Report Finds 'Stunning' Increase in Vancouver Homeless

373 per cent jump since 2002 count

Jack Keating, The Province
Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Greater Vancouver's homeless crisis continues to grow at a "stunning" and "shocking" rate, with a 373-per-cent increase in street homelessness since 2002.

The number of homeless in Metro Vancouver is now approaching 3,000 -- there were at least 2,660 homeless people in Metro Vancouver on the official day of the count on March 11 -- according to a detailed report released yesterday.

Officials with the Greater Vancouver regional steering committee on homelessness, which commissioned the 2008 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count, were "distressed" by the increase in numbers.

"It's absolutely stunning, the increase in the homeless population in Metro Vancouver," said Laura Track, a housing campaigner with the Pivot Legal Society.

Meanwhile, NDP leader Carole James said the numbers "are shocking. I think it's another example of the neglect of the most vulnerable under [Premier] Gordon Campbell and the Liberals. We've seen these numbers steadily, since 2002, continue to grow."

Almost 75 per cent of the homeless were found on the streets and emergency shelters of Vancouver (more than 1,500) and Surrey (close to 400).

More than 100 homeless people were found in New Westminster as well as on the North Shore. Similar numbers were also found in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Maple Ridge, Burnaby and Langley.

"The provincial government slashed all sorts of social services at the beginning of its eight years in power," said Track. "And those cuts have had direct effects on homelessness and on increased poverty in the province."

The report's key findings include:

- Street homelessness increased by 373 per cent since 2002.

- The number of people who were homeless for a year or more rose by 62 per cent from 2005. Almost 50 per cent of homeless people found during the count had been homeless for a year or more.

- Native people, despite representing just two per cent of the population, comprise 32 per cent of the homeless, up from 30 per cent in 2005. Close to 45 per cent of homeless women and 41 per cent of unaccompanied homeless youth were native.

- The vast majority (84 per cent) of homeless people had health problems such as addiction (61 per cent), mental illness (33 per cent) and physical disability (31 per cent).

- The so-called working poor are being forced into emergency shelters.

Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman said more than 2,700 people have been assisted by outreach workers to find housing "as part of our increasing efforts to break the cycle of homelessness in British Columbia."

jkeating@theprovince.com