The Tyee has a story by Sean Condon on the life and death of Paul “Duncan” Giesbrecht.  His body was recovered in Stanley Park, September 15, one week from his move-in date for housing.  His story illustrates the need for a multi-layered strategy in Vancouver to building community and care with our neighbours who are most vulnerable to distress and death.

There is still time to register for the Church & Affordable Housing Conference.

The Church & Affordable Housing Conference 2008
starts this Friday evening at 7:30 PM. Doors open at 6:30.
Online registration closes Thursday at 4 PM.
Registration is available at the door, but lunch on Saturday is not guaranteed.

Venue: Broadway Church, 2700 E Broadway (at Slocan) in Vancouver, 2 blocks north and 2 blocks west of Renfrew Skytrain Station.

There is also a Free Public Keynote Address 
Saturday, 7:30 PM, Oct 18^th from Michael Brown.  I have pasted the information Jonathen Bryd regarding the free lecture below.

The Faith-based Roots of the Community Land Trust Movement

Michael Brown, Burlington Associates

Community land trusts seek to balance the legitimate property rights of individuals with those of the broader community. The dual view of land found in the Judeo-Christian tradition informed both the origin of the community land trust model and the evolution of the community land trust movement over time. We’ll spend some time considering what a community land trust (CLT) is and how it operates and why CLTs are becoming a preferred approach to community development and affordable housing in many of our communities. We’ll also examine the faith-based roots of the community land trust movement and reflect on how individuals and congregations of faith can most effectively be involved in supporting this dynamic and successful approach to permanently affordable housing and sustainable communities.

Michael Brown helped found one of the first community land trusts (CLTs) in the United States in eastern Tennessee in the early 1980’s and has been involved with CLTs ever since. In the past ten years, Michael’s primary clients have included some four dozen community land trusts, as well as municipalities, county governments state agencies, land developers, state wide housing intermediaries and community-based interfaith organizations.

Burlington Associates in Community Development , LLC is the premier provider of technical assistance to community land trusts In the United States. Several partners have been involved with the CLT Movement since the early 1980s. They have helped with the start-up of over 80 CLTs, while assisting many others with organizational development and long-term planning for the stewardship of their portfolios and the sustainability of their operations. The “CLT Resource Center” which Burlington Associates added to its website in 2005 has become the first place to which many practitioners turn when seeking training guides, legal documents, program evaluations, policy research, and other technical information about CLTs. Most of these materials can be downloaded free of charge.

Burlington Associates has worked in a diverse array of inner-city neighborhoods, suburban towns, and rural communities, assisting non-profit developers of affordable housing, municipal governments, state agencies, and community development financial institutions in 39 different states.