About 4,000 need housing in Metro Vancouver: study

BURNABY, B.C. – A task force says there are more than 70 homeless camps in Metro Vancouver, as it estimates about 4,000 people are in immediate need of housing.

The region’s task force says there is a homeless crisis in every corner of Metro Vancouver, where the number of homeless people living outside shelters has jumped 26-per-cent annually since 2011.

The task force calculates five people become homeless across the region every week and a further 60,000 households are vulnerable to homelessness because more than half their income is spent on shelter.

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The group, which includes Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, wants all provincial political parties to agree to open 1,000 units of transitional housing across the region this year and a further 1,000 units a year in 2018 and 2019.

It says the number of people who are homeless has increased steadily over the past 15 years.

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It says the crisis has been caused by gaps in social services for people with chronic health issues, mental illness or addictions, which have been exacerbated by rising in rents, house prices and the cost of living.

“The homelessness crisis in Metro Vancouver has reached a state of emergency, and the status quo has failed to prevent growth in the number of homeless people year after year throughout the region,” Robertson says in a statement released Monday.

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Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read says research conducted by the group reveals a “complete system-wide failure” to assist the most vulnerable.

The task force says responding to the demands of a homeless person costs taxpayers $55,000 annually, compared with $37,000 per person to house them.

“The provincial government has the responsibility and resources to better manage this crisis, in collaboration with the federal and local governments,” says Read, who serves as co-chair of the task force with Robertson.

The task force is recommending that the provincial and federal governments work with local municipalities and community agencies to implement a plan by the end of 2017.

It has identified 12 key priorities that it wants action on including developing a provincewide poverty reduction strategy, establishing more transitional housing for foster youth, providing home care for those with mental illness and addictions, and increasing the number of affordable and social housing units for the working poor.