A Homeless Report Card for British Columbia
The Tyee asked experts to assess progress on the issue, and assign some grades.
Last month in Crab Park in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Photo by The Blackbird.
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[Editor's note: Marking Homeless Action week in B.C., this is the first of several in-depth reports on homelessness this week on The Tyee, as well as many postings about the issue on our political new blog, The Hook.]
Homelessness has grown worse across British Columbia during the past three years, and the federal government has failed to help.
Those are among the conclusions of a Tyee panel of six experts who graded three levels of government on their efforts to end homelessness. The informal panel issued C grades to the City of Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia, while slapping the Government of Canada with an F.
Panelists were selected for two criteria: All have first-hand experience working with the homeless in Vancouver, and none are employed by government. They are: Sean Condon, editor of Megaphone Magazine; Nancy Hall, former mental health advocate; Dave Jones, security consultant to the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association; Jean Swanson, co-ordinator of the Carnegie Community Action Project; Laura Track, housing lawyer with the Pivot Legal Society; and Harsha Walia, project coordinator at the Downtown Eastside Women Centre.
No one should suppose that this grading process was either scientific or unbiased -- most of those on the panel are professional critics. But their comments do provide a perspective on where British Columbia has made progress against its sprawling homelessness problem, and where there is still more to do.
Homelessness has grown worse
Five of the six Tyee panelists said homeless has grown worse in B.C. during the past three years.
"It's impossible to conclude that the problem has gotten anything but worse," Pivot lawyer Laura Track said.
"The 2008 Metro Vancouver homeless count found a 37 per cent increase in street homelessness between 2005 and 2008, with homelessness among women rising particularly quickly," Track added. "Municipalities like Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam and Burnaby saw their homeless populations grow by more than 100 per cent. The crisis is also growing in northern B.C. and throughout the province, in communities that lack the resources to do formal homeless counts."
Megaphone editor Sean Condon -- who not only reports on homelessness, but also employs homeless vendors to distribute his bimonthly magazine -- supported that view with his own anecdotal evidence.
"Having done countless interviews with shelter workers, housing activists and the homeless themselves, there is a near unanimous consensus that the number of homeless people has increased over the past three years," Condon said. "I would add that from my own observations, having worked in the Downtown Eastside, there does seem to be an increase in the number of homeless people over the past three years."
Carnegie activist Jean Swanson was the only panelist to conclude that the situation has grown "marginally better" in the past three years. Unlike her fellow panelists, who considered the province as a whole, Swanson focused her assessment on the neighbourhood in which she has long lived and worked.
"Opening up the provincial hotels and the three HEAT shelters in the Downtown Eastside has taken the hardest edge off homelessness in this neighbourhood," Swanson said. "I see people sleeping outside now, but it is probably less than half of what I saw last year before the HEAT shelters."
Harper gets an F
In their only near-unanimous opinion, five out of six of The Tyee's panelists judged the Government of Canada to have failed to assist British Columbia's efforts to end homelessness.
"Mr. Harper is ducking this issue," was the view expressed by several judges.
They noted that homelessness is declining in Britain and the United States, where federal governments fund Housing First programs. At the same time, homelessness continues to rise across Canada, where the federal government refuses to fund even those programs that have proven effective in cutting local tax burdens.
"The federal government is complicit in creating what the United Nations describes as a 'national emergency' of homelessness," Track said.
"The federal government's refusal to implement a national housing strategy to ensure everyone has access to quality affordable housing is a national shame," the Pivot lawyer continued. "We are the only G8 country without such a strategy."
Swanson also noted that Canada is the only G8 nation without a housing strategy, and proposed a target:
"We desperately need a national housing program that builds 20,000 to 30,000 units of housing per year that is affordable for low income people," the Carnegie activist said.
Jones, a former inspector for the Vancouver Police Department, was frequently the most generous grader on The Tyee panel. He noted that Ottawa has recently funded a three-year mental health experiment.
"After 20 years of not supporting low-cost housing through the discontinued CMHC program, in the last year the Mental Health Commission of Canada has developed a plan to run trial programs in five cities, Vancouver being one," Jones said. "The programming and health dollars attached to the housing dollars are badly needed."
Province averages a C
Homeless Week Events
The Tyee will be spotlighting various Homeless Week events all week. Here are some to keep in mind:
All Week
Maple Ridge -- Pitt Meadows -- School District #42 Food Drive
Non-perishable food donations will be collected in our local schools during the week of Oct. 12 to 16. All donations collected will be used to support the local Friends in Need Food Bank.
Tri-Cities -- Library displays about people who are homeless and their stories
Oct. 13 to 17 at the Port Moody and Terry Fox Library branches.
Nelson -- Buskers Raising Money for Food
Watch out for buskers playing to raise money for Nelson's Food Cupboard and Our Daily Bread, two great organizations that provide food for homeless and low-income people. Our goal is to raise at least $500 during the week, so please give generously.
Tuesday, Oct. 13
Tri-Cities -- Presentation: Homelessness: A Problem We Can Solve
Where: Calvary Baptist Church, 1636 Regan Avenue, Coquitlam
When: 7 p.m.
For more information, contact Sandy Burpee, sburpee(at)shaw.ca
Mission -- Mission Connect Event
Where: Union Gospel Mission, 33071 North Railway Ave.
When: Noon to 4 p.m.
This event will provide people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness and living in poverty with mental health assessments, outreach and advocacy, a mini resume workshop, true colors assessment, showers, bagged lunches, haircuts, toiletry bags, a clothing donation area, door prizes and more. For more information, call the Mission Community Services Society: 604-854-4665.
Kamloops -- City Council Proclamation of Homelessness Action Week
Where: City Hall
When: 3:00 p.m.
Vancouver -- Neighborhood Responses to Homelessness: Stories from Vancouver Coastal Health Partnerships
Where: Eye Care Centre Auditorium, ground floor, 2550 Willow Street (at 10th)
When: Noon to 1 p.m. Please note that there is no food or drink allowed in the auditorium.
This panel presentation will discuss lessons learned from community development initiatives in the Vancouver communities of Renfrew/Collingwood and Grandview/Woodlands.
- Katie Hume, community developer, North Community Health Centre, VCH. Speaking about the "Under One Umbrella" homeless connect service fair held in Grandview Woodlands.
- Paula Carr, executive director of Collingwood Neighbourhood House
- Rosemary Graham, nurse practitioner, Evergreen Community Health Centre, VCH
- Nancy Reynolds, recreation supervisor, Renfrew Park Community Centre. Speaking about a local response to homelessness based on a community wide collaboration in Renfrew/Collingwood
Presented by: Vancouver Coastal Health Population Health.
Registration is not required.
Tyee panelists diverged wildly in their assessments of British Columbia's efforts to reduce homelessness. Every letter grade was issued. On average, those grades work out to a 'C' for the government of British Columbia.
During the three-year period that The Tyee asked its expert panel to consider, Premier Gordon Campbell's government has bought or leased 45 properties in an effort to protect affordable housing. (That list includes 24 residential hotels in Vancouver.) BC Housing will open about 450 units of new supportive housing in Vancouver this year, and has plans to build another 1,900 units across eight cities during the coming decade.
So why the low grades? Jones offered this insight.
"Reversing long neglect is slow, and some may not see the effort coming to fruition as fast as they would like. The situation will not show material results for another two to three years while construction continues and the economy recovers," Jones said.
"The purchase of the hotels... is a good start," he added. "The opening of secure mental health facilities is a reversal of the ruinous casting out of the mentally ill to forage for themselves. This marks a clear change."
Condon, who lives and works in the Downtown Eastside, also sought to explain the mixed reviews.
"The provincial government's recent investment in SRO hotels has been very positive," Condon said. "But it does not actually decrease homelessness. These hotels were already mostly full when the province bought them. While it will give these residents some security and helps prevent homelessness, it is still a band-aid on a rather large and systemic problem that the provincial government was largely responsible for and has thus far refused to fully address."
Track suggested that the province has not done enough to prevent people from sliding into homelessness.
"Minimum wages and social assistance rates have stagnated, keeping tens of thousands of British Columbians in poverty, while rents and property values have sky-rocketed, making the task of finding affordable housing incredibly difficult for many people," Track said.
"The province has refused to amend residential tenancy legislation to provide for meaningful rent control and ensure people cannot be evicted from their homes for minor renovations. Now they want to introduce legislation to force homeless people into shelters against their will, ignoring the constitutional and practical realities of the homelessness crisis they helped create," the lawyer added.
Vancouver gets a C
The panel was more consistent in its assessment of the City of Vancouver, which also received a C.
Mayor Gregor Robertson campaigned on a promise to end street homelessness by 2015, and launched the Homeless Emergency Action Team (HEAT) during his first week in office. HEAT opened several emergency shelters last winter, but closed two of them over the summer.
Among the most objective views of the effectiveness of Robertson's efforts to reduce street homelessness is offered by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association's uniformed Downtown Ambassadors, who since late 2006 have counted homeless sleepers as part of their daily rounds.
Jones, now a security consultant, tracks that data. It shows a sharp rise in homeless sleeping during 2008, then a precipitous drop after the HEAT shelters were opened last winter, followed by a rise in late summer of 2009.
"Sometimes the data is pretty clear," Jones said. "In the case of the HEAT shelters, we saw rough sleeping drop off immediately. We also saw open drug use and drug trafficking drop off immediately."
However, Jones noted that those numbers began rising again shortly after two shelters closed last summer: "I would expect, in the absence of anything else coming on line, that we will see those numbers continue to rise."
Track said, "The new Vision council has done better," but added, "I was really disappointed by their decision to allow two shelters to close this summer due to community opposition. Those shelters were serving a particularly marginalized community of homeless youth, many of whom had not slept indoors for years and who had finally found a place that felt like home in the shelters."
Swanson sought to put the city's sheltering efforts in perspective.
"People who are in shelters are still homeless," the veteran Downtown Eastside activist said. "When I say things are a bit better, it's only because more homeless people are inside for part of the day, not because more have real, adequate housing."
Swanson suggested: "We'd like to see the city purchase more land to be used as social housing and take leadership in creating a more powerful lobby to get a federal-provincial national housing program."
Business and media also fare poorly
Some of The Tyee panelists also assessed the contributions that business and media have made toward ending homelessness during the past three years. Each were given D grades.
Jones made the case that business is part of the solution.
"Business leaders sit on the boards of almost every charity and not-for-profit organization," he said. "They give their time, their treasure and their talent. And most do so quietly."
Women's centre activist Walia expressed an opposing view, and singled out the ambassadors program for criticism.
"Business associations such as the Downtown Business Improvement Association are complicit in harassing poor people through their hiring of private security guards," Walia said. "Also, gentrification projects like Woodward's are increasing real estate speculation in poor neighbourhoods like the Downtown Eastside."
The panelists agreed that homelessness is getting more ink in the local papers, but several said mainstream media coverage tended toward the sensational.
"The Province [newspaper] did a series on the Downtown Eastside," Swanson explained. "But the overall impact -- especially from the sensationalist photos -- was to stereotype the area and therefore justify lack of housing for people in need. Coverage by the Globe and Mail was likewise very individual and didn't focus on the need for all levels of government to contribute to housing."
Condon, the magazine editor, added, "The provincial government is taking rather minor -- but highly visible -- action on the issue, and the mainstream media is all too ready to leave them off the hook. There is, also, little to no attention or awareness about the federal government's inaction on this issue."
'Do we want it?'
In closing comments, Jones gently criticized The Tyee for failing to ask for grades on the performance of Vancouver's large and vocal non-profit community.
"You have not asked what kind of a job the network of social agencies do. As with most media, these groups get a free ride without much in the way of critical analysis. Some, heavily reliant on government funding, trash the government at every opportunity," Jones said.
"Social service agencies are vital," he added, "but they must be accountable for the public dollars they spend."
Condon voiced concerns about a disconnect.
"I feel that over the past three years we have seen a marked increase in attention and awareness about homelessness," he said. "The general public is becoming more concerned about the increase in the number of people on their streets and demanding that their governments take action. However, there is still a huge disconnect between what people want to happen and what is actually happening."
Track concluded on a hopeful note.
"I believe we can end homelessness. It is not some intractable problem that will always be with us," Track said. "By raising incomes, ensuring a stock of good quality affordable housing and providing supportive services to people who need them, homelessness can be over. The question is: do we want it?" ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
nechakogal
12-10-2009
this article gets a big F
This was not a Homeless Report Card For British Columbia. This was a report card for Vancouver. Same old, same old, homelessness only happens in downtown Eastside Vancouver.
In rural areas entire services for vulnerable populations have disappeared. Many have to travel 100s of kilometers to meet requirements to receive basic benefits or to find a shelter that is bursting at the seams.
In northern BC this is a matter of life and death for many due to extremes of climate and lack of access to services. On top of that we have some bureaucrats in the city misleading the homeless about the availability of jobs, services and housing in the north. These people often have health problems that cannot be met in these small communities (particularly mental health and addictions).
I would like to see an apology/retraction for the title and an article about the real scale of homelessness in the province published in TheTyee in the very near future.
BC Mary
12-10-2009
A tip o'the Tuque, nechakogal ...
That's so true of the way things are run in B.C.
Remember that old "map" of B.C.? It had the outline of the province OK. It had a great big circle indicating the City of VANCOUVER and a smaller dot marked NEW WESTMINSTER, then the "highway" headed north getting thinner and thinner until it vanished at a small black dot called HOPE.
Beyond that, there was no city, town, or village. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was a joke, ha ha, very funny. But tragic, really, when,
in reality, it was possible for a bunch of
Vancouver dudes to give away BCRail, as if the needs and wishes of everybody north of Vancouver counted for nothing.
And, as if money is no object for dumb Vancouver stuff (see BC Hydro sues Peter Kiewit Sons), we'll be back in court tomorrow, Oct. 13, still trying to figure out how Gordo could lose a railway (and overpay roadbuilders and eHealth experts), increase homelessness, and still get re-elected.
David Beers
12-10-2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Nice to see people perusing the Tyee on a holiday. Nechakogal, that headline was mine, and I based it on facts and quotes like these throughout the piece:
"It's impossible to conclude that the problem has gotten anything but worse," Pivot lawyer Laura Track said.
"The 2008 Metro Vancouver homeless count found a 37 per cent increase in street homelessness between 2005 and 2008, with homelessness among women rising particularly quickly," Track added. "Municipalities like Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam and Burnaby saw their homeless populations grow by more than 100 per cent. The crisis is also growing in northern B.C. and throughout the province, in communities that lack the resources to do formal homeless counts."
and
"Minimum wages and social assistance rates have stagnated, keeping tens of thousands of British Columbians in poverty, while rents and property values have sky-rocketed, making the task of finding affordable housing incredibly difficult for many people," Track said.
"The province has refused to amend residential tenancy legislation to provide for meaningful rent control and ensure people cannot be evicted from their homes for minor renovations. Now they want to introduce legislation to force homeless people into shelters against their will, ignoring the constitutional and practical realities of the homelessness crisis they helped create," the lawyer added.
For some excellent reporting on the worsening homelessness problem in BC's north, please see this article by Sean Condon:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2009/03/16/HomelessNorth/
Which synthesized six or so lengthy posts to our political news blog, The Hook, that Condon made as he traveled and reported on homelessness in the region. You can find them by using the Hook's search box and entering Northern Exposure + Condon
Here are two examples:
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Housing/2009/01/27/NorthernExposure/
http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Housing/2009/01/30/SmithersHousing/
Cheers.
DNA
12-10-2009
Reconcile philosophies of housing?
Does anyone know of someone who has figured out how to reconcile our conflicting views of housing.
1. Homelessness is a social evil. All people who live in Vancouver, or come here, should have clean, warm, reasonable housing. No one should have to sleep on the street.
2. Homes are a private good. If you want a place to live, you have to buy a house or rent an apartment. The largest asset a person may have is his or her home, and we should protect the value of that asset.
Do you see the conflict here? Some people can't afford to buy or rent. What then do we do to reconcile these two values?
Note: I am NOT saying we should not work to house the homeless...
Bob Watts
12-10-2009
A Grade is a downhill slope....
Just the plain stupid idea of shelters as a housing option is insane. One of the riches nations in the world and all a citizen here can get are a mat on a floor, shame! I met a person that was being forced into a Sally Ann shelter while attending medical appts in another town, she now hates this church, sad, but understandable. The Liberal plan to force people into shelters may back fire in ways not planned for as of yet, poor people are proud and want freedom like anyone else. Harper’s police state is well under way. There are rent subsidies for the working poor but nothing for people on welfare. Poverty and all these side effects are deliberate. Harper just had a $60 billion surplus and I watched the day they had a vote to end poverty in the House of Commons. Harper did not even blink when he voted no, the consequences are hungry children, homeless people, and Death.
It cost $55k to keep a person homeless, yet a person with half that money could afford to live, and not like an animal.
Did you know the SPCA was in existence well before the Ministry of Children, no surprise to me! You know “C” is a passing grade, so not even the people in the know have the nerve to say out load what is really happening.
I worked for years helping the poor, and we had an “unwritten Gag order” on all of us, don’t rock the boat, don’t write the papers, don’t call yourself an advocate just call yourself a human service worker, that does 9 to 5 and no more, “F” that, that’s my grade for what our leaders are doing to the “least among us”.
lynn
12-10-2009
A passing grade? How is that possible?
Great post as always, Bob Watts.
Your knowledge of "the way it really is" is an irreplaceable addition to these threads.
Especially this:
"You know “C” is a passing grade, so not even the people in the know have the nerve to say out load what is really happening.
I worked for years helping the poor, and we had an “unwritten Gag order” on all of us, don’t rock the boat, don’t write the papers, don’t call yourself an advocate just call yourself a human service worker, that does 9 to 5 and no more, “F” that, that’s my grade for what our leaders are doing to the “least among us”.
writetothepoint1960
12-10-2009
How to help others help themselves and homelessness and health.
It is hard to be around people. I like the idea that came out about adopting a homeless individual. I live downtown in Victoria. I usally look like I am on my way to work or home or friends. Homeless people, are more aimless. They are looking for support. I try to accept everyone in the community. Mental health is just as high on the street as it is in the office or home. And I like to find out more about how to help others, the homeless and support others in a healthy way. My aim is to find healthy ways to solve my problems. And I believe that's the kind of support others want from me. So, I am all for more funds and resources for the homeless. It will just make me and the community healthier.
nechakogal
12-10-2009
Beers
Thanks for Thanksgiving wishes and taking ownership of the title, but you either missed the point or chose to ignore it. Seems pretty city-centric, but, perhaps as BC Mary tells it, it has something to do with the map you are looking at. The point that other articles have covered rural homelessness does not give license to ignore these concerns outside of the Vancouver when using the sweeping heading of "British Columbia". It is misleading and I thought TheTyee held a higher standard. Something I would expect from a mainstream media outlet. There is no mention of communities beyond Vancouver, and as far as I can tell, no one on the panel represents the concerns of the homeless outside of Vancouver. Thus, the heading should have stated "Vancouver", not "British Columbia." Cheers!
gassyandy
12-10-2009
THANKSTAKING
I live here in the DTES and have dialog on a daily basis with the homeless....
The buzzword this week is
HAPPY THANKS TAKING, this holiday comes just before
GREEDMAS
Moonbug
12-10-2009
pretty interesting article -
pretty interesting article - I liked the contrast between the downtown ambassador and harsha walia... it seemed like they were both sniping at each other a bit.
That said, this article tells me more about some of the competing ideologies at war in the downtown eastside than about homelessness, really.
other23
12-10-2009
Affordable Housing to be Bulldozed
I am amazed that usually perceptive panelists, and columnist Monte Paulsen make no mention of the disastrously short sighted "redevelopment" of Little Mountain Housing as part of the provincial government's contribution to the affordable housing crisis.
It is a botched mess on every level. A community which has contributed to its neighbourhood for 56 years is no more, the 224 families scattered. Yes, they have been promised first refusal on the replacement subsidized units, but the date is anyone's guess, especially in a recession environment. The 214 families who moved bumped those at the top of the thousands long list of people hoping for affordable housing through B.C. Housing.
Land costs are the main challenge in planning affordable housing. Why are we selling off this prime location which, as taxpayers, we already own, to an off shore developer who plans to make the rest of the development high end? ... (perhaps as many as 1000 units, with granite counters, etc., which we need like a hole in the head.) The minister says the plan is to use the profit from the land sale to fund supportive housing in Vancouver and in the larger province. So lets see, we plan to sell affordable housing, now and for the future, in order to finance supportive housing, and provide high end housing for the rich who can choose to live anywhere. Great!!
We, the taxpayers of B.C. own this land, for now, but our ex-developer Minister Coleman sees only $$$$$$, and by means of a 3 P, so there is no public access to information, sells it, and our hopes for future affordable housing with it. And there are 2 other housing complexes of the same vintage in Vancouver, just awaiting the minister's redevelopment orders.
We expect the bulldozers this week, or next, in time to clear the site and perhaps re-turf it so that Olympic visitors to the new curling rink will see a nice green lawn, and won't be curious or ask embarrassing questions about vacant, serviceable, affordable housing.
Thanks so much, provincial ministry of Housing. I'd say good for a D grade, D for demolition.
sicntired
13-10-2009
Why?
Is there no one gathering information on homelessness throughout the province?It's obvious that there are homeless everywhere so why is there no government institution collecting information.I realise that Rich Coleman is a waste of space as a person,never mind a cabinet minister.How can a ministry operate without the necessary information?Just asking.
rufusthedog
13-10-2009
There's no new housing
We keep seeing the politicans showing off the newly renovated single room hotels. While it's true the buildings are cleaner and safer, they have done nothing to add any housing. These hotels where full before the province bought them, so all they have done is provided better housing for the same number of tenents. The 10 new buildings which where suppose to be open before the Olympics have not even started, I think all the politicians are making it look like they really care. I wonder if that will be true next April when the world has left town and the Olympics are over.
Jeffrey J.
13-10-2009
Criticizing the Tyee...
"In closing comments, Jones gently criticized The Tyee for failing to ask for grades on the performance of Vancouver's large and vocal non-profit community."
Dave Jones, security consultant to the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, looks at the world through the lens of police enforcement and big business. The VBIA's roster of leaders includes the following:
PRESIDENT
Darcy Brabbins
Bentall Capital LP
VICE PRESIDENT
Ultan Kampff
The Cadillac Fairview Corporation/Pacific Centre
SECRETARY-TREASURER
Ronald Mon-Kau
Best Western Downtown Vancouver
PAST PRESIDENT
William V. Rempel
Manulife Financial
Ann Cowan
Simon Fraser University
Peter Jackman
Vancouver Community Foundation
Ruth Steverlynck
BMO Harris Private Bank
Ed Furlan
Deloitte
Lizette Parsons Bell
Concert Properties/Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games
Stephen Peters
Pan Pacific Hotel Vancouver
Linda Sinclair
RBC Royal Bank
Michael Yeates
Vancity Business Banking
Most of these sectors stand for big business, making profits, opposing increase in income taxes, oppose increase in corporate taxes, supporting the Liberal neocon regime; supporting the Deltaport Freeway expansion. The list goes on. As if NGO's and non-profits have any real power or influence. When they try, they're shut down or ignored.
But when questions arise about BUSINESS responsibility for our society, suddenly its all about the failings of NGO's, non-profits and the Tyee. I hope Mr. Jones asks how CanWestGlobal has been graded recently.Or perhaps how the 2010 IOC program has been 'functioning'. Of course, it will never happen.
Great article
Bob Watts
13-10-2009
Smoke and Mirrors....
Millionaire business people solving the homeless problem, Ya give me a break! Spending a $1,000 per square ft on skid row hotels is totally insane, and yes its not new additional housing. How about go up the Fraser valley buy 1,000 acres and duplicate the DTES in full scale. (Sorry just had to share that). I was driving around Vancouver Island and there are towns with 50% vacancy rates, rents starting at $350 per mth, buy a 1,200 sq ft 3 bed trailer starting at $40k that’s $33 per square ft. A shelter mat on the floor is $91.32 per night!!! There are ex mining and forestry towns, with the entire infrastructure still in place, “Cheap”. Offer incentives for the homeless to relocate.
What just ticks me off the most is homeless shelters get $91.32 per night per bed that’s $2,700 per month, yet a free enterprise Hostel charges $25 per night and that’s not for a mat on the floor. The homeless need a form of triage where they are sorted by danger to others, addictions, families etc. The Hostels format may work for some people….
In my home town where there is also a 50% vacancy rate we have a homeless shelter, what the hell for! We need a hotel that houses drinkers, and addicts, double up the sprinkler systems, install heated concrete floors, steel chairs and fireproof furniture.
There are 70,000 disabled people on welfare in BC 30% are college and university educated, yet non-of us are ever consulted about poverty issues, I mean what would the business people and churches do? Lets see $1,000 sq ft for skid row or $33 sq ft overlooking the Ocean from a fishing resort. What would I know, looking out from my window watching the Eagles playing in the wind over the Bay.
other23
13-10-2009
Dear Wayfarer,
Point taken. I, too, look forward to followups.
However....the demolition of Little Mountain is here and now. People who might care need to know about it.
The connection between homelessness and affordable housing is easily overlooked because the needs of the homeless are so acute and distressing.
One of the commonest routes to homelessness, particularly for low income people, the handicapped, and seniors is eviction for renovation and renewal. With reduction of affordable stock and no new affordable housing, the scenario is too often another name added to BC Housing's waitlist, and nights in shelters or on the street for the forseeable future.
sstroud
13-10-2009
where are the families
I am becoming more and more concerned about the total absence of discussion on homeless families. We now have vast numbers of families who are split between various friends houses, sleeping in the parks with or without tents, sleeping in overcrowded homes with other families in situations where they cannot afford the hydro so candles and propane are being used for heat and light and cooking...the horrible disaster that 'shocks' us all will happen anytime now and yet we'll all pretend we didn't know...how does a teen study in a motel room with younger siblings bouncing all around her/him? How does a youngster feel when they can never invite a friend home because there is no home to invite them too? Kids are going to school without having a decent night's sleep because of the noisy/scary/dangerous conditions around them. Is it any wonder kids don't believe they owe any respect to the adult world around them? Why should they? This province, at this time is one of the most shameful places on earth!
sstroud
13-10-2009
Blaming the feds
Somewhere in this article is a suggestion that it's the federal government's fault that we have such homelessness ad while that 'appears' to be true it needs to benoted that after the feds cut the funding for housing the NDP continued to build housing in BC. It is only under the BC Liberals (who the leader is would make no difference), that all building of new social housing has ended. More and more the people needing housing are working families and those once called the middle class. Shame.
Fii
13-10-2009
Just a thought
Didn't churches in the old days used to house the homeless?
zalm
14-10-2009
Root causes - seek and ye shall find
A hundred years ago, when housing was just housing, there was little incentive to profit from it as an owner. Adding value came at great expense, and the only people who made money at housing were those who built it, repaired it, sold it or rented it. But back then, housing wasn't business - it was a need.
But housing isn't just housing any more - it's an investment. The problem? The poor have no means to invest. And the lower middle class shouldn't be primarily invested in housing - they have too much to lose if their investment goes bad. And now the tradition even among the upper middle class as well as everyone else is to "over-invest" - that is, borrow on margin to make your profits bigger, but also your losses. This is a classic bubble.
Conflating housing and investments has been the biggest mistake successive federal governments have engaged in since the post-war boom. It looked good on paper, it gave an artificial stimulus to the economy, and it fooled a lot of people into thinking they were growing rich, even while most of them denied the evidence of their senses as they tried to figure out how to unlock the paper wealth in their houses. Most of them figured out they either had to be first into a desirable market (read: monopoly), or accept substandard housing in order to profit from it. Classic discredited Chicago-School economics.
This problem is a creation of the federal government - indeed, every federal government since the war has crucified ordinary Canadians on the altar of wealth "creation" through home ownership, and it's true not only in Canada but in most of the western world. (Read Ed Deak's treatises on wealth creation if you want yet another point of view on how false this notion is. He's not Krugman, but he's good.) There are solutions, but most are politically unpalatable to junkie governments jittering from one attention-seeking fix from the public to another.
Ordinary primary housing as an investment is a social ill, make no mistake about it. Profit from it should be taxed virtually out of existence so that it can be returned to its primary purpose - providing shelter to all who need it.
Which is all of us.
zalm
14-10-2009
Fii
Didn't churches in the old days used to house the homeless?
Nope. Churches used to shelter the homeless. Still do. Several dozen churches in the Lower Mainland provide "Out of the Cold" programs - a mat on the floor and volunteers who stay the night to make sure sleepers and property are protected - from each other.
(This puts me in mind of that quote from Anabaptist leader Menno Simons from 1536: True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant. It clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all people.")
But housing the homeless? Not really. Some wealthy churches set up housing for widows and orphans, but that was about the limit of their charity and mostly that was done by bequest, and largely fell by the wayside when guaranteed income came into civilization in the 1950s/60s.
It's expensive to provide housing - and by that I mean (as I'm sure you do too) living quarters, with security of tenancy or title, and legal standing with the authorities so that the homeless may legally available themselves of the services of the city.
Find me a single piece of property here in the city that doesn't have title somewhere on it. Even the city with its huge land bank, cannot afford to concentrate all its land resources on solving the problem of security of tenancy or title. There are/will be many other needs in the future - more schools, hospitals, community centres, places to access government services, parks and a host of other needs that make life in the city worth living.
And even if the city were to do so, it would be kind of like trying to solve a rat problem in the city by trapping and deporting them to Northern BC. You just end up making room for the remaining rats to breed in more favourable circumstances unhindered by competition. So too with housing - if you provide housing at city expense, the remaining private housing becomes more scarce, those who can afford to do so bid up its value, and making more and more people homeless with each succeeding generation. It becomes a perpetual problem, never to be solved.
No, the solution is to remove the profit incentive from housing. Muhammed Yunas has some excellent thoughts on this in his second book A World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism
Bob Watts
14-10-2009
To Zalm
What am I trying to say, you ask. (Zalm).
OK, I’m disabled and on welfare, for many years now. I once lived in Vancouver and bought and sold dozens of houses, properties that I owned and renovated, I was also a landlord. It was my goal to leave the city, to be able to retire at 35, I became ill, no insurance. I started working with the poor, for free, I learned a lot, its no free ride, maybe it was 30 years ago but it is now just a little taste of hell on earth, Just like the Sally Ann’s logo “FIRE and BLOOD”. Wow!
I’ve met a large number or other disabled people that own their own homes. Once your house is paid off the bill to maintain a house including taxes, hydro, insurance etc, drops to about $300 per month.
In Ireland poverty has been greatly reduced, one of the big changes is people are allowed to buy their homes. Our leaders are spending a $1,000 per sq ft plus all maintenance and all other expenses to house the poor in Vancouver. So now a single person on welfare gets $235 per month to live on, they can’t buy cleaners, a vacuum cleaner. These building become slums, with dirt and bed bugs.
Double welfare rates it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than these so called subsidized homes. A single person with $750 for rent will have landlords tripping over themselves to house the poor. Doubling the support portion for food to $475 is still not enough but will keep the poor out of the hospitals for a little longer, again saving millions.
Being Disabled I get about double what a single person on welfare gets. I don’t have what I want but I do have what I need.
I just know for a fact this is true. Non of the poor people I’ve met that own their homes, commit crimes, they take very few drugs, a few are addicted to gardening and share their crops freely, same with the people that live on boats that share seafood with each other.
I just know millionaires don’t understand poverty, its just a big guess to them. I’ve lived on both sides and can truly say I understand poverty.
Zalm does this make any sense?
TommyBoy
14-10-2009
Homelessness
Glad to see Monte (and some others) do a report card on homelessness. If Vancouver gets a 'C', then they get a C. However, in comparison to other Metro Vancouver municipalities, Vancouver should get a quadruple A.
Let's take the case of Burnaby,the supposedly social democratic municipality has only one temporary shelter and it is closing. Burnabystan, as I call it, does nothing.
I'd urge Monte and other concerned citizens - anyone out there from Burnaby? - to examine the actions of the other municipalities in Metro Vancouver in relation to housing and homeless issues. Vancouver starts a Hope, not Boundary Road.
Any takers?
zalm
14-10-2009
Gotcha, Bob...
....I understand, but I don't quite agree. In fact, I think your Ireland example is more the example of where we as a society have gone wrong. I'm not expert on Irish land ownership, but I believe the people there always could own land - they merely could not mortgage it until the banks changed the rules in order to make more profit. When banks gave poor people mortgages, those who were qualified, and those who were not qualified all bought in, but then we ended up in an ever-increasing spiral of prices that has led us to the current impasse.
And not just in Ireland, but here too. I remember growing up in the '60s how few two-income families there were, and how many in the '80s, and how housing prices went up ten times in the meantime. All the extra income that was earned by the second earner was absorbed in the housing market.
And I can't see that as a good thing, because there will always be some on the outliers (people who earn less than two standard deviations below the mean on the income curve) that will never be able to afford to purchase. I suspect that would be several tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands in Canada alone.
That's what I mean by housing "stopped being a need and became an investment". It actually never stopped being a need, but people couldn't see that aspect of it any more because the dollar signs loomed too large in their eyes.
I'm no expert on shelter rates either, but I suspect the shelter at $91 a night is trying to 1) pay its workers fairly to do a proper job of caring for the people and the place, not like the crappy desk clerk's job my buddy had at minimum wage back in university, and 2) do this without the income from a noisy liquor licence downstairs.
Thoughts?
Bob Watts
15-10-2009
Thoughts!
To me talking about solving poverty issues is good therapy, but rather pointless, the best I can hope for is enlightening a few individuals. When I had money, I didn’t see the poor, I didn’t really care, why should I care, how about it was the last thing on my mind. Guess its like seeing kids starving to death on TV and its hit the remote to find a good horror movie.
I live on a very rich street, there’s a Doctor next door, hotel owner’s etc, I remain anonymous, I’m retired and on a fixed income if they ask. When these people talk of the poor it just gets me. One person just lost it all last year and went to welfare, they where told to sell their house, sell their 3 cars, we went with her to the food bank, it was not good lots of tears and lots of outdated food, they all got the runs a few times, but it was better than no food I guess. But thats a whole other subject, food banks.
Nearly everyone says the same thing when mentioning welfare, “look at the cheaters, its all about fraud and stealing my tax dollar etc” Ever seen a person charged with welfare fraud, I haven’t. Go find a job has become one of the sickest jokes to date, we import 45,000 foreign workers, ever heard of a homeless foreign workers? Why are they fully housed? Why are they here. There is a good number of foreign workers in my town, a town with 25% unemployment, our business people will not hire first nations nor the poor here, so I get to point at a picture of the food I want, this is another subject that just really gets me.
To me poverty is deliberate, it’s caused by greed, and bigotry. Other countries have greatly reduced poverty, it can be done, but my neighbors don’t see any problems, and there lies the problem. I told the Doc next door that a single person gets $610 to live on, he said in shock, $610 per week, I said no per month and there is 4 times per year when there are 5 weeks in a month. That’s $235 for food to last 5 weeks. Oh is all he said.
What an evil socialist I am. Money needs to go directly to the poor and not to institutions. Yet some 10% of the poor need institutions to live in. Last year a disabled homeless man in a wheelchair was killed on the street in Vancouver, what a sick society we have become.
That’s my thoughts, more yelling at the brick wall.
It cost $55,000 to keep a person homeless, what is it that our leaders don’t understand, just double welfare rates and some 90% of the problem will resolve its self. Plus save over $40,000 per person.
My neighbors will never double welfare rates and because of that simple fact, homelessness has only just begun, and our police state will soon follow, who needs a sci-fi movie. EH! Otherwise I’m having a great day, you?