We all benefit by tackling homelessness

New research shows kindness can also cut taxpayer burden
Brian Lewis, The Province
Published: Tuesday, April 29, 2008

The results of a comprehensive study released yesterday in Abbotsford clearly show that homelessness is not just a big-city problem in B.C.

In fact, despite increased social programs, the number of homeless people in the Upper Fraser Valley during a recent 24-hour snapshot count increased by 13 per cent over a count in 2004.

Read the rest here

2008 Homeless Count - Results

Here are the preliminary reports from the 2008 Homeless Count:

Preliminary Fact Sheet

City of Vancouver - Memo to the Mayor et al

(These reports have are also available under the heading Homelessness on the right sidebar.)

We Tried to Count the Homeless

Why today's homeless number is an undercount.
By Monte Paulsen
Published: April 8, 2008
TheTyee.ca

I was one of the more than 600 volunteers who helped conduct the 2008 regional homeless count, which found 2,592 people living without homes in Metro Vancouver.

Street homelessness rose in every community within the region, though the cities of Vancouver and Surrey continue to bear the brunt -- and the tax burden -- of sustaining three-quarters of Metro Vancouver's homeless population. The regional total squares with a recent SFU study that estimated province-wide homelessness at up to 15,500.

But my experience as a volunteer suggests that today's number falls well short of the actual total of homeless Canadians living in Vancouver.

"The street homeless count really only captures part of the visible tip of the iceberg," agreed Michelle Patterson, an SFU scientist and lead author of the recent province-wide estimate by the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health & Addiction (CARMHA). "We know homelessness goes a lot deeper than that."

Guys in vans

My counting partner and I were assigned to survey the industrial area that extends west of Clark Drive, south of Venables Street, and north of Great Northern Way. It was a rough territory; perhaps that was my comeuppance for writing stories about the homeless hell hole beneath Science World and Vancouver's worst drug hotel. In hindsight, it was hubristic to expect any two people could effectively canvas such chaotic terrain.

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Survey of homeless in Lower Mainland attracts surplus of volunteers

JEREMY NUTTALL
Special to The Globe and Mail
March 12, 2008

Volunteers had to be turned away from the Lower Mainland's homeless count this year as more people than ever before wanted to help with the 24-hour survey.

It was conducted on Monday night, beginning at midnight.

The last count was three years ago, and it showed a significant increase in homelessness in suburban areas of Vancouver. This year, as a result, there were more volunteers from those regions.

Pastor Linda Rubidoux of the Northside Foursquare Church in Port Coquitlam said homelessness in the Lower Mainland is becoming a key issue in her city, and more people are coming to her church asking how they can lend a hand.

"Everyone wants to know, 'Is it really as serious as people say?' " she said. "They just want to help."

Read the rest here

See also Homeless tally expected to rise in Vancouver from the CBC

A Poem by Mia McKay

I wrote the following poem after participating in the homelessness count done in 2005, an endeavour which changed me profoundly. My stereotypes were rocked by encounters with real men and women suffering in places I would not expect. Once over my initial nervousness, I was glad to have my eyes opened, recognizing that these people were likely like me, only they had to live out their hard stories on the street. The memory of this day has not gone away.

The setting is not the DTES, but rather the alleys adjacent to South Granville. Classy South Granville. That was the first shocker. The shock continues as I read and hear of people trying to fight against projects moving into their 'safe' neighbourhoods - projects which could help poor and ill people get off the street, into housing and into community.

When will we learn that building walls to keep out 'undesirables' does not protect us? It creates fear and actually isolates us all from any hope of healthy living. Our society is obsessed with safety, but what’s safe about being barricaded against the faceless and nameless? If we could actually look at each other as human beings and find creative ways to include into our neighbourhoods people in need, faces with names looking for a home, we might discover how much we need them if we want to live with authenticity, humanity and hope.

Hello…oh
Anybody home?

The homeless count
They say
At 5 in the morning
Counting begins
Hello..oh…anybody home?

Count the homeless
Down echoing alleys
Surprisingly tidy, trimmed
Through motion-detected darkness
Past iron-gate sentinels
Looking to count
Anybody? Home?

Alleys give way to treehouse commmunity
Somebody must be home

First, on the west
Three large cedars swish swaying
In early dawn dance
We circle quietly bantering about morning
So not to startle drowsy campers
We part doorway branches
Hello…oh…anybody home?
Warm woody caverns strewn with newspaper bedding
Sparse remnants
Abandoned
We guess
Nobody’s home

Next, on the east
Colourful signs of hillside campout
Blue of tarp, brown of cardboard
On closer look, only torn rustling remains
Bicycle bits, lone shoe, blue and brown cover no body
So farther up and further in
Past front yard scramble to brambled bush shelter
Hello…oh …anybody home?
Tangled mass of nested room
Sturdy string-box-paper construction
Jammed into busy branches, butting bridge walk
Definitely a homeless home
But where is somebody?

Then under a lanky tree
Rough root mattress
Cradles a black-jacketed form
Snuggling vainly for warmth
Hello…oh …good morning
Smoke? Turtled head nods shyly
Cautious man without home
Or blanket or food or contact
Been out a long time
Know where to go?
Finally one to count
In nobody’s home

Homeless count
In underground parking
Living-room-lamp revealing
Deep cornered shadowy shapes
Welcomed by one story
Ignored by one sleeper
Rejected by one roused
“Get the fuck outta here!!”
Marching orders given
Followed

Soon darkness fades to light
Bright homes spill out walkers headed to destinations
Two more encounters
One, near loading-dock-bedroom shared with tousled friend still asleep
Friendly binner smoking drinking Tim’s
Tells of 14 years outside - then rattles off to gather his day
Another, on a bustling streetcorner
Vague-eyed neighbour
Confirms he is homeless
But has no time to be counted
Needing a caffeine fix
He stretches out two blackened palms

Sorry, we can’t give today
We only count

So who listens, what counts
About no-body’s home?
Maybe the people.
Surely the politicians.

Hello..oh
Anybody home?

Mia McKay