Questions for my congregation - but where is this coming from?

The other day one of our church leaders spoke to me about some of the initiatives I have been trying to bring forward to our Council and congregation (Peace Mennonite Church, Richmond, BC). During our exchange, he asked, "Where is this coming from?" I have given that question further thought and have come up with a number of answers.

In the first place, even before providing the answers, it is always important to look at where a question is coming from and what it might altogether mean. Given the history of our congregation and its response to some of these issues, I think one of the questions behind this one is, "Why should we care?" Or in other words, "We have more important things to do." Indeed, this speaker asked me if I did not know how busy our council was? Did I not know what they were doing? Truth be told, although I provided an answer, I had some difficulty really coming up with what is engaging them that intensively that they have no more room for anything else.

Over the past number of years, I have raised a number of questions within our congregation:

1)    I have asked about where our congregation is at in terms of being more environmentally conscious.

2)    I have expressed concerns about homelessness and housing affordability and where we might fit in with support and help in that area.

Perhaps these two are not that difficult for our congregation to accept at a certain level because the local media reports on these topics regularly and so they are probably somewhat aware of the needs in these areas.

3)    Over the past three or four years I have also tried to raise our congregation's consciousness about matters related to the status of our indigenous neighbors in this country.

4)    More recently, I have become concerned about the issues between Palestine and Israel in The Holy Land.

When I actually did lead some sessions in our congregation about indigenous matters in advance of the Truth and Reconciliation event in our city in September 2013, I actually wrote a piece called "Justice for First Nations in Canada – I. Why We as Christians Must Care" and published it on my blog, "Reflections from Lulu Island." I was pleased to see that it was well enough received at the time by our Mennonite Church BC leadership that they placed it as a resource on their Indigenous Relations website area. If memory serves me correctly, it was also posted in the Resources Section of Mennonite Church Canada.

As I thought further about this issue just this morning, I was quickly able to jot down seven reasons why we should care or where this is coming from:

1.     If we are concerned about reaching the younger generations, as this brother stated was a prime dynamic behind what our congregation needs to do, showing awareness of and responding to these issues is, I believe, one way to attract their attention. Young people are always looking, at least a certain worthy element of them, for something that grabs their attention, that may perhaps be slightly radical, that calls for commitment and provides a challenge. There are certainly challenges in all of the areas I mentioned two paragraphs back. If what we do in these areas is seen by these young people as representing something Christ wants us to do, which I believe it is, they might actually take a second look at Jesus and Christianity.

2.     We are simply following in the footsteps of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Just read the Scriptures and look and learn as to what he cared about. When he issued his manifesto at the beginning of his ministry, as recorded in Luke chapter 4, he also pointed out that it was a fulfillment of prophecy as recorded perhaps 500 years earlier by Isaiah. What did he say in verses 18-19? "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." As some students of this passage will summarize, Jesus was calling for liberation, liberation in many areas, wherever it is needed. Over the centuries, too many in the church have believed this refers simply to spiritual salvation, the liberation of being born again, to put it bluntly in their language. I believe it applies much more broadly than that. Jesus healed people's illnesses, even raised them from the dead, but we do not always read that he preached personal salvation to each of these individuals.

3.     The issues I refer to are on the national and international agendas of many governments and agencies. If we are to be salt and light in our society, in our nations, we also need to be concerned about what the Christian response to these issues is and speak to that. As my professors used to tell me in Bible College, we need to read the Bible on our right hand in the newspaper on our left. Well, maybe they did not specify which hand for which.

4.     At a deeper level, and I believe this is really key, I really do not believe God can bless the church and make it grow if we ignore all these needs around us. To be sure, know one of us, nor any single congregation, can necessarily cover all of these areas in-depth. However, I never asked for that. Just the same, we bear a lot of guilt in some of these areas for what we and our ancestors have been a part of and we need to take responsibility for that. Our mean focus of ministry, after all, is reconciliation; reconciliation with God, which can provide reconciliation with ourselves, reconciliation with others, which goes beyond the personal, and reconciliation with our world, our environment. We have done damage in all areas.

5.     This last point segues nicely into another reason that is closer to home for some of us as Mennonite Christians. All of these points raised in that key paragraph above are also at some level on the agenda of our provincial and national churches. Some of this has come about through the efforts of those who have worked in certain areas, e.g. spent time in Palestine-Israel. This led to a resolution being passed at this year's Assembly 2016 of Mennonite Church Canada describing ways we could become more involved in this area. The impetus in the case of the environment is individuals who have led to the formation of the Mennonite Creation Care Network, which started in the US but is taking hold in Canada. I am on the Mennonite Church BC Service, Peace and Justice Committee. All of these issues have crossed our table. We were largely responsible, working together also with some members of our conference from Saskatchewan, with organizing an afternoon and evening workshop at extra cost after Assembly 2016 wrapped up, which was attended by some 40 members of across the country, indicating a good level of interest in this area. Mennonite Church Canada has been involved with missions to indigenous people and relating to them on a broader sense going back at least to the 1970s. Prior to that, this was largely a venture of The Conference of Mennonites in Manitoba. Now even in BC, for several years, we have had our own Mennonite Church BC staff Indigenous Relations Coordinator. So, I am not bringing these issues up on my own. There are many others also trying to raise awareness and advance action on these fronts.

6.     When it comes particularly to concerns relating to indigenous Canadians and the Palestine-Israel situation, an extra reason for us to be concerned is that we have gone through much of the same experience as some of these peoples, so we should be even more understanding, empathic and able to act positively in these areas. Our ancestors have been persecuted, oppressed and dispossessed. They have been chased from their homes. Many of us, particularly those who fled the Soviet Union around the time of the Bolshevik Revolution and after World War II, could have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Mennonite Central Committee, which some of our church members have great respect for because it helps them so much in their flight from the Soviet Union, was also beginning to be active in Palestine-Israel with the refugee situation there after World War II. Therefore, they have been a presence in that area as long as they were working with those fleeing Eastern Europe post World War II.

7.     Another very important reason for us to care and see what we can do in these areas is that in some cases, we have been invited to work with those in question. This is particularly true of the situation without indigenous neighbors following the release of the full and final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Among Its 94 recommendations, there are several directed at churches and their agencies and schools. If we are going to have credibility among our native peoples, which we must have before we can help bring them closer to The Kingdom of Heaven, we must respond in a recognizable and significant fashion. With respect to the Palestine-Israel question, our Palestinian neighbors on this globe, especially the Christians, are desperate to have our support. There are elements in the Jewish community that are glad to work with us as well, as they are not happy with what the agenda of the Israeli state appears too much to be.

So, I think I have presented a range of powerful reasons as to why we must pay attention to these areas, these needs that are coming to us from all directions, even if our own individual or congregational response cannot, by virtue of our other pressing needs, be that quantitatively great. We can do small things with quality. That is called “brightening the corner where you are," to quote an old chorus, or "placing the lamp on top of instead of under the bushel basket" to paraphrase one of Jesus’ messages.

THE BC LOWER MAINLAND HOUSING ISSUE

The preoccupation with the cost of housing in the Lower Mainland of BC, which has been going on for the last possibly 20 years already, has simply been increasing as housing prices continue to rise. I am concerned here more with single family and detached homes/townhomes then condominium stratas, which bring with them their own issues and considerations of somewhat different nature. The media locally and across the country just seems to focus on Vancouver. I have heard comments suggesting that the single-family issue there is no longer as high because there simply are not places to build single-family homes. Of course, what does happen is that older homes, sometimes in perfectly good shape or certainly good candidates for renovation, are simply torn down to replaced by larger more expensive structures. However, in Richmond, there are still plenty of lots that seem to be available for building single family homes. At the same time, it should be noted that many South Asian families, who seem to build the largest residences, often do fill them with three or four generations of family. Chinese owners do this as well, but to a lesser extent.

The issues as I see them are as follows:

1.     Price

             The simple fact is that the price of housing now in Vancouver and some of the adjacent suburbs is simply way beyond the reach of the average working Canadian citizen or new immigrant.

What is driving this?

The main thing is that Canada is seen as a safe haven for those who have made a lot of money elsewhere, often through corrupt means, which means they need to hide their money elsewhere. Indeed, I have heard from a Chinese immigrant that he estimated that 80% of those who were on the run from the Chinese government with their cash were living, or at least had purchased, in Richmond. Canadian real estate has been seen as a good choice in this regard particularly by many buyers from mainland China who made a lot of money, largely through land sales during the years of the economic boom when land was needed for factories and housing for factory workers. Many of these individuals and families come to Canada, literally with briefcases and bags full of cash. Urban legend abounds with stories such as them taking a taxi or limousine straight from the airport to a luxury car dealership, purchasing a car and then going house-hunting, or, like as not, to the house or lot that they have already purchased from overseas. My wife personally spoke to a woman who actually chartered a helicopter to fly over one of Vancouver's suburbs to identify lots she wanted to purchase and develop. Many of these new immigrants, some also from Hong Kong and Taiwan, purchase multiple buildings. Some of these are rented but many sit empty as speculation. Again, I have heard of individuals who have purchased whole floors of new high-rises for resale.

As long as there is this kind of money to be made in China or other, particularly Asian, and sometimes Middle Eastern (Iran) or even Russian, developing economies, and Canada is seen as a place to deposit the money in real estate, these trends will not change. They will only change if our Canadian governmental structures look beyond free enterprise and capitalism and see that there are reasons of ethics, morality and social justice to intervene.

One also observes here that many homes that in the rest of the country would be renovated and brought up to a better standard without giving it a second thought, because of the values of real estate here, I simply torn down. It is simply obscene to see these many very good homes that are dismissed as "teardowns" by these rich new immigrants who just want to build their monster homes on the site.

2.     Affordability

It is one thing to leave the market set the price for those who work and earn reasonable income

that might allow them to consider entering the home-buying arena. However, there are several

classes of individuals and units that this does not cover. Some will flippantly say that no one has a right to live in Vancouver or the lower mainland. This simply speaks to the ignorance of the speakers’ knowledge of the facts. Others say that the prices are going up in neighboring communities such as Abbottsford and Chilliwack just as well. What they are not saying is that this is being driven by individuals and families moving out of Vancouver and adjacent suburbs because the prices here are too high, or there is not enough space.

Many who work in the service and support industry, in sales, in emergency services and even educational and healthcare professions can no longer afford to live in the city where they work. This creates several problems. It means a long and stressful commute (and we know there is enough stress in this world already without this) which is also wasteful of energy and time (which could be better spent with family and in renewal) and further negatively impacts global warming because we do not have adequate and appropriate rapid public transit networks to facilitate their work commutes. That is another whole large issue. It means these workers are not readily available if necessary in a large scale such emergencies such as a flood or earthquake.

It is also simply morally unjust. It causes people to lose their homes and become homeless, even when they are employed. If they are already in such dire straits, we can hardly expect them to pay further for commuting from places where perhaps they could afford to live. So, they couch surf and live out of their cars, whether workers or students. I have seen them and heard their stories.

Two other points need to be made here. The first is that we are now hearing of many senior citizens who have put their equity into their home and hoped to live there until they were unable to any longer. Because of the rising value of the real estate all around them, including the land on which their homes sit, they are now facing tax bills that they cannot afford. This means they either have to move or figure out a way to defer taxes, which will always come back to bite you in the end. And moving is not an easy proposition to consider, because you are probably not going to be able to afford to buy anyway. It is not fair that these individuals who are the backbone of our society and have worked all their lives to make it what it is are punished in this way.

The second has to do with the younger generations. As a psychiatrist, now retired, and even from personal experience, it is my observation that we are already into the third-generation often of families that are fractured by mobility and distance. There is no longer extended family, let alone a village, to raise a child. We live in increasingly sterile neighborhoods where no one knows their neighbor. This is only made worse by many new immigrants who come from backgrounds where this may not be the custom or where neighbors were never to be trusted, e.g. under communism which always encouraged spying on your neighbors and family. Of course, they may also have difficulty integrating with their neighbors because of differences in language and culture. So, just when young people need the support of their parents, their elders, as they move out into the workforce and want to begin having their own families, they have to move elsewhere, robbing them of the support of their families and their parents the joy of having the younger generation (grandkids) grow up among them. Only those whose parents are well off enough to support them, either by letting them live at home, which has its own problems, or because they can help them get into the real estate market, can continue to live near their families of origin and the communities in which they grew up and are familiar with.

3.     Occupancy and impact on the neighborhood

We have heard many stories about empty houses and apartments. I see two main reasons for

this. A certain percentage of these are homes and apartments that are bought for speculation or between renters. Many of these owners are wealthy enough that they do not have to pursue buyers and renters that keenly and so there are periods between ownership and rental where the space is that empty.

The other reason why many of these homes sit empty is that many of these new owners and even immigrants are not really that interested in becoming part of the fabric of our society like many immigrants before them were. Again, I have heard many stories of people who only spend as little time here as possible to meet immigration requirements. And the only reason they want that, at least in the case of many older individuals and seniors is to finally be able to get all the benefits of older age such as Old Age Security and Even Guaranteed Income Supplement. Because many of these people make their money and continue to keep it overseas, the bottom line on their tax information suggests they have no or very low income. Thus, they are eligible for benefits that most hard-working Canadians are not, including free aspects of healthcare, local public transportation costs, subsidized community amenities etc. the worst part of this is that they are also less eligible for so-called low-cost or affordable housing, when really they can afford pretty much anything on the market. Thus they actually take up housing that should really be meant for people who really our poor enough to need that kind of residence. This is entirely unfair, but as long as our governments do not change the taxation rules, of course it will continue. In spite of government and other leaders trying to speak to the contrary, I believe these inflated low income figures also contribute to the impression that we have a high level of child poverty in BC. We do have problems in that area but many of these families who have children in schools also fill out income tax as above, suggesting that they have no or little income here. This then puts their children at the poverty level, which is entirely true as one can see from the size of their homes and the cars they drive.

Indeed, on the one hand these newcomers, who are very well educated on all of this by immigration agents in their countries of origin, or on arrival, brag about the pocket money that they can spend on shopping and eating out every day as these benefits are simply icing on the cake for many of them. On the other hand, they complain about the time they have to spend here as opposed to their country of origin, whether it be, as it is in most cases, China or Taiwan, actually referring to it as a prison.

Now the impact of all of this on the neighborhood, which is often written about in places like Letters to The Editor, is that it detracts from the friendliness of the neighborhood and also from the sense of safety in the neighborhood if you are surrounded by empty and dark homes. This is a concern.

4. Impact on the environment and neighborhood

            Again, many complain about the expensive and large homes that are built in neighborhoods into which they do not really fit by their design and size. Now, housing styles and fashions do change and this has always been somewhat of an issue as time has gone on. However, there are several ways in which the situation now is different. Again, and this is largely I believe the municipal level of government's fault, they're allowed to build a home that takes up too much of the lot. Between that and the fact that so many of them pave or cover with paving stone the rest of the lot, they create situations where water runoff to neighboring yards causes problems. Between these many square meters of brick and pavement and the lack of real trees that many of these new homes exhibit is the fact that this also adds to global warming because of the heat that is reflected off of these surfaces instead of grass or groundcover. Real trees are an important source of oxygen as well as absorption of carbon dioxide, which can help reduce Global warming. Furthermore, they act as a humidifying and therefore cooling force in the environment. The ornamental shrubs that seem to be allowed to "replace" trees do nothing to help these problems. Certainly, I am not advocating for more traditional lawns because that calls for cutting which takes energy and also calls for extra use of water and sometimes pesticides and herbicides. With the also often-spoken about issues arising in food supply and transportation, spaces around houses could be used to grow food.

When it comes to possible solutions I think we have to begin by looking at who can help us solve this crisis beyond the many voices, now becoming organized and therefore more powerful and no longer just crying out in letters to the editor or to call in/talk shows. Who really has the power to bring about change and what are their areas of jurisdiction? This needs to be researched:

1.     Federal government

The federal government does enact some laws around housing and support for housing

historically through agencies such as CMHA. The federal government also has a role to play in taxation that could affect the situations described above in a positive direction.

2.     Provincial government

The provincial government also enacts some laws around housing and support for housing

historically. The provincial government also has a role to play in taxation that could affect the situations described above in a positive direction.

3.     Municipal/city government

This a level of government his responsible for bylaws around things such as lot frontages, house

sizes, house footprint sizes etc. Recently, to help with affordable housing, they have also been able to enact bylaws that do things such as require developers to either include a certain percentage of such housing in their projects or provide an equivalent amount of cash to the city for the city to use to makes it housing.

Perhaps we can also consider speaking to the following directly, which is being done at some level and at times:

1. Real estate agents and their companies and governing or associative bodies

2. Purchasers

3. Builders and developers.

Most of all, we need to unite and work with one another to speak to our governments and possibly the entities mentioned at the last. There are such organizations beginning and we can all look within our neighborhoods and cities to see what they are. Metro Vancouver Alliance is a large consortium of many establishments, agencies and unions that is working on housing among other things. In Richmond we also have, besides the city's own Affordable Housing Strategy, agencies like The Richmond Poverty Response Committee which looks at affordable housing among other things.