Hi! Looking for van dwellers in Montréal, Toronto, and Vancouver

[equivalently]

Why exactly would a school of law be interested in such things ?
and
Tell us more about what you plan to do with this info.

Fair question! We're putting together a report that compares housing protections during COVID in Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto. The first page of the survey gets into this a little more too, but we're looking at how governments have protected (or haven't protected) people's living situations. In Vancouver, for example, we're seeing people living in vans being forced to move or even having their vehicles towed - not exactly prioritizing people having safe housing access. So we're collecting info on why people want to live in a van/RV, if they've had to interact with police/bylaw officers more frequently, and just trying to get a general sense of how many people there are living in a van/RV, because (understandably!) there aren't a lot of counts out there.

I know there are pretty valid concerns about snitches coming into these spaces to find out where van/RV dwellers are and force them to move or hassle them. That's absolutely not the intention of this - the only thing we ask about your location is what city you're in. 

As for why a law school is interested, it's because all of these kinds of housing policies are laws that impact people's lives. We're not here to enforce bylaws, we want to know whether these policies are helping or hurting people.

Hopefully this answers your questions! I'm happy to elaborate or explain anything. Like I mentioned, there's also more info on the front page of the survey you can check out without having to complete the actual survey.