Cost of Olympic services and facilities compared to ending poverty
Costs of Olympic related services and facilities (January 2009)
Venues: $600M
Program spending: $125M
Security: $400M-$1B
2 Olympic Villages: $1.261B
Sea to Sky Highway: $775M
Trade and Convention Centre: $883M
RAV line: $2B
TOTAL: $6.044 Billion to $6.644 Billion
How billions spent on Olympics could reduce poverty and homelessness
Amount spent on Olympic related services and facilities: $6.044 Billion (low estimate)
Number of social housing units this could build: 30,220
Number of years welfare could be increased by 50%: over 12
Or you could do ALL of these things:
Raise welfare by 50% for 5 years ($2.5B);
End the barriers that keep people in need from getting welfare for 5 years ($1B);
AND build 12,720 new units of good social housing ($2.5B);
PLUS increase minimum wage at 0 cost to taxpayers.