Tea & Two Slices is a long-running local news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran dishwasher Sean Orr, who lives and works in Gastown, deeply aware of his privilege.

2,223 too many: Homelessness at its worst: Vancouver sees highest number in 2019 count.

And you just know that’s an undercount, one that probably doesn’t include all the people living in vans and RVs. Clearly the strategy of letting the homeless die from a poisoned drug supply isn’t working. Harsh? What else could possibly explain the mass collective failure of policy? When are we going to declare an emergency? In 2008, Gregor Robertson and Vision Vancouver were elected on a promise to end this shit. More than a decade later, it’s worse than ever.

Oh, and don’t give me that shit that there are hordes of people given bus tickets to come here from across Canada. The vast majority of Vancouver’s homeless population lived in the Vancouver before they became homeless.

Also, this:

Even more evidence that foreign investor baiting & the modular housing approach are completely insufficient and counterproductive, they do nothing to address pro-evictions laws, lack of rent control, rampant speculation & lack of real social housing construction in BC https://t.co/rMkSMsP8EB

— Nathan Crompton (@natecrompton) June 12, 2019

So what are we doing to prevent people who are currently housed from becoming homeless? Fucking nothing. Spare me your “devastation“, Mayor Kennedy. You had a chance to ban renovictions and you failed: Vancouver passes tenant protection policy, but it won’t address renoviction.

To fight renovictions, the city is proposing to help tenants access the provincial Residential Tenancy Branch system. Creating a renter’s resource hub is part of that approach.

A staff report also suggests creating an information booklet for both tenants and landlords, with guidelines on common renovations and whether tenants need to vacate in order for the landlord to complete the work.

Uh what? An information booklet? Does it fold out into a tent? Jesus…

It’s so so so reassuring to know that I’ll get information(!!!) from the city if I ever get forced out of my home, while my landlord will be free to jack up the unit’s rent as much as they want. What a time to be evicted ??? #vanpoli #vanre https://t.co/46vjzYuZXL pic.twitter.com/67Ej6sOApc

— Ishmam Bhuiyan ? (@ish_bhuiyan25) June 12, 2019

The following motion failed by one vote. Yes, Kennedy Stewart’s: City of Vancouver considers expanding where to protect existing rental stock. “Balancing the needs of renters and developers is tricky, Mayor Kennedy Stewart has said”. No, it’s not. Developers aren’t people. Vision tried this neo-liberal nonsense and were turfed because of it. Can we please just clone Jean Swanson and have an entire council of just her?

Asked to respond to criticism that her motion would cut the value of these properties, which may have already been purchased because of the potential they could be developed without having to replace rental units, Swanson said: “Isn’t that what we want? Apartments will be cheaper and rents will be cheaper.”

Meanwhile: A decade has passed since Vancouver’s empty condo revelation. Dear Wendy Cox, I don’t know if you read this column or not but I literally drive thousands of clicks a week your way and I can’t even read this article because of the paywall. I know, I know, your livelihood depends on it…but throw a dog a bone, eh?

Would you live in a condo without an oven? 162 units in this downtown building don’t have one. You would? Ok, great. Now how about no bathroom? Yeah? You’re that desperate, huh. Ok, how about no windows? Really? Ok great, so we’re building a condo with no walls…still with me?

Vancouver school covers up sign of controversial historical figure Cecil Rhodes. Derrick O’Keefe, whose child attends this school:

Cecil Rhodes is not a “controversial” figure who is “accused” of racism, as this article puts it; he was a prominent leader of a process of explicit and violent anti-Black racism, colonialism and white supremacy, fuelled by greed and the imperial ambition for British domination of Africa from Cairo to the Cape and indeed the whole planet.

Trutch, Denman, Dunsmuir — you’re next!

Again, here’s the CBC being the purveyors of watered down, wishy washy, centrist folderol: Is climate change actually a ‘climate crisis’? Some think so. Len Guenther:

According to the guardians of responsible journalism at the CBC, using precise scientific language like “climate crisis” and “climate emergency” to describe our global predicament qualifies as unacceptable political “advocacy.”

Orca pod makes rare appearance in Vancouver’s False Creek. It’s almost like they’re trying to tell us something…

We Have Five Years To Save Ourselves From Climate Change, Harvard Scientist Says. “Everyone should get a Tesla by 2050,” doesn’t cut it. Twinning pipelines and building LNG plants are not public policies; they are a murder-suicide plan” – Stuart Parker

Honour Bound: Vancouver musicians rally around stroke victim.

You know what to do: Wiener mobile – $7000.

Sports of the day: The Canucks are now among the NHL’s 2 oldest existing teams without a Stanley Cup. That’s ok, at least we got to see Brad Marchard in tears.