It is not easy to find affordable housing in Vancouver. The Canadian Real Estate Association reports that the average home price in Vancouver is almost twice the national average. Vacancy rates for rental suites hover between 0.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent over the last two years, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and are likely on a downward slide.

If Vancouverites with secure, well-paying jobs have difficulty finding housing, how much more difficult and stressful is it for those with low or irregular incomes?

Single parents, young people, seniors on a fixed income, people with mental or physical disabilities, the generationally poor, and the uneducated or undereducated are often dangerously close to homelessness.

While the support of family or friends is a safety net for many, others end up couch surfing, sleeping in their cars, or living in disgusting conditions in filthy single-room occupancy hotels.

I often see them in my work in the Downtown Eastside. They are shell-shocked and tell me that they never expected to be using our meal or shelter services. Soon, the stigma and stress of being homeless - even if for only a few weeks -- can make it difficult to find work and lead to poor choices, such as getting caught up in addiction.

For some, not having a stable place to live triggers a barely-contained mental illness. For many women, often with children, the fear of being homeless keeps them in relationships where they -- or their children -- are abused. Sometimes these relationships are with men who end up selling them for sex. Their stories tell of the undeniable cost of the lack of proper affordable housing.

Crisis was created by federal decisions

What is to be done? The B.C. Ministry of Housing, the City of Vancouver and Streetohome Foundation recently announced a $225 million investment toward social housing, which will make a significant impact on the affordable housing needs of Vancouverites. But even with that substantial contribution, Vancouver will still be 6,000 units shy of the goal of 8,000 subsidized units called for in the city's 2005 Homeless Action Plan. Eight thousand is a staggering number, so let's put this into context.

The Housing Centre at the City of Vancouver has calculated that, if the federal government -- regardless of party -- would have continued funding social housing at the same rate they were in the 1980s and early 1990s, Vancouver would have most of those 8,000 units today.

Imagine the dignity that those people would have retained if the federal government would have continued to fund affordable housing.

Imagine the stability they would have been granted to pursue meaningful employment and pay taxes, contribute to their communities, and possibly avoid the devastation that comes with drug and alcohol use.

Imagine a Downtown Eastside where virtually everyone is housed.

Imagine that, then walk down to Main and Hastings and try to tell yourself that Canada doesn't need a national housing strategy.

Funding housing makes sense on many levels

Throughout our history, Canadians have understood that, from time to time, doing the right thing is expensive and takes sacrifice. Fortunately, that isn't the case with a national housing strategy. Not only is it the most compassionate thing to do, it also makes the most long-term economic sense.

The cost to taxpayers of a homeless person per year is $55,000, according to a study conducted at Simon Fraser University's Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction. This is considerably less than the cost of fully subsidizing housing for that person.

But affordable housing isn't just about homelessness. It is about those at risk of homelessness or who cannot afford basic necessities such as food or clothing because they don't have access to affordable housing. While it makes economic sense to house the homeless, it makes even more to partially subsidize affordable social housing for those who are on the precipice of homelessness, but who have not yet fallen prey to the physical and mental illness that often accompanies homelessness.

Affordable housing is not a political issue, but a basic human right. In 1976, Canada signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a legally binding treaty committing us to make progress on fully realizing the right to adequate housing.

Yet Canada is the only G8 nation without a national housing strategy.

Tell your MP to support Bill C-304

The latest effort to re-engage the federal government in this issue is Bill C-304, an act to ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for Canadians.

This bill -- which is currently before Parliament, is the safety net each and every one of us may rely on one day, but only if it is passed.

I would encourage every Canadian to learn about it, and then make sure their MP knows where we stand.

Each of us can do the right thing by participating in our democratic process, and together we can be a country that cares for our most vulnerable.