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| Student councillor committed to addressing housing quality (Ryan Chen-Wing) |
Contributed by: uws archive on Wednesday, October 02 2002 @ 12:31 AM CDT
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This is an archived story posted by Ryan Chen-Wing. You can view the original
here. Motivated by concerns about housing quality, math co-op student councillor Liam McHugh-Russell committed to bringing a resolution on housing quality to Students' Council.
At last month's council meeting on 15 September, council talked about trying to effect a change in the 75 metre restriction in the lodging house bylaw and of efforts to increase student turnout in municipal elections.
That resolution was about applying political pressure; this upcoming one will focus on improving the quality of current rental houses.
"While the Presidents of the Feds have been lobbying to the city and the region year after year, the Federation of Students has remained procedurally silent, with no stated position on the quality of housing. Well, I think that we saw in council last month that this was no longer going to be the case,"said McHugh-Russell.
In the discussion at September's meeting, councillors used the word quality to refer to different aspects of houses and properties.
McHugh-Russel explained how he referred to quality, "As it effects a person's life, quality is three things: size, and condition [sic]. If a person doesn't have a enough room to study, sleep and socialize, then quality is decreased. If their bathrooms, stoves, refrigerators, or windows are missing or broken for extended periods of time, then quality is decreased. If a house has a lot of mould, or missing walls, or fire hazards, or is in a state of disrepair, then, in a lot of cases, quality is completely unacceptable. You can find any of these situations in current student housings."
The council meeting is in less than three weeks, on Sunday 20 October at 12:30, in the Multi-purpose room of the SLC. McHugh-Russell said that the quality bylaw should be one of the first issues discussed.
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| Authored by: uws archive on Wednesday, October 02 2002 @ 12:53 AM CDT |
This is an archived comment posted by Rob Ewaschuk. You can view the original
here. Is the city (and the region..) the only group that can enforce bylaws? Is it possible for (e.g.) the Feds to employ a bylaw officer, or something silly like that?
Could I give my landlord a ticket for not mowing our lawn? Could I give my neighbours a ticket for leaving garbage on their lawn? (These are both hypothetical..) I would assume not..is there anything along those lines that can be done without direct authorization/endorsement of the city?
Just wondering -- it seems the Feds may lack strong ability to enforce anything about housing. An officially sanctioned landlord/house rating system would go a long way for that.
Just some thoughts...
-Rob[ Parent ]
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| Authored by: uws archive on Wednesday, October 02 2002 @ 09:23 AM CDT |
This is an archived comment posted by Ryan. You can view the original
here. What if, for example, a landlord wasn't installing a furnace in the house. To whom should one report this?
[ Parent ]
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| Authored by: uws archive on Wednesday, October 02 2002 @ 03:19 PM CDT |
This is an archived comment posted by Alex Cassar. You can view the original
here. LMR, RCW:
Could either of you provide any deatils on the proposed/thought of text for the motion will be? Aside for more work promoting the rights of tenants and/or specifically mandating someone to lobby the city on this issue.... I can't think of anything that council could do to improve housing quality in general.
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| Authored by: uws archive on Thursday, October 03 2002 @ 08:07 PM CDT |
This is an archived comment posted by pseudonym. You can view the original
here. This isn't news until we see a motion...Councillor committed to housing quality eh? I hope they all are. And what exactly can they do anyways? What weight does a FEDS quality bylaw have?[ Parent ]
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| Authored by: uws archive on Tuesday, October 08 2002 @ 01:17 PM CDT |
This is an archived comment posted by Liam McHugh-Russell. You can view the original
here. The following is a copy of an email I sent out to the Federation of Students' Council email listserv. I encourgae anyone to post here with comments and additions, especially if they cannot make the meeting on Friday.
>>>
Dear Fellow Councillors,
At the last meeting of the Federation of Student's council, I made a commitment to bringing a motion re: housing quality to the next council meeting. As October 20th is approaching quickly, I have organised a meeting to allow councillors who would like to have input on that motion, in the Feds office, at 1:30, this Friday, October 11th.
Here is the gist of the agenda for the meeting:
a. Discussion of this statement 'We believe that students should be afforded quality housing, and, barring eviction, should have protection from landlords who not meet their responsibilities.' Attempt to reword, formalize, include provisions.
b. Discussion of whether we should lobby the city to improve housing quality bylaw enforcement:
a) in the event that the 75m bylaw is removed
b) if it is not removed.
c. A discussion of how the 75m bylaw currently affects quality.
d. A discussion of how we can protect quality if/when the 75m bylaw is removed.
I hope that many councillors (and anyone else who can make it) will attend. I will put discussion of the motion on the agenda for Oct 20 council, and will post a preliminary motion to wiki.feds.ca once we have discussed principle.
I know that this motion should theoretically be brought to PP&BRC before it is brought to council : I will attempt to have it approved there next week, before council, but if it is not,I still believe that the motion is of some urgency, and that it should be discussed Oct 20th.
Liam McHugh-Russell,
Federation of Students Councillor, Math Co-op
[ Parent ]
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| Authored by: uws archive on Thursday, October 17 2002 @ 11:14 AM CDT |
This is an archived comment posted by Andrew Dilts. You can view the original
here. October 17, 2002
uwstudent.org,
Hello! My name is Andrew Dilts, and I'm a councillor for the faculty of Arts, representing those students not enrolled in co-operative programs. I wish to please bring a small matter to your attention concerning your news and services website.
I notice that uwstudent.org states as one of its Objects that it aims to "provide a forum and means for feedback allowing participation of members of the corporation in the creation of content and information." I also notice, however, that the content of many of the fora that result from uwstudent.org news stories often spin off to focus on topics unrelated to the initial news story.
Specifically, I would cite the recent articles "Feds Town Hall fizzles," "Student councillor committed to addressing housing quality," and "Members elect five councillors to Feds board of directors" as those which, although containing a certain amount of information relevant to the news story advertised, spin off to cover such unrealted topics as the WPIRG mandate and a comparison and contrast of left- vs. right-wing politics.
Perhaps uwstudent.org would consider the introduction another section to its website -- uwforum.org? -- that would allow students to specifically engage in discussions on matters of interest and concern related to their lives as students at UW, yet unrelated to any specific current news story at the time. This way, students could freely debate on-line on topics that matter the most to them.
Creating a new forum would undoubtedly provide yet another service to students here at UW, allowing them an outlet for creative and potentially productive debate. Also, it would help to ensure that students won't be misinformed as to the level of interest on a particular issue or issues of concern to students here at UW.
Sincerely,
Andrew Dilts
Arts Regular Councillor
[ Parent ]
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