Union Gospel Mission’s mobile program expands

Higher demand for services coincides with report of higher homeless numbers

The Union Gospel Mission has expanded its mobile mission to meet the growing needs of homeless people in Metro Vancouver.

Homelessness has been on the rise in most municipalities, according to a recent homeless count. That’s something the Vancouver-based non-profit is seeing after doubling the service level of its mobile missions from two to four times a week.

“We immediately began to see that there was a massive need,” said Union Gospel Mission spokesman Jeremy Hunka.

The vehicles used to go around Vancouver and Surrey, but now go further afield to include Langley, Cloverdale and North Vancouver, searching for people in need and giving them food and basic necessities.

The Union Gospel Mission is also looking for volunteers to help staff the expanded mobile mission.

Last July, the mobile mission made 37 new “contacts,” said Hunka. This July, after the expansion, it recorded 143.

Overall, the mission helped 716 people in July, compared with 102 over the same month last year. These figures could include the same people, noted Hunka, but give an idea of the volume crews are seeing. “We continue to find new people who are struggling and we are finding them further away from traditional supports.”

According to the 2017 Metro Vancouver homeless count, there were 3,605 homeless people in the region, a record high.

Surrey experienced a 50 per cent increase in homeless people to 602 in 2017, Langley had a 124 per cent jump, and in the Tri-Cities, homelessness grew by 113 per cent.

Hunka said the lack of affordable housing and rental vacancy crunch were key factors.

“People who were on the bubble three to four years ago who were able to hang on are now finding themselves pushed over the cliff to homelessness,” he said. “Often times there’s a series of events that puts them there, but affordability is a big factor that plays into that.”

He noted there had been positive moves made to combat homelessness, including new modular housing developments and poverty-reduction strategies.

But more needs to be done to provide affordable housing, more mental health and addiction support, and more shelter spaces, he added.

GERRY KAHRMANN Union Gospel Mission volunteers Jessica On and Deanna Lai (both in van) hand out lunches to Teresa and Jordan at a parking lot in downtown Langley on Thursday, part of UGM’s mobile mission.