariously housing (including those living in punitive “supportive” housing), and housed supporters such as those involved in Homes Not Hate. Our focus is ending violence against people living in poverty, especially violence caused by governments, cops, and social workers, which takes the form of criminalization, containment, surveillance, and other systematic means of marginalizing, excluding, and punishing people for being poor.
There have been many tent cities in Victoria over the past 6 years, reflecting the daily displacement and criminalization of homeless people and the failure of government programs that are more about managing and concealing homelessness than ending it. Super InTent City and SIC Society show the power of unhoused people to politically unite and manage their own homes and lives. Even though Super InTent City was forcibly dismantled in August 2016, the struggle continues and people continue to organize. Visit intentcity.ca for ongoing news.
Victoria Updates and Events
Recent news from Super In-Tent City
- SIC Society Victory: Supreme Court Ruling Defends Rights of Residents May 23, 2018Our victory is a victory for all residents living in supportive housing across the province. We filed complaints about the restrictive guest policy in 2017 and the Portland Hotel Society responded by arguing that the 844 Johnson St building was a “housing-based health facility” in an effort to exempt the building from the Act. The […]intentcityvic
- Walls of PHS January 12, 2018 intentcityvic
- Rights-based Housing January 6, 2018This week, the UN rapporteur on housing Leilani Farha gave a global perspective on the housing crisis in her article Housing is a human rights issue – and 2018 must be the year to address it She describes “rights-based housing strategies” and how these “must transform how governments, at all levels, interact with those who are […]intentcityvic
- 14/24 Showers are Out of Order January 3, 2018There are currently 10 working showers in a five floor, 147 person building. On one floor, none of the six showers are working. In what other residential building would this be acceptable? The Portland Hotel Society came to Victoria with the mandate of housing and supporting low-income people. Over a year later, the building does […]intentcityvic
- #OpentheArmouries January 2, 2018[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/376244492" params="visual=true&show_artwork=true&maxwidth=740&maxheight=1000&dnt=1" width="100%" height="400" iframe="true" /]intentcityvic
- Royal BC Museum hosts SIC Society January 2, 2018The Royal BC Museum held an event last September which the The Martlet kindly recorded. You can listen to Part One and Part Two. “In 2015 and 2016, a tent city on the grounds of the provincial court house in Victoria highlighted the need for safe and accessible housing and shelter for the city’s most vulnerable. […]intentcityvic
- Collective demands for just housing December 30, 2017The following are our collective demands for housing: We need self-determination and control over our own homes: We need to be treated as adults and as any other ‘9-5’er would in their own homes The housing needs to fall under the Residential Tenancy Act and our names need to be on the agreement Strong tenant […]intentcityvic
- Annual General Report November 10, 2017In preparation for our upcoming Annual General Meeting, we have completed our Super Intent City Society Annual Report Super Intent City Society continues to organize from the 844 Johnson St, Portland Hotel Society building. We hold weekly Resident Council meetings and carry forward our values rooted in the community built at Intent City. Please direct any […]intentcityvic
- Defend our community room: We need common spaces to survive! October 23, 2017This week, we received notice that on Wednesday, October 25th at 11am, Portland Hotel Society (PHS) management plans to close our resident-run, community room at 844 Johnson Street. This common room is essential for building tenant power, decreasing isolation, and promoting health among residents. It is home to our weekly Residents’ Council meetings where […]intentcityvic
- Continuing the fight for Homes Not Jails April 3, 2017We agreed to move from tent city to 844 Johnson Street on the promise that housing would improve our living conditions not make them worse. We were promised that Portland Hotel Society (PHS) would offer us *different* housing than the institutional, supportive housing we had experienced in the past. We were promised rights as renters […]intentcityvic
For more information and analysis about organizing by SIC Society and AAD in Victoria, take a look at the following articles published in The Volcano.
Social work as social control: By Joshua Goldberg & Flora Pagan