The annual Homelessness Action Week kicked off on Sunday, and this year’s focus is on the so-called “invisible homeless” in Metro Vancouver.
The city says 80 per cent of homeless people do not live on the street.
These are the people who live in their cars, church basements or even the floors and couches of friends and family.
They live month to month in unstable and even unsafe housing, with the fear of ending up on the street.
The city says these people are harder to notice because they are not visible on the streets.
Authorities say the solution is to go beyond providing people with shelter, but giving them a safe and permanent place to live and call home.
Metro Vancouver does a homeless count every three years with the next one being planned for next year. But the 2011 homeless count has shown that 2,623 people were found to be homeless . This included ‘unsheltered homeless’ or people who were found outside and ‘sheltered homeless’ or those who spent the night in shelters. Overall, there was a 1 per cent decrease since the 2008 Count.
They also found that the number of homeless families increased. Fifty-six homeless families with 54 children were found. This was the highest number of families ever recorded in a homeless count.
Another alarming finding is — more seniors remained homeless longer and were susceptible to high shelter costs. More than 200 people aged 55 years and older were found homeless in 2011.
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Vancouver, Surrey and New Westminster were also found to have the largest homeless population.
Vancouver will be hosting more than 40 events during the Homelessness Action Week — ranging from service fairs for people who are homeless to film nights and discussion panels, Vancouver Rent Bank information session and even therapy sessions.
The organizers want people to use hashtag #startwithhome to spread awareness on social media.
The homelessness action week runs until October 19.
You can find more information on their website stophomelessness.ca.
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