Street News Service - Photo Story (Feed 202)

The Olympic Faces

The number of homeless people is rising rapidly in Vancouver yet the city aims to make homelessness invisible. It wants to impress the expected 2.3 million people who willvisit the city for the winter Olympics in 2010 and the homless have no place in this new face. Currently about 2000 homeless people live on the streets of this wealthy city. This number will probably triple by 2010. A major cause of the problem is cut backs in social security and social housing. The problem of homelessness is clearly visible around Pigeon Park. Large numbers of homeless people, drug addicts and drug dealers spend their time here. According to the people living on the street life is not too bad in Vancouver because of the mild climate. Winters are mild here compared to the harsh conditions faced in other parts of Canada.

Story and pictures by Rokus van den Bout, Straat, the Netherlands, © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org. [Pictures are available in high resolution, please email sns@street-papers.org]