Homeless health is getting worse, study says

FRANCES BULA
Special to The Globe and Mail
September 16, 2008

Metro Vancouver's homeless people are older, sicker and out on the streets longer than they were three years ago, says the final report on the region's homeless count from March.

The number of homeless people over 45 increased by almost half between 2005, when the last count was done, and this year, according to the report that is due to be released today by the Greater Vancouver regional steering committee on homelessness.

Those older people comprised almost 40 per cent of the 2,660 homeless counted in shelters and on the streets on March 11.

The number of people who said they were addicted to drugs, mentally ill, physically disabled, or sick in some other way also increased by half between 2005 and 2008. The March count found that 84 per cent of the homeless said they had a health problem.

Finally, in a worrying trend identified by the researchers, the count also found that half of the people had been on the street for more than a year. In 2005, only a third reported that. The report said it could suggest that the longer people are homeless, the more likely they are to move out of shelters.

Six out of every 10 homeless people were found on the street, rather than shelters, during the night of the count.

Suburban Maple Ridge was the area that had the highest growth as a "point of origin" for homeless people, with a 150-per-cent increase from 2005.

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