More women, families among the homeless
New count shows population steady, but experts concerned as numbers climb for females, children
While the number of homeless people in Metro Vancouver remained steady between 2008 and 2011, the number of homeless women and families has increased, according to results from the 2011 homeless count released Tuesday.
There were 2,650 homeless identified in 2011, compared to 2,660 in 2008, according to the report One Step Forward: Results of the 2011 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count.
Women made up 30 per cent of the homeless population in the most recent count, up from 27 per cent in 2008 and 26 per cent in 2005. The report also showed the reasons women cite for causing homelessness have changed. Family breakdown was the top reason women gave in 2002, but those surveyed in last year’s count listed low income and high rents ahead of family breakdown as the primary cause.
That’s something Linda Redhawk can relate to. The 53- year- old woman has been moving from hostel to hostel and is working with a housing advocate in Vancouver’s West End to find a studio apartment she can afford on her $ 985 monthly disability cheque. “I’ve been working since I was 16 and I’m from a middle- class background. I found it absolutely devastating to end up in a homeless shelter the first time,” said Redhawk, who said her life fell apart after she had a “nervous breakdown” in 2008.
Homelessness is tougher for women because they are vulnerable to abuse, she added.
Janice Abbott, the CEO of Atira Women’s Resource Centre, which provides services and housing to homeless women, agreed. She said the threat of abuse is one reason homeless women tend to feel safer staying at women- only shelters, particularly if they’ve been assaulted on the street by men. “They know whoever assaulted them on the street isn’t sleeping on the mat beside them,” she said.
But shelters only provide housing for 30 to 90 days, Abbott added, so women end up moving from place to place, making it difficult to maintain their health or find employment. The Fraser Valley has very few shelters compared to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Abbott said, so women from communities such as Surrey or New Westminster often end up moving to Vancouver to find shelter beds.
Homeless families with children are also on the rise, according to the count, which was conducted over a 24- hour period in between March 15 and 16, 2011. Families made up only three per cent of the total homeless population — but that number is the highest incidence of homeless families found since the count started in 2002. While the majority of the 56 families surveyed were housed in shelters, two were found living on the street, including one Surrey family with five children.
Alice Sundberg, co- chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness, said the increase among women and children is distressing, even as the overall number of homeless appears stable.
“It’s a real concern for us seeing the increasing numbers. It suggests we need to do more around prevention — to stop women, children and youths from being on the streets. It’s not okay to be rescuing people afterwards,” she said.
“We still have the same number of homeless people. We don’t want to just manage the situation, we want to end homelessness.”
Sundberg said on the positive side, the number of homeless going without a shelter option dropped by 52 per cent in the most recent count. She said an increase in shelter beds and outreach workers in the Downtown Eastside in particular has helped get people off the street, albeit temporarily.
“We don’t promote shelters as a solution but they are part of the process. The benefit is we get access to homeless people so we can build trust and help them access permanent housing,” she said.
The report also found that while aboriginal people make up only two per cent of Metro Vancouver’s general population, they represent 27 per cent of the 2011 homeless count. Lack of affordable housing, income security and support services were listed as the primary causes of homelessness in Metro Vancouver.
The count takes place every three years with funding provided by United Way, Vancouver Foundation, the City of Vancouver, and the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Fund.