Homeless count gathers crucial data
About 1,200 volunteers fanned out to get a snapshot of population in Metro Vancouver
Karen can’t walk more than a few steps in the Uptown area of New Westminster without stopping to chat with someone she knows.
It could be that she gave them a tissue, a cough drop or a cigarette when they needed one, or through her outreach activities she connected them with the services and housing that helped get their lives on track.
“I’ve been on the street, I’ve been homeless, I’ve been in the community,” said Karen, whose last name has not been published at her request. “I made some really good connections with the ones on the street and they know if there’s a problem they can come to me. They know that they can trust me.”
It’s those qualities that made Karen an ideal volunteer for this year’s Metro Vancouver homeless count, which took place Tuesday and Wednesday across the region.
Homeless counts are conducted in Metro Vancouver every three years, and involve volunteers fanning out across the region for 24 hours to collect data on the size and demographics of the homeless population.
“The volunteers are crucial because we couldn’t do it without them,” said Jeremy Hunka, a volunteer and spokesman for the count in New Westminster.
Karen and Hunka were two of about 1,200 people who volunteered to help with the count this year.
Volunteers were sent out in pairs and had two hours to cover a set route.
People were only counted if they chose to participate in the anonymous survey. Hunka said that leads to undercounting, but there is no way to mandate that everyone fills out the survey. It’s understood that the homeless count is a snapshot.
“They don’t count them at all if somebody doesn’t want to participate. They don’t have to and they’re not counted even though they may be homeless. We don’t want to violate anybody’s privacy. They have a right to decline,” he said.
Most people the volunteers approached seemed willing to talk.
A woman and her husband stumbled upon Karen and Hunka as they surveyed two men, and stuck around to be included. They have been sleeping on a friend’s floor, and after Friday they don’t know where they’ll stay.
“We just wanted to be counted,” she said. “We work and we’re still homeless. It’s tough to find a place.”
Hunka said if people feel like they’re being respected and heard, more often than not they’ll open up.
“I think sometimes it’s nice to know that society in general in Metro Vancouver cares enough to make sure they know how many people are on the streets, who they are, why they’re there and if there’s any way we can help,” he said. “The homeless count is crucial if we’re going to have any hope of ending homelessness or at least making a dent.”
Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read, who co-chairs Metro Vancouver’s homelessness task force, said the count is an opportunity to raise awareness and collect the data to help governments and organizations make decisions about where to direct resources.
“We strongly suspect the numbers will be higher than they were in 2014 and we’re hoping that people are actually paying attention,” she said.
The number of homeless is expected to be higher — the 2014 count found 2,777 homeless people in Metro Vancouver — because of the housing crisis and some new techniques employed by Metro Vancouver to get a more accurate snapshot of the homeless population, including conducting a longer count in the Newton area of Surrey, and counting people in rural and remote areas and on or near waterways.
Read said she appreciates the efforts of those who volunteered.
“It’s not an easy thing to go out and count people. I think it’s an important opportunity to raise awareness,” she said. “These volunteers are actually witnesses to the conditions these people are living in.”
Preliminary results will be released at the beginning of April. The full report is expected this summer.