Frontline Services and Advocacy This Easter
Date 2 Apr, 2025
A poster from the supportive housing rally that took place outside Vancouver City Hall on Wednesday, February 26.
We were at the Vancouver City Council meeting the day they passed the devastating and damaging motion to pause new supportive housing projects in the city.
We’ve been doing a lot of advocacy here at FIRST UNITED because we know that housing and supportive services are crucial for folks to survive, escape poverty and get back on their feet.
Frankly, we’re scared of the consequences that this cruel decision will have on our neighbours and the people we serve in the Downtown Eastside who are already in desperate need of our support.
The ongoing affordable housing crisis will only worsen as the number of people who are homeless and precariously housed will increase and keep folks trapped in an ongoing cycle of poverty.
As devastating as this decision is, we’re not giving up. We need you to not give up either.
The need for our frontline services is already high and the pause on supportive housing projects will only increase the demand.
We need your help. Will you join us in not giving up and support our work this Easter?
We are doing both right now, but we can only do it with you by our side. Now is the time to help—our neighbours need our support now more than ever.
We’ve been serving the community for 140 years, and we’ve seen firsthand what frontline services in conjunction with supportive housing can do for folks who are living in poverty.
We hear countless stories of how lives change for the better when folks experience dignity, belonging, and justice.
We’ve heard a variation of stories that often go something like this:
- People get their basic needs met through our low barrier services—meals, a warm shower, harm reduction supplies, a comfortable place to sleep.
- They’re referred to a supportive team that provides help and treatment for their physical and mental health concerns.
- They’re able to access services like our legal advocacy and tax support, so they know they’re not alone in whatever challenges they’re dealing with.
- They’re able to connect with our Indigenous Spiritual Care Chaplain for healing through a culturally safe and trauma-informed spiritual care lens.
- Our Case Planner in the shelter helps place them into permanent housing that provides the stability to start a new chapter in life where they can thrive. Where they don’t have to worry about where they’re going to sleep. Where they can be at peace.
This is what happens when compassionate people like you help fund essential services and important systems change work.
We want to hear more transformative stories like this. But it gets harder when governments put harmful policies in place that endanger the lives of the most vulnerable people in society.
There’s never been a more urgent time to come together for our neighbours experiencing poverty and homelessness.
Chip in now to help us continue our important frontline and systems change work.
You’ll help meet the immediate needs of people who are struggling and in need of critical supports to survive, while also helping us advocate for folks to break out of cycles of poverty.
We need to reach our Easter campaign goal of $55,000 by May 9, so we can continue to support as many folks as possible; to help them rise out of poverty, and have stable lives where they can thrive.
Our vision is a neighbourhood where everyone’s worth is celebrated and all people thrive. Part of that looks like affordable housing for all and the end of poverty and homelessness.
Despite the devastating vote by City Council, we haven’t given up on this vision. We can’t. It’s too important to give up on. You don’t have to either.
Your gift will help make an immediate and long-term impact in the neighbourhood.
Thank you for your continued support and belief in our work.