Amy is a 31 year old woman who has been sleeping at night behind Granville street businesses for the past four years. Recently, police and security guards in the Granville Mall area have increased their patrols of the lanes and every hour she is rudely awakened and told to move.

Amy isn.t alone in her sleepless nights. City staff estimate that depending on the time of year, anywhere between 15 and 35 people are sleeping outside in the Downtown South, one of Vancouver's newest neighborhoods, created by the 1991 rezoning of the southern part of the downtown core. Service providers believe that number is only the tip of the iceberg. Both city staff and social service agencies agree that the number of people at risk of homelessness (in substandard, unstable living conditions) is substantially higher.

Prior to 1991 Downtown South rezoning, local residents, service providers and city staff were concerned redevelopment would increase homelessness among the 3000 low income residents, as soaring land values caused residential hotels to cater to the more lucrative tourist clientele. Housing advocates argued for anti-conversion and demolition controls and a one-for-one replacement policy for any low-income housing unit lost. The NPA said they endorsed the principle of protecting low-income housing but refuse to enact a by-law to back their principle.

The Downtown South rezoning was an opportunity for Vancouver to model equitable planning rather than follow the American model where the redevelopment of inner cities becomes an agent of destruction and homelessness. However, since 1991, 600 Downtown South residents have lost their housing when hotels such as the Cecil, Hotel California, the Austin, the Glenaird, the Royal and others evicted long time tenants for more prosperous tourist trade.

The Downtown South Residents Rights Association is a small contingent of people who have fought for equitable planning in the Downtown South since before the rezoning took effect. Originally an off-shoot of DERA (Downtown Eastside Residents Association), a DERA South office was established in 1991 to ensure the redevelopment did not cause homelessness. Almost immediately city politics prevented DERA South from acquiring funds to fulfill their mandate. In 1992, the Downtown Granville Tenants Association (DGTA) took over the mandate of DERA South. For several years this organization struggled to provide housing and advocacy services in the Downtown South but was eventually forced to shut down due to lack of funding.

As a result of the evictions, former members of DGTA incorporated under the auspices of the Downtown South Residents Rights Association (DSRRA) in 1998. Eventually funding was received from the provincial government and on February 16, 2001, Laura Stannard, a community organizer, was hired to develop DSRRA.s role in the Downtown South, to establish a viable, representative and responsive organization for residents to participate in community processes.

The first purpose of DSRRA is .to preserve our community and ensure redevelopment does not cause displacement.. As well, the constitution of DSRRA includes the mandate to advocate for safe , affordable housing and work with existing organizations to improve the health and well being of all of the Downtown South residents.