A service provider helping some 500 sex workers in the Downtown Eastside has to relocate due to new development, but is fundraising to stay in the community where so many of its clients reside.
PACE Society found out about six months ago that the West Bank developers had bought its location and must leave by September, according to Laura Dilley, PACE’s executive director.
Dilley said they want to stay in the DTES, but face the problem of condo developments taking over buildings, other services competing for space, and rising rental costs. “We have a small budget to work on and rental prices in the Dowtown Eastside are skyrocketing with gentrification,” she said. “It’s extremely challenging.”
That’s why the 21-year-old group, which is a peer-driven organization, is hosting a Bust-A-Move fundraiser at its headquarters this Friday.
“Of course because we’re moving, rent is up a lot more than what we pay now,” she said. “Also, in our current space, it’s a Downtown Eastside building and it’s been left derelict. We do have lots of leaks, rodents, bugs, cockroaches – we worry about contamination. “We want to raise money ... to make the new space clean. It’s tough providing for a marginalized group.”
The group receives funding from the City of Vancouver, province, and the Vancouver Foundation, plus grants and some private donations.
Dilley said that in the 1970s and ‘80s, the sex trade was predominantly located in the West End, but it kept getting pushed farther east into the DTES – and is now getting pushed more east into Kingsway and Clarke as development continues.
About 80% of PACE’s staff are former sex workers, and nearly half the staff are trans women. “Why we’re so distinct is we don’t discriminate on gender,” she said. “Whether you’re a trans woman, a male sex worker, you’re welcome in our space, which is quite different than most service organizations.
“We also take a harm reduction approach – an individual doesn’t need to be abstinent. We understand many people on the street do use drugs. We don’t stigmatize or judge them, we hand out clean needles, and work with them to make sure they’re safe in whatever their life takes them.”
The event is taking place Friday, at 8 p.m. at 49 West Cordova St.
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/04/22/sex-worker-group-fights-to-stay-in-dtes
PACE Society found out about six months ago that the West Bank developers had bought its location and must leave by September, according to Laura Dilley, PACE’s executive director.
Dilley said they want to stay in the DTES, but face the problem of condo developments taking over buildings, other services competing for space, and rising rental costs. “We have a small budget to work on and rental prices in the Dowtown Eastside are skyrocketing with gentrification,” she said. “It’s extremely challenging.”
That’s why the 21-year-old group, which is a peer-driven organization, is hosting a Bust-A-Move fundraiser at its headquarters this Friday.
“Of course because we’re moving, rent is up a lot more than what we pay now,” she said. “Also, in our current space, it’s a Downtown Eastside building and it’s been left derelict. We do have lots of leaks, rodents, bugs, cockroaches – we worry about contamination. “We want to raise money ... to make the new space clean. It’s tough providing for a marginalized group.”
The group receives funding from the City of Vancouver, province, and the Vancouver Foundation, plus grants and some private donations.
Dilley said that in the 1970s and ‘80s, the sex trade was predominantly located in the West End, but it kept getting pushed farther east into the DTES – and is now getting pushed more east into Kingsway and Clarke as development continues.
About 80% of PACE’s staff are former sex workers, and nearly half the staff are trans women. “Why we’re so distinct is we don’t discriminate on gender,” she said. “Whether you’re a trans woman, a male sex worker, you’re welcome in our space, which is quite different than most service organizations.
“We also take a harm reduction approach – an individual doesn’t need to be abstinent. We understand many people on the street do use drugs. We don’t stigmatize or judge them, we hand out clean needles, and work with them to make sure they’re safe in whatever their life takes them.”
The event is taking place Friday, at 8 p.m. at 49 West Cordova St.
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/04/22/sex-worker-group-fights-to-stay-in-dtes
