ARE YOU AFRAID? sccscescecessesceceseeseseeseeseseeseeeesenneel Real life phobias are inspiring Hollywood horror movies POLICY notes 1 Will provide increased educa- tion and training for students and staff 2 Will collect stats to track trends and number of incidents 3 Will investigate on and off campus incidents 4 UBC Sex Assault Support Centre helped draft policy By EMELIE PEACOCK angara students are being asked for their opinions on consent and sexual violence as the college moves ahead with drafting a sexu- al assault policy, which is now required by provincial law. After several recent sexual assault scandals at Canadian universities, the provincial government passed Bill 23, requiring all B.C. post-secondary insti- tutions to create sexual misconduct pol- icies by 2017. Last week a Langara group of administrators, faculty, staff and one student published a draft of a Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy. The five-page document outlines re- porting and investigative processes, confidentiality requirements and statis- tical reporting. The policy also includes information about support services for people experiencing sexual violence or misconduct. Lealle Ruhl, coordinator of the peace and conflict studies program, said that while sexual assaults have occurred at Langara, sexual harassment is much more common. “The sexual violence that’s less ex- treme but equally debilitating, that’s a problem. It’s an educational barrier and it shouldn’t be there for anybody,” Ruhl said. Ruhl noted the current reporting sys- tem is in need of a centralized base that would make it clear to students as to where and how they can report sexual misconduct. The new policy brings the process together into one document that would be available readily to all stu- dents and faculty. EMELIE PEACOCK photo Maggie Ross, manager of student conduct and judicial affairs at Langara, helped draft the college's sexual assault policy. Sex assault policy imminent Langara group encourages students to get involved in the process As aresult of the accessible and com- prehensive nature of the new policy, ad- ministrators expect to see more stu- dents coming forward with their experi- ences of sexual violence. “We know there’s underreporting go- ing on,” said Maggie Ross, manager of student conduct and judicial affairs. “Af- ter we start rolling out the policy and doing our educational campaign, we will be able to assess.” The group hopes the public consulta- tion will capture the views of communi- ties they haven’t heard from. “We're probably missing a few things, it’s inevitable. We’re only so many peo- ple with so many minds,” said Janine Sicotte, the student on the group. Feed- back from students during the campus- wide consultation process to shape the final draft of the policy. Rising rents worry Marpole residents City is aware that rent affordability is an issue for people in the area By CHERYL WHITING cerned that rising rents are caus- ing people to move out of the neighbourhood to more affordable communities. Marpole was once a residential hub for affordable housing. Now it is quick- ly catching up to other areas of the city after numerous development projects have sprung up in the last few years. Susan Haid, assistant director of Reeve of Marpole are con- i) South Vancouver planning, says the city recognizes that Marpole is a vul- nerable area in terms of population and rent affordability. The Marpole plan was developed to move forward slowly, so that a large number of people weren't displaced at once. “We have a pace of change policy which we're still figuring out how to implement and monitor,” said Haid. “It essentially means we can't have all of those apartment areas be redeveloped at the same time.” Kimberley Osborn grew up in the area, but recently moved to Richmond after she says it became too expensive to live in Marpole. She kept her kids en- rolled in their neighbourhood school so they wouldn't be disrupted, but now faces a long commute each day. “T think that we have way too much development in one area and this is a conversation I think I was having for four years,” said Osborn, “it's too ex- pensive in this area now.” Ashad Ali is a parent who lived in Marpole but had to move out of his suite after his rent for a two bedroom went from $1,100 to $1,800. “They did offer us an initial discount of a few hundred bucks,” said Ali, “But then it went up [again].” Haid says that the Residential Ten- ancy Act prohibits landlords from rais- ing the rent too much. “Tf there's movement of tenants then there is more ability for the landlords to increase rent,” she said. “But for ten- ants already in there, there are provin- cial guidelines.” 66 I think that we have way too much develop- ment in one area KIMBERLEY OSBORN FORMER MARPOLE RESIDENT Advocate: more rentals needed Housing group says 250 affordable rental units slated for the River District is not enough By ALYSE KOTYK nounced it will build 250 affordable rental units in South Vancouver's River District, but Generation Squeeze, a housing campaign that advocates for affordable home ownership, says it is not enough. Paul Kershaw, the founder of the na- tional collaboration, said the rental units will help, but the city still has a lot of work to do to reduce pressure in Vancouver's housing market. "You bet, 250 units is a start," said Kershaw. "It's not unimportant, but ul- timately we need to make our market and the broader supply that's currently available more in reach for a younger demographic." Kershaw and others from Genera- tion Squeeze met with Vancouver May- or Gregor Robertson on Oct. 17 to ad- dress housing affordability. While Generation Squeeze focuses on owner- ship, Kershaw said renting long-term might be the reality for many Vancou- ver residents. "Renting for life is something that our demographic is going to have to be- come increasingly proud of and happy of and content with," said Kershaw, "That means there needs to be a stock of suitably sized rentals that can give a younger demographic the stability they need." City of Vancouver chief housing offi- cer Mukhtar Latif said rental units tend to be more ac- cessible than own- ing a home. "We are inter- ested in imple- menting an afford- able home ownership pro- gram,” said Latif. "But the rental program is obvi- ously something we can influence a lot more and that's where we've been concentrating our resources because it's much easier for people to access rental housing." Langara student Harmilan Nandha said he would prefer if the city focused on affordable home ownership and sug- gested that it would have ripple effects from owners to suite renters. "I think they must put pressure on the home ownership,” said Nandha. "It will directly reduce the price which we pay to stay in their basement." Construction on the 250 units will be- gin next spring. T: City of Vancouver recently an- HARMILAN NANDHA Langara student and renter