Welcome to the 'Burbs, Meet the New Homeless
Their ranks are growing in cities like Surrey, as the working poor slip their grip.
Surrey outreach workers Lori and Rich, with their minivan full of snacks and soap.
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Sherry and Chris spent the past few years "just getting by." The couple paid $420 a month to share a house in Surrey. The rent cost more than half their income. And yet, as Sherry put it, they got by.
Until they didn't.
Sherry, Chris and their many cats were evicted in September. Since then, they've camped out behind an abandoned strip mall a short distance from their former home.
When they stepped across their threshold for the last time, they left behind the 1.5 million Canadian families that are "just getting by" -- the federal government describes these as households in "core housing need" -- to join the ranks of the estimated 300,000 Canadians who are homeless.
Their story helps illustrate why homelessness is growing so rapidly in sprawling suburbs such as Surrey, which may already host more homeless people than Vancouver. And a day on the road with a pair of homeless outreach workers shows what suburban homelessness looks like -- when you can see it.
"We're in a situation that could happen to anybody," Sherry told me. "We're not staying out here for very long. We'll do whatever we have to do to get our own place."
That was two months ago.
Working poor pushed out of Vancouver
"It's a known pattern. The working poor are getting pushed out of Vancouver, out to the suburbs," said Rich, an outreach worker, as he drove across Surrey. "A lot of these people, when they move here, they are like one pay cheque away from becoming homeless."
Rich and his colleague Lori work for Options, a society that operates the Hyland House shelter among other community services. (The Tyee agreed not to publish Rich and Lori's last names in order to protect their privacy.) Surrey is one of 49 communities served by homeless outreach teams under contract to BC Housing.
They work a territory that includes most of Surrey as well as Cloverdale, Ladner, Tsawwassen and White Rock. They drive a minivan packed with supplies: snacks, soap, water, juice and high-protein drinks. Their job is help the homeless find housing and other support services.
"There are two categories of homeless that seem to outweigh the rest. One being young adults who don't have employment and don't have a clue as to where to go or what to do. They're just not prepared for life," Rich explained.
"On the other side of the scale, we have quite a few people who are on the top edge of middle age. They've worked hard all their lives. But now they've lost their employment, and they don't have a clue as to how to jump through the hoops to get the support services necessary to keep going," he continued.
'The mindset that society is against them'
The Options minivan rolled to a stop at the edge of a small wooded lot. There was a shopping mall on one side of the lot, and a row of expensive-looking townhouses on the other.
Rich and Lori led me through the brush to a small campsite near the centre of the lot. Rich called out to anyone who might still inside the tent, but no one replied. I reached down and placed my hand over the propane cook stove. It was still hot.
Rich joked that they've been finding "a better class" of homeless people this year. By that he meant people who are still working, and who had not yet slipped into the well of addiction or mental illness.
"They're just poor," he said. "They simply don't earn enough money to live in this society."
From where I squatted, I could see into the living rooms of the townhouses across the street. Had I been there at night, I probably could have smelled what they ate for dinner, or watched them watching TV.
"When they are living in this condition, and they see the guy across the street in the expensive home -- the guy who's not doing anything to help them -- you can see how they begin to develop the mindset that society is against them," Rich said.
I asked whether they thought the families across the street watched back.
"I doubt it," Lori replied. "Most people just don't realize how close to their backyard other people are sleeping."
Only two beds left
When Surrey residents do come to realize how close the homeless are sleeping, they typically call the RCMP or the city bylaw enforcement office. Those organizations, in turn, often call the outreach team.
As Rich drives to the next campsite, Lori sits in the back seat with a telephone. It rings every 10 minutes or so. Some calls come from concerned residents. Others come from the soon-to-be-homeless, looking for a bed.
One such call came from an elderly woman who said she wanted to leave a Vancouver shelter where other clients were using drugs.
"That lady who just phoned?" Lori said. "She was born in 1937. Do the math. Wow."
Another call came from a man who said he needed a place to stay for a week while he waited to get into a recovery program.
"We get that a lot," Rich said. "They cycle through recovery programs. Once they are out of the recovery program, if they can't find a place to live, they feel hopeless and a lot of them wind up using again. Then they start the cycle all over again."
Surrey's outreach team is modeled loosely on the outreach program pioneered in Vancouver. But whereas Vancouver outreach workers have literally thousands of shelter beds and government-owned hotel rooms into which to place homeless clients, the Options team has just 35 beds at the Hyland House shelter and sometimes a few more at smaller shelters nearby.
On this particular day, only two beds are available. If both of the homeless people who called Lori this morning show up this afternoon, those beds are already full.
I look at my phone. It's not yet 11 a.m.
Surrey team sees 1,800 new homeless a year
There are a lot of empty lots in Surrey. Rich and Lori took me to almost a dozen. We found homeless camps every place we stopped.
I mentioned that the "official" 2008 homeless count found 402 homeless people living in Surrey.
Rich chuckled.
"We make contact with about 400 homeless people a month," he said. "That's just our team, just the people we come into contact with."
Of those 400 people a month, about 150 are new.
"These are people we've never seen before. Many are new to the streets," Rich explained.
If 150 people join the ranks of the homeless each month, that's 1,800 new homeless people a year -- just in Surrey. If that figure is even in the ballpark, then Surrey's homeless population has almost certainly surpassed Vancouver's.
I asked Rich and Lori if it was even remotely possible that there could be that many homeless people in Surrey.
"People get pushed around," Lori said. "They decide, you know, 'We're going to push those people out of here.' And those people just turn up someplace else… So, they're around, somewhere, but they're not all here today."
Rich figured aloud as he drove: A couple of hundred active campsites, an average of perhaps two people per site. Add people sleeping in cars and trucks. Add people sleeping rough. Add people couch surfing or crashing in drug houses.
"I don't really know," Rich finally said. "That might be accurate. It's possible."
'On the streets for all sorts of reasons'
By mid-afternoon, we were at the Skytrain station, waiting to meet the woman who'd called that morning.
Lori flipped through the pages of The Province newspaper. There was a news story about a fugitive who was on the lam. His first and middle names were identical to those given by the man she'd spoken to that morning -- the one who needed shelter until he could get into treatment. Her suspicions were raised. She stepped away to phone the shelter he claimed to be in the night before.
Rich shrugged. The shadow of an overhead train glided across him.
"People are on the streets for all sorts of reasons," he said.
A white-haired woman lugging three overstuffed bags plopped her way down the stairs a few moments later. Lori greeted her. Rich helped her to the minivan.
Christina -- who also did not want her last name published -- said she was from Ontario but had lived in Maple Ridge for most of the last decade. She said she'd lost all her savings about a year ago as a result of a court case involving faulty automotive repairs. She said she'd lived with her brother until the spring. Since then she said she's lived in at least three different shelters in Vancouver, and one on the North Shore.
Lori questioned Christina patiently. Her wandering tale of legal woe involved crooked car dealers, shady lawyers, and even the Hells Angels. All I could tell for certain was that I was sitting next to an exceptionally fearful 72-year-old.
When we got to Hyland House, Lori led her inside. I helped Rich with the luggage.
"We can't solve people's problems for them," Rich said. "We try to help them find housing. We try to help them connect with people who might be able to help them. That's all we can do."
'Abandoned and abused' but resolute
The mystery man from North Van never showed. So Lori offered the last bed at Hyland House to Sherry, the woman living behind the shuttered strip mall.
Sherry thanked Lori for the offer, but turned her down.
With a wisp of hair falling across her dirty face, Sherry explained that she was unwilling to leave her cats.
There are no pet-friendly shelters south of the Fraser. Lori had previously been able to place single dogs or cats into temporary homes, but didn't think she could place seven cats that may or may not have had their immunizations.
Sherry was polite and resolute.
I was puzzled. I asked why she was willing to sleep in a parking lot in order to be with her cats.
"They've always been with us," Sherry told me. "Even just moving out of the house, one of our cats -- because she'd been abandoned before and she'd been abused -- she thought that we were going to leave her. She just got really freaked out and stuff."
Sherry looked me in the eye. Tears welled in hers. I forgot whether she was talking about her cats, or herself.
"We're not going to leave her," she declared.
Lori gave Sherry an armload of food, and promised to check back in a few days. We wished her well and left her at the edge of the crumbling blacktop.
The minivan was quiet as we drove away. Lori finally broke the silence.
"Actually, that happens quite a lot," she said. "People who've lost everything else, they get quite attached to their pets. Their pets are like family."
Rich added his thoughts a bit later.
"I don't think anybody wants to be homeless," he said. "But a lot of them have so completely given up hope that there's anything else, that they find it easier to stay where they are."
Two month later, as this article was being prepared for publication, Rich told me that Sherry was still living behind that strip mall.
I have no doubt but that she is taking very good care of her cats. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
Rhea
19-11-2009
pets
As somebody who owns 4 cats and a dog, I can completely sympathize with Sherry. I would stay homeless rather than move into a shelter where I was forced to abandon my pets. I've seen first-hand what happens to animals in this situation, and it's not pretty. Pet friendly shelters aren't a solution, either, even though they would help. What's needed is getting these people back into decent housing. These are people who are working, not using drugs, and not spending beyond their means. They just can't survive and what they earn, and that is truly shameful in a first-world society like Canada.
The billions being spent on the owe-lympics would be a lot better spent on raising the minimum wage to a true, livable level (sorry, $8 doesn't cut it even for basic survival) and helping people smacked by this recession get the help they need to turn them back into productive citizens.
Van Isle
19-11-2009
Hey Monte, come this next
Hey Monte, come this next Jan/Feb when the foreign press starts to show up for the Olympics, grab a few of them one day when it's a bit slow and take them to the places that you have described in this article.
Wilfride Laurier
19-11-2009
Yes.....
"What's needed is getting these people back into decent housing."
It should be up to the various levels of government to build affordable housing for the multi-felined and in the meantime pass the "Multiple Feline Housing Protection Anti-Discrimination Act" that forces Capitalist Roader slum lords to accept any application from anyone, regardless of their felineicity. As a matter of fact, I am going to get on the line with Carole to get the ball rolling and if it doesn't happen, better watch for a General (feline protection) Strike!
Frank
19-11-2009
In a better world
In a better world the people whose policies increase homelessness and poverty would realize those policies are wrong and would implement better ones.
But in the world of the provincial Liberals ideology trumps facts all the time and the weak be damned.
morechatter
19-11-2009
Meow
You will find evictions increasing as the new found unemployed are unable to pay their rent and find themselves the now down and out. In the new year it is going to be devastating as job loses will increase and those who find themselves jobless and homeless will also find themselves under arrest as Government makes it easy to rid its self of the down and out. Thanks to government incentives like reducing interest rates and cash bonuses for first time buyers makes hay of real estate so developers can win big. It is going to blow as increased real estate prices are passed on to business and this will add to the unemployment and foreclosures. I was reading people making $17 an hour are picking up real estate and I'm thinking the smuck can't even afford a bus pass much less an over priced condo.
Chris Keam
19-11-2009
The real joke
black as it may be, is that there are homeless people who treat their pets better than society treats them.
No doubt Wilfred's attempts at humour, beyond the transparent attempt to paint everyone mentioned in the article with one broad, careless stroke, is a type of defense mechanism. Once you realize a homeless person can be the type of person who cares for animals, one also has to move them from the category of 'Them' to 'Us'. Which seems to be anathema to some.
NightTrain23
19-11-2009
A better world indeed...
A nation as wealthy as ours should not have such poverty. I believe no one willing to work 40 hours/week should go hungry or homeless. And I think the minimum wage/cost of living should match, and that no one earning under that minimum should pay income taxes.
But it's not just a provincial Liberal issue, much as many in these fora are willing to focus their ire exclusively there - federal and municipal government and politics need to be included. It's also not just a government problem, it's also a people problem - non-participatory "democracy", NIMBYism that doesn't want subsidized housing near them, and an attitude that screams against taxation without recognizing social services need to be paid for somehow. It's also a social problem - mcmansions and car-dependant suburban lifestyles eat up a lot of land and resources - both for society *and* those who have trapped themselves in those lifestyles. How much more could people contribute (not just financially, but time & energy) to making the world a better place if they weren't maxing out their higher incomes on commuting and houses and gas and gym memberships that they don't need?
We *all* need to live more simply, and there will be more for everyone.
carfreed
19-11-2009
homeless
rich or poor, one pet per person is enough.
pet industry is huge.
every hardware store now has huge pet section.
most of the homeless don't have an automobile.
average Canadian spends $8750 just on Maintenance for 1 automobile.
Social costs of autos is $200 Billion.
Go figure.
Shows where our priorities are.
morechatter
19-11-2009
Chris Keam
I truly appreaciated what you had to say because its been easy for government and its die hearts to paint the homeless as anything but human. It obvious as even the police leave their foot print on the homeless as local police take the boots to the homeless on a regular basis. What is it like to be without an address in BC? Well just think of yourself like the Olympic torch as the homeless become regular victims of violence as torching, stabbling,slicing and dicing and freezing become the local norm for those who find themselves without a place to call home.
BC Housing blows off clients on a regular basis as it takes its time getting to landlords in a market where there is a high demand resulting in increased homelessness as clients forced to use intent to rent form and waits until government gets around to it in a week or so. BC Affordable housing has a no pet policy but dosen't have a problem renting a family unit of 3 bedrooms units to single males for market rents.
make_up_another...
19-11-2009
Is This Living The Dream?
I have a job that pays about 50K a year. That sounds pretty good on paper, but I live in a rented room in a suburban home. If I rented a 'real' apartment, all of my money would go to pay gas, insurance, car payment, etc. and I would be unable to cope with any sudden cash emergencies.
My girlfriend lives two hours away, and has no desire to move to the city, and I can't blame her, I don't want to be here either. I came here when my job was eliminated and a position was available here. I've been unhappy ever since. I couldn't imagine buying a house, which in the GTA run around 350 000+.
Of course, to move back home is to surely take a backward step financially, even risking unemployment for a long time, without EI. It may be hard for some policy people to believe, but not everyone wants to live in a city. Most of the small towns that are still alive, are so because they are bedroom communities, or have some kind of tourist appeal.
This isn't living, it's a suburban fucking nightmare.
I know this doesn't have much to do with the story, but I feel like I live on the edge. I live this way, not by choice, but because if I tried to live normally, I'd risk too much. All it takes is one transmission problem and I could face having to make a choice between rent, car payment or food.
I feel like there are many people out there like me and that there are many subtle layers of working people, each facing problems trying to fit into this make believe model of prosperity.
JIm
19-11-2009
"I believe no one willing to
"I believe no one willing to work 40 hours/week should go hungry or homeless"
So what would you say about the example couple in the article? One person of the couple was working part time, yet they are used a prime example of the so called "working poor". The question then becomes why would the so called middle and upper classes, who are working 10 hour days to make ends meet, want to give away every last cent to a couple who aren't even willing to carry one full time job between them?
Frank
19-11-2009
Surrey
"But whereas Vancouver outreach workers have literally thousands of shelter beds and government-owned hotel rooms into which to place homeless clients, the Options team has just 35 beds at the Hyland House shelter and sometimes a few more at smaller shelters nearby."
Way to go Dianne Watts, you're a natural do-nothing leader for the Liberals.
Frank
19-11-2009
JIm
"So what would you say about the example couple in the article? "
I'd say its proof the Liberals are terrible at job creation. After all, they've created less jobs than the NDP did in the 1990s.
frank2
19-11-2009
This problem is not going
This problem is not going away. Rising unemployment, and lower wages for a majority of the employed, guarantee increased poverty and homelessness. Add in the fact that we have "overshot" carrying capacity (for the luxurious use of resources the society now "enjoys"), it is clear that major readjustments are needed. A peaceful outcome would see much higher taxes on higher incomes, highers taxes on unsustainable consumption (starting with consumption of non-renewable energy sources), and a concerted effort (minimum wages, living wage, proper support for the disabled, etc.) I'm not holding my breath.
sdgreen
19-11-2009
Affordability
A recent study conducted in Victoria indicated that a combined income of just over $60 K is required to live in the Capital Regional District. Sixty thousand dollars is a lot of money, yet that is the minimum and does not allow for saving, holidays or much else.
The outstanding cause of this is the high levels of taxation at all levels of government and the imbalance of wages/benefits of Public Service versus private businesses. Further the ability to save at that level of income is almost non-existent and even if you could the standard (even the best) rates are insignificant.
Other issues identified especially for the houseing industry is that there is just way too much 'red' tape imposed which increases the cost unreasonably to landlords and developers.
Taxation by all levels of government is massive. Government fees at all levels are way too high. Governments at all levels are too large and consume tax dollars in a wasteful manner on projects of questionable value.
All of this is causing undue harm to the poor, is placing immense financial pressure on what was the middle class (who are marching to the poor house), is making it difficult for small business to survive, and generally is screwing up the society we live in.
Federal, Provincial and Local governments are just taking in too much of the financial pie.
Only those who are 'rich' (whatever that figure now is?) are doing ok. The Rest of us are suffering.
Frank
19-11-2009
sdgreen
Corporations are doing well. Mr Harper is lowering their rates down to 15% and the $14 billion or so a year in lost revenue will be made up by increasing taxes on the little guy or running up large deficits.
mmphosis
19-11-2009
a better class
> Rich joked that they've been finding "a better class" of homeless people this year. By that he meant people who are still working, and who had not yet slipped into the well of addiction or mental illness.
I really despise the notion that "homeless" are addicts and/or mentally ill. Addiction and mental illness cut across all classes regardless of whether we have shelter or not.
brg61
19-11-2009
It's not about cats....
A 72 year old frightened woman sleeping in shelters, when she can find one is absolutely unacceptable.
I am not going to judge this woman for needing help at this point in her life.
How many affordable housing units have been built while we have been pouring billions into the olympics?
I hope Monte Paulson follows up and that this lady finds a safe home.
It appears to me that the other woman in his report will have to give up her cats and is in need of some
counselling; but of course none is available.
So this is the "best place on earth", huh Gord? Will the homeless problem be visible to media during our big party in February? A big part of it will be hidden in Surrey.
Jeffrey J.
19-11-2009
A Deeply Moving Story
This was a deeply moving account. If only it was just one couple, among the 3 million people in BC. But it isn't just one couple ( with or without pets is irrelevant); they are emblematic of thousands of people, who, year by year, drop off the vine into the jungle of homelessness.
Make no mistake. Progressive democracies are few and far between around the world. Many countries are ruled by a few elite over the many. Canadians for many years were quietly proud that we weren't like that. But that was then. We are slowly becoming more and more like most non-democracies. Where the elite feel 'entitled' to their privileged position, whether they personally 'earned' them or not (usually, not). And the many, usually about 85% of the civilians, are left to fend for themselves.
I do hope the Wilf's of the world have had a chance to travel and see how other jurisdictions operate. This could be our future. Yes, it is the norm. But no, it is not just. Indeed, it is deeply unjust. Western democracies were not celebrated for the material wealth that few have obtained. You can go to Afghanistan or Mexico or India to see people living a life of fabulous wealth and privilege. But they have no resonance with the rest of the world.
It was Canada's progressive policies and democracies that caught their attention. That made Canadians proud. Where any person could prosper in a regular job. But now, those working people, at $8 an hour, are falling further and further behind.
It all revolves around social policy. it's what made Canada great. And is now making Canada cheap, and miserly, and common. And deeply unjust.
Bobby Peru
20-11-2009
Falling down...
It's sad to see anyone slipping through our economic cracks and unable to overcome the inequities that will always exist in our society- no matter how much socialism we inject and impose on our system. Notwithstanding the cats- maybe the writer should dropped this factoid in order to defuse black humorists, many of the solutions proposed on this site will create more problems than they solve.
Vilifying 'the rich' or 'the elite' is working the propaganda and not the problem. Again, who are the rich and elite in BC. They're alot of people. If the solution is to build more social or subsidized housing in or near Vancouver the fact is it's too expensive. And how to you ration the stock of housing even if you could build it. The poor shall flock to the Lower Mainland from all over. The region is simply too expensive. Logical economics says if you can't afford the rent in an area then keep moving outwards until you can.
And maybe the govt should be building subsidized housing further away on cheaper land. Because taxpayers won't tolerate social spending that raises taxes more than they are now. Do any of you talk to any middle class, or what you might call the rich, people and ask if they'd pay more taxes to build social housing in Vancouver? Please tell me if they say yes.
Face it, Vancouver is a very expensive place to live. And even if you could roll back immigration, it'd still be expensive because it's an attractive location.
Too true
20-11-2009
Sadism
When I was young and naive, I used to think it was just an inhuman level of greed that prompted ‘people’ to cling tight to their coins while they watched people suffer.
The last ten years taught me that it’s not greed. Greed alone can’t cause ‘people’ to enjoy their victims’ suffering.
There may be those who mockingly chastise Gordon Campbell for the social disintegration he engineered, but it is they who are responsible. Campbell couldn’t get elected by decent people.
Troll is a fitting term. What kind of a creepy little existence leaves a ‘person’ thinking that suffering is funny? Do the trolls find it funny when another troll is suffering?
They clearly have nothing but contempt for the woman who gives of herself for the benefit of her pets, but they seem to have no complaints about the criminal. Professional camaraderie?
Seven cats becomes 30 or 40 or 19... yet another example of the right wing math skills that led to this fiscal meltdown.
Don’t despair neo-con-men, they certainly can't cause as much death and suffering as your crowd, but maybe some of this new wave of homeless people will have the ‘get up and go’ to rob you (thereby earning your respect).
Chris Keam
21-11-2009
living among us
"You can't integrate druggies with the rest of us; it only leads to heinous crimes."
Every neighbourhood from Shaughnessy to Surrey has its share of addiction issues. And yet, some have higher crime rates than others. Why is that? The answer is desperation. Ostracizing people won't address those issues.
coyoteman
21-11-2009
Darwinian logic...
To the degree, to the degree... And I do Not buy into the theory that MOST homeless people have mental health problems. ....yet, to the degree that homeless people do have mental health problems, it was the earlier manifestation of right wing extremism under the former Socreds, as part of their early Restraint Programmes and social and health services cutbacks, in the 80s, that closed the mental hospitals and emptied the mentally ill out onto the streets of our communities, to be cared for by said communities. Then because of all the other cutbacks and closings, which they and other governments also imposed, or at least went along with, like the NDP, which care has never been really forthcoming or adequate to the task, of course... because that was not the intent really anyway.
I have been homeless and poor myself, in another life, and while I was certainly not mentally ill, nor are the great majority of the poor I lived amongst, if you are not "stressed" to the max and perhaps even "self-medicating" in one form, or to one degree or another, usually alcohol, then you are of a species something other than human.
The Peru's and other fascists of this ilk have less than insights into the underlying roots of poverty, than they do simple contempt for people who slip and slide, are pushed and driven into poverty by poor luck, and the vagaries and free market machinations and brutality of the capitalist system. But what BECOMES absolutely true for the poor, and intellectually and emotionally destroyed of the class system, is that if you do not come to realize these mechanism at work within the class system, that are at the root of your circumstances, and rise above them, organize and form a collective wall of resistance against it with your fellows, is that you will be crushed by its juggernaut, inexorable, battle tank-like rolling over everything in its way.
It's too bad, but it is also a kind of crude Darwinian logic. You must want to be one of the stronger and more determined as will survive, to crush that which was so smug and self-satisfied that it seriously misread you, as its fatal error. Which led to its own extinction.
For it is only you and your fellows who can become the vehicle, or a driving power to the vehicle of their, and their system's extinction. It really is quite that simple.
Besides, most of these guys harbour what is really little more than a religious zealots "belief" in capitalism anyway, and mouth Darwinianism only where it serves them, and those whose class interests they in turn serve.