The solution to homelessness: Build homes
We know the good shelters do, Charles Gauthier writes.
Homelessness throughout Metro Vancouver, according to the 2017 homeless count undertaken in March of this year, has increased by 30 per cent since 2014. That is a shocking number when compared to the 6.5 per cent population growth the region experienced between 2011 and 2016.
We can all agree that homelessness is getting worse, not better, and efforts to house those in need must be stepped up. The provincial government and Vancouver city hall are poised to do just that with the addition of 600 modular housing units within the next six months in Vancouver alone. Understandably, some residents are fearful about the prospect of welcoming and living alongside a maligned and marginalized population, but our experience in downtown Vancouver has yielded some interesting results and lessons learned.
Our journey began in late 2008 when the newly elected Vision Vancouver civic government committed to opening more winter shelter beds throughout downtown, with funding support from the then-Liberal provincial government. The shelters would be low-barrier, meaning the homeless could bring their personal belongings and pets in from the cold.
Before the shelters opened in December 2008, the doorways, alcoves and frontages of many retail storefronts throughout the city were de facto homes of the homeless. Incidents of trespassing on private property, open drug dealing and drug use, and aggressive panhandling were at an all-time high within the Downtown Vancouver BIA’s 90-block district.
Soon after the shelters opened, and while they were in operation, these indicators started to plummet. Trespassing on private property fell by 80 per cent. Aggressive panhandling fell by 58 per cent. Visible homelessness, meaning people sleeping on the sidewalks, fell by 52 per cent. Open drug dealing fell by 73 per cent and open drug use fell by 78 per cent.
There needs to be a range of housing options.
With the closure of these seasonal shelters, most indicators crept back up slowly, but surprisingly not to the previous levels we had witnessed. I credit this to the wraparound services offered to and accepted by homeless people once they walked through the doors of the shelter: access to meals, counselling, treatment and more stable, long-term and secure housing. To our surprise, incidents of aggressive panhandling, open drug dealing and open drug use continued to decline.
What we learned from this is that the winter shelters are an important gateway to connect the homeless to services that they may not otherwise access, and this one-stop-shop approach is effective.
Second, the temporal nature of the shelters, although playing a critical role to get people out of the cold, is not a viable, long-term solution to homelessness. There needs to be a range of housing options from shelters to SROs to supportive housing. And yes, modular housing units are part of the equation because these pre-fabricated units can be added to the housing inventory much quicker than designing, obtaining approvals and constructing a permanent building. Like Lego pieces, more modular units can be added to a building, or an entire building can be dissembled and relocated to another site.
We continue to benefit from having an ongoing dialogue with everyone involved in delivering and living in supportive housing so that concerns can be addressed and misconceptions laid to rest. As reported in the above-mentioned homeless count, 50 per cent of these people had been in the same community more than 10 years.
These people are our neighbours, not strangers.