With the Win­ter Olympics com­ing up in Van­cou­ver, city activists are crit­i­cal of the games tak­ing much needed resources away from the poor. Activists will call attene­tion to the prob­lem by stag­ing a com­pet­ing “Poverty Olympics” just days before the win­ter games.

Van­cou­ver promised to turn the Olympic Vil­lage into afford­able hous­ing, but con­struc­tion of the hous­ing has gone over bud­get. Activist now fear the city will change it’s mind and turn the Vil­lage into Con­do­mini­ums to help recoup some of the costs.

From the Seat­tle Times writer Kristi Heim writes this pro­file of the effects the games have on Vancouver’s poor.

A few days before the offi­cial Games begin, advo­cates for the poor will stage a “Poverty Olympics,” aim­ing to push the city’s social prob­lems into the global spot­light. The par­ody, which claims to “reflect the unique local fla­vor of the host city,” has a cock­roach, a bed­bug and a rat as mascots.

“In the Down­town East­side, the street scene isn’t so pretty,” said long­time com­mu­nity activist Jean Swan­son, refer­ring to the neigh­bor­hood that a U.N. offi­cial called one of the worst slums of a wealthy city. “We have the same HIV rate as Botswana, and we’re a devel­oped country.”

An ele­ment of Vancouver’s Olympic bid was a four-page state­ment of social goals pledg­ing the Games would be used to ben­e­fit the inner city.

Orga­niz­ers promised to employ neigh­bor­hood res­i­dents, build afford­able hous­ing, pre­vent exist­ing res­i­dents from being dis­placed and pro­tect civil liberties.

Those promises helped win pas­sage in 2003 of a city­wide vote for approval of Vancouver’s Olympic bid. An Olympics-related hous­ing com­mit­tee later said elim­i­nat­ing home­less­ness was to be the last­ing legacy of the Games.

Sup­port­ers argue that the Games have brought tan­gi­ble improve­ments to the Down­town East­side: build­ing ren­o­va­tions, con­struc­tion jobs, tem­po­rary shel­ters for the home­less and new low-income housing.

Yet, many crit­ics say the neighborhood’s prob­lems have wors­ened and that the $6 bil­lion Olympics-related spend­ing spree has yielded scant social ben­e­fits for the poor.

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