Gordon Goes Shopping II
HOMELESSNESS
A heavenly solution to a hellish dilemma
GARY MASON
The Globe and Mail
She is known as the angel of the poor and dispossessed in this city because of the hours she spends tending to their needs. She has strolled streets and alleyways for years trying to help the homeless. Her work is often done while the rest of us sleep. And in those wee hours of the morning she has seen it all.
But she didn't see this coming.
The B.C. government's announcement this week that it had purchased 10 low-rent hotels in the city to convert to social housing took her breath away.
The government also said it will put up three more buildings on sites provided by the city. Combined with an earlier announcement in February, the provincial government has committed to providing nearly, 1200 units of housing in the city for the poor and homeless with promises of more to come.
The $80-million program, which also included housing initiatives for suburban
Ms. Graves said most of the housing will come with on-site support staff.
"It means many of our poorest citizens can go to sleep knowing they won't become homeless," Ms. Graves told me.
"They can rest in the certainty that their housing will be well managed, repairs will be done, they will be safe.
"Security will be a priority. These people won't need to feel they are taking their life in their hands when they go down the hall to use the bathrooms."
That's right. Ten of the buildings purchased by the government are single-room-occupancy hotels that were among the most rundown and poorly maintained buildings in the city. Many were rat- and cockroach-infested. Many had shared bathroom facilities and no cooking appliances in the rooms. They were unsafe and often the last stop for people before they ended up on the street. Under the government's plan, the buildings will get a $10-million facelift, inside and out.
"We know this is the solution to homelessness," said Ms. Graves, homeless-advocate for the city of
"Housing does cure homelessness -- it really is that simple. And the little bit of support breaks the cycle of homelessness and helps people get their feet under them again.
"Supportive housing blots up problems like a sponge. People thrive on it. And our whole community thrives because of it. Once we have enough supportive housing for everyone who needs it -- we'll see the end of homelessness."
The City of
In one day, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan said, the provincial government did a decade's worth of work. The city, meantime, plans to build more social housing on several pieces of land it owns throughout
Many believe the homeless problem in
This is all about the Olympics. Sad, but true. If the Olympic Games weren't coming, along with tens of thousands of visitors from around the world, there would not be the impetus to deal with the homeless problem in this city.
The last thing Mr. Campbell wants is for his guests to be tripping over some guy in a sleeping bag when they walk out of their hotel in the morning.
If it took the Olympics to get politicians focused on the issue, so be it. At least something is being done, and it will be the Olympics' greatest legacy in B.C.
There is more action to come. Many of those on the street -- up to 500 by some estimates -- have severe mental problems.
Some were released from mental-health institutions with no support systems in place to oversee their transition to the outside world.
Many do not have the mental capacity to live on their own. This will be a harder issue for the government to deal with, but deal with it, it must.
Meantime, the B.C. government should be applauded for the action it took this week.
Ms. Graves is still pinching herself.
"The ground moved," she said. "It's a whole new reality."
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