Hospitality

Hospitality takes many different shapes in our houses according to vision, architecture, and seasons of life.

One of our houses has a guest room where people in crisis come to stay on a short-term basis. Guests usually stay a couple of weeks, joining in common meals and life in community as they feel comfortable. The guest room has a separate entrance and bathroom, making it a good space for individuals or couple who may not feel comfortable or safe staying in the middle of a house full of strangers. With this set-up the house can also take on more risks in who they host.

One of the houses is a 2nd Stage Transitional House for women with a refugee or immigrant background and provides permanent housing for women that are settling into life in Vancouver. A house manager living in the house welcomes and orients newcomers to the house. The house also welcomes women to stay with them temporarily if there is space available in the house.

At times we have had various people from our neighbourhood camp out in the backyard, cars, or a green house. With homelessness in Vancouver more than doubling from 2002 – 2006 and the increasing criminalization of the poor that we have been witnessing in our city, more and more of our friends are finding themselves in need of safe places to stay temporarily. In the face of such need we have found ourselves wrestling with the notion of private property, while recognizing our own limitations in the mix. We recognize that the issue of homelessness must be addressed not only on the ground level but on the level of the government and our societal systems and structures that cause homelessness. To that end some members of our community have joined forces with such groups as Raise the Rates Campaign.