Hi,
My name is Debbie and i just wanted you to know that i take the issue
of homelessness very seriously.
I lived it just six months ago and i know how hard it is!!!!!!!!!!
My reason was that i was fleeing domestic violence.
It was either stay with him and die or leave him.
Now i got into calgary housing because police and the shelters wrote
me letters saying i was in danger and needed a home.
So far so good,he hasn't found me yet but i still live in fear everyday.
Now i try to fight for all women who go homeless because we had
to leave all of our belongings and leave his income behind just to live.
If you really look at it he's still winning because he knows i had to
live poor now and in fear of him finding me one day.
I don't drive so i can't go to many events to fight for my rights plus
i really can't be seen much in public.
I did e-mail the mayor and he answered and i was on the news twice
with my self blacked out so i am trying to make a difference.
Please fight for my reason because so many women and kids go
homeless because of violence,people need to know it's just not
bums who drink that go homeless.
I'm a great person who cares about people,i had a good upbringing
with no violence at all,i went to school and it happened to me.
My son and i were sleeping outside just this past winter!!!!!!!!
Thank you for reading this.
Debbie

I am a 30 year old, born and raised Calgarian. I moved to California in 1999 and returned in 2002 to an almost unrecognizable city. It was more populated, the traffic was getting worse and the transit system seemed to have gone from bad to unbearable. I lived with my parents the first 6 months I was back and then was lucky enough to find a place with a friend.

Housing was not dire yet, so we paid $650.00 a month for a 2-bedroom apartment in a renovated character house on 13 th Ave and 2nd street downtown. In the year and a half I lived there I watched the rapid decline of the neighborhood surrounding it and after being chased into my apartment by 3 crack heads I decided it was time to find a new place. I chose to move in with my boyfriend because upon starting a search for a place I realized the prices were rising and availability was declining. We found a 2-bedroom house for $900.00 a month. I lived there a year starting in May of 2004 until May of 2005 when we split up. I attempted to find a place then, but there was literally NOTHING available, I also did not have a vehicle making it impossible to be able to view many places, not that it would have mattered as you needed to be the first person on the viewing list, and the first person at the place when it was shown. I worked full time, and some overtime making the situation even worse in regards to the apartment search.

Eventually, after several months of fruitless searching, I was lucky enough (so I thought) to have a gentleman who ran a French Cafe I often frequented offer me a beautiful suite he had above his cafe. He agreed to rent it to me for only $860.00 a month on the condition I would move in with a young girl he had working in his cafe. I agreed immediately, there was really no room at that point to be hesitant or to take any time to decide. So her and I moved in, and it was indeed quite lovely at first. That all changed soon enough as he began showing the place to other prospective renters who were looking at the unit as office space. He showed our place once while neither of us was home without our permission. Not to mention he began consistently telling my roommate that as soon as someone would pay him what he wanted for an office suite we would have to move. We moved in August of 2005 and on a weekly basis, he would give us different dates as to when we would need to move. The relationship began to turn sour between him and my roommate and ended in the New Year with him telling her he was firing her and that she had to get out of the suite. He then told me that he would be moving someone new into the suite in her place. This is the point I realized that I was absolutely helpless, there was nothing I could do, no argument I could make as I needed to at least be able to stay in the place for a month or two while I began searching once again. He had all the power and he knew it. So I began searching and after 3 months I lucked out and found a place. It was the first time I had made it to the top of a viewing list and I figured as long as it wasn't a crack den I would take it right away. I told the Frenchman I was leaving and took my roommate with me, because how on earth was a 19-year-old girl from Saskatchewan with a minimum wage job going to find a place on her own? We moved into our new place last March and have been there ever since, at least I have, the roommate found a room for rent in the NW where she was working full time so she chose to move there.

I pay 1000.00 + Electricity each month for a small apartment in Glendale. Cheap compared to what so many others are paying, but I live in fear of this coming March when there might be an increase. I am living on my own now, working a full time and part time job just to stay afloat. I have no time for myself anymore, and little quality of life yet I work my ASS off everyday, all day. I get up Monday - Friday and work from 8am to 5pm. On Thursday and Friday's I work 8am until 8:30pm, and Sundays I work from noon till 5pm.. 8am is more like 7am as even though I am only 10 minutes away from downtown, I have to get up at 6:30am to catch a 7:15am bus because if I don't get that one I will be late for work. It is crowded beyond belief everyday making the commute the most unbearable part of the day. Sometimes I am late anyways because the bus is so full it just passes us by. It is the same way on the way home, I am off at 5 and often times don't make it home until 6:30pm because the transit system is so lousy.

I want to move away from Calgary, as do most of my apartment dwelling friends but that is IMPOSSIBLE to do right now as most of my money goes into just keeping afloat here. It would take me years to save the money I would need to leave. I hate it here now, I hate this city and the greed it is built on and thrives on. Every aspect of it has become infested with a "me" attitude. You see it in the affordable housing crisis, in the faces of the homeless, in the miserable faces on the bus each morning, in the beaten down look of the Tim Horton's servers pouring your coffee in the morning, in the rage of Calgary drivers. It is everywhere. I hope those who have benefited from the misery of so many are happy with their choice. What goes around comes around and there will be a day where many of them will face repercussions of their selfishness, in fact it is already happening all around them. Increase in crime, increase in the homeless population, employee shortages and a generally miserable lower middle class and poor population. Their selfish contribution to these social ills will eventually put a damper on their influx of wealth of the back of others, it always does. The USA lived off the back of it's poor since it's inception, and look at it now. Until then, we renters will continue to be screwed every which way possible which as far as I have seen so far is NOT an advantage to living in Alberta. I have spent thousands moving a total of 3 times in two years and pray every night that I can just come home and relax and not have to worry that my rent will go up, that my landlords don't sell the place I am renting to someone greedy or that someone will just tear the building down. Calgary is no longer my city and I can say wholeheartedly I have no pride in the city, the municipal government, the provincial government or my fellow Calgarians.

Sincerely,
Erin Jensen

CHAI General Meeting
August 9, 2007
5:30pm
Arusha Centre
Present:
Tavis Ford, Karena Monroe, Horst Fergel, Luiz Veronese, AJ Matsune, Ed McCulloch, Gunther Kurring, Dale D'Silva, Krista Wells, Monique Serroul, Tara Wells, David Wilson, Jennifer McVeigh.

Introductions:
This week is CHAI's 1 year anniversary!

Homeless Awareness Week:
* CHAI will have a booth at info fair on the 16th, and a rally on the 20th at noon
* AJ – not comfortable stating that the government has a complete lack of plan, as they have announced 6 programs, it makes us sound uninformed
DECISION: we will state “a complete lack of long-term plan”

Election-based Events:
* Grant – IDEA – Election Forum – unspecified date
some candidates don't think they're effective, but we will highlight progressive people
issues to highlight – city could be standing upt o developers, secondary suites, inclusionary zoning, land allocation to non-profit housing
* it will promote 4-5 good candidates, raise the level of debate, push relevant ideas to media
* problem – candidates and audience likely to be on side – preaching to the choir, may be more effective for individuals to volunteer on campaigns
* Bryn, Grant and Luiz are willing to work on the forum
IDEA – parent-teacher interviews about candidates - “he/she needs to do better” etc.
IDEA – a positive action – ask if there are any projects in planning that the city can donate land to
IDEA – report cards on each candidate
come up with a few key questions, make sure results are published on website and released to press
* take results and say – this is what could be done
* report cards can target more people than a forum – more convenient for candidates, and can be published in any number of forums
* raise the level of debate, compare and connect candidates
* problem – politicians can always say what we want to hear, then fail to act
the questions need to be detailed and specific, so we can go back and check the reults
* should call Amy Steele at FFWD to ask if they will do it with us
DECISION: We do not have enough time or resources to put together an election forum, we will do the report cards instead
ACTION: report cards need to happen by in the last half of September
ACTION: Bryn, Luiz, David and Ed will help write the report card questions, Dalw will help dissemante them to the media through his Sierra Club links
DECISION: CHAI members will attend a large forum as a group to ask questions
DECISION: CHAI will write a list of demands for city hall, release to press and put on website on time for election
ACTION: AJ and David will help Grant research our demands
DECISION: David interested in long-term education messaging
ACTION: Jennifer will encourage people on CHAI's email list to attend HAW events

Rally/Event – Sept. 20Th, noon:
* David – IDEA – flash mob – spread blankets somewhere for 10 minutes – the action has ato have self-explanatory images and a press release before, pamplets after
IDEA – have people fill in a chalk outline of house
city hall is a small area and looks good with any number of people
pull people from Superhero event Wed.
IDEA – put up fact sheets next to Alnoor Kassan's election posters
IDEA – sidewalk chalking lasts beyond short time of event, easy and cheap
IDEA – bring cardboard boxes to signify temporariness, build housing models
IDEA – use projector to build shadow house
IDEAS– boxes - write 5 key messages on them, have $ bats knock them down, act as if we're moving in to city hall, narrator needed
DECISION: We will meet at Bankers Hall, march down Stephen Ave and chalk, stack boxes on steps of City Hall
ACTIONS: AJ will collect some boxes, David will write a box-play script and have it ready for the next meeting

Long-term Possibilites for CHAI:
ACTION: This discussion will happen at the next meeting, when there is sufficient time to explore ideas.

Minutes – CHAI General Meeting
July 5, 2007
6:30 pm, Arusha Centre

In Attendance: Grant Neufeld, Tavis Ford, Jennifer McVeigh, Gunther, Liza Lorenzetti, Ngaio Hotte.

CHAI's Letter to the Premier:
ACTION: Jennifer will edit to emphasize that govt. Needs to take another look at task force recommendations, find a polite way of telling them they need to get in touch with reality

Killarney Stampede Breakfast:
ACTION: Jennifer will call Melissa for details and email them out to membership
ACTION: Jennifer will ask Melissa to call Grant re: props – need to be back for Monday AM

September 18 Response:
* Action Film Sept. 19 - everyone to dress up as their favorite social action superhero, CHAI is invited to take part
* possibility of Broken City film series starting around the same time – may be able to show CLIC film or Brent Spiess's documentary
ACTION: Jennifer will put Liza Lorenzetti frm CLIC in touch with Laurie Fuhr from Broken City.
* CHAI will plan a major rally for sometime just after that week, in a public space like the steps of City Hall or Olympic Plaza, props are ready but may need to be stored
ACTION: Tavis may be able to store rally props
ACTION: Jennifer will get in touch with the Homeless Awareness Committee to find a date that will not conflict.

Premier's Stampede Breakfast:
ACTION: Jennifer will send out notice to CHAI membership – get people to meet on sidewalk on west side of centre with noisemakers
ACTION: Grant will pick up props from Arusha on Sunday and bring them to site
ACTION: Tavis will get a helium canister and balloons to give out with slogan “Rising Cost of Housing”
ACTION: Jennifer will call Melissa to make sure that the props are back from Kilarney in time
* Key message of rally = get in touch with reality

Calgary Low Income Coalition Film:
* 2 years in production
subject = Ralph Bucks
* Lauch = July 31, Main Library Theatre
will have info tables and letter writing tables, maybe panel discussion about issues
looking for places to screen film
ACTION: Jennifer will put Liza Lorenzetti in touch with organizer of Broken Reels Film Series
ACTION: CHAI will partner with CLIC to promote film

Tent City Idea:
* nothing concrete is in the works, but people mention every now and then
could start with a sleepover in the park
* location? City Hall or Olympic Plaza have good visibility even if it doesn't make it through the night
* could be a component of Homeless Awareness Week, could just stay in Riley Park after the launch? It would have to be made clear that it is completely seperate from the HAAC committee
* in the meantime, we could do research on how tent cities have worked in other places
ACTION: Jennifer will try to gather information on tent cities

Next General Meeting:
* Thursday August 9, 6:30pm, Arusha
* 1 year anniversary of CHAI!

Minutes
CHAI General Meeting
May 8, 2007
Arusha Centre, 6:30pm

Plans for June 10 event:
-the rally will take place from 12:00 – 1:00
-procession and games will take place after 1:00
-Jennifer: Art Day Plans are well under way for June 2
-AJ: Carnival Games are well under way
-there will be a letter writing table with templates at the rally
-volunteers should be there at 9:00am for set up
-CHAI needs to recruit 10 volunteers for event
-notice about event should be sent in to community calendars
-FFWD has been contacted
-posters need to be done for Steve Loo
-promote event at Lilac Festival

ACTION: Grant will design a poster
ACTION: David will help with event set-up
ACTION: AJ will help with games in afternoon
ACTION: CHAI info will be given out at Lilac Fest through Arusha volunteers

Update on latest development from Housing Task Force:
-media outlets still discussing the issue – CBC having phone in, Don Braid editorial in Sun
-we need to have a message of hope

Community engagement packages:
ACTION: David and volunteers will flyer Sunnyside neighborhood tonight
ACTION: Clyde and David will flyer neighorhood around Arusha

Next Steps:
-we need to have the next step planned for June 10th, so we can tell people what they can do next
IDEA: disrupt political Stampede breakfasts
IDEA: make housing the major issue at next city election, produce tip sheets on how to approach candidates
IDEA: Is Alternative Stampede still happening? If so, get involved
IDEA: link with Edmonton groups for rallies at legislature
IDEA: talk to David Swann about actions in legislature
IDEA: link with the Transit Union in their job action – picket with them, them with us

ACTION: Grant will ask someone from the Transit Union to make a speech on June 10
ACTION: AJ and David will disrupt a political breakfast