Councillor Jean Swanson was elected to City Council in 2018 after running with COPE (The Coalition of Progressive Electors). Her priorities are:Affordable housing for allProtecting renters by freezing rents, meaning no annual allowable rent increase for four years, and implementing vacancy control so that landlords can’t raise rents as much as they like when a tenant leaves or is forced outHousing every counted homeless person with modular housing, which can be fully funded by a Mansion Tax in one yearBuilding more social, co-op, and city-owned rental housing for people earning under $50,000 per year, subsidized by subsequent years’ Mansion Tax revenueHarm reduction, not criminalizationStopping the opioid crisis by providing clean, safe, and free drugs, and culturally appropriate treatment on demandReducing the police budget and putting that money into services for low-income and criminalized peopleBuilding an Indigenous healing and wellness centre in the Downtown EastsideCreating a real Sanctuary City where no one is reported to border security and all can access city services regardless of immigration statusPoverty reductionHaving free transit with a U-Pass for the working class, taking about 40,000 cars off the roadRaising welfare and disability rates to $1,600 per month to end homelessnessCouncillor Swanson has worked to get governments to reduce and end poverty for about 40 years, for which she was awarded the Order of Canada in 2017. She is the author of the book Poor Bashing: The Politics of Exclusion. For the last 12 years she volunteered at the Carnegie Community Action Project working for more and better housing, higher welfare rates, and stopping gentrification in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. In August 2018, Councillor Swanson spent four days in jail for blocking access to the Kinder Morgan pipeline.

Source: CBC News July 17, 2022 18:23 UTC