The results of the city’s homeless count are in and, as the Vision Vancouver team hoped, it shows that the numbers of people sleeping outside was reduced by almost exactly the number of beds created in the mayor’s seven emergency shelters.
The memo from city manager Penny Ballem spells out the dire consequences for the city when those 600-some people are back out on the streets as of April 30: danger of moving backwards in several areas, tarnished reputation of the city, and so on.
I’ll be awaiting the return volley from the province on this. Their bigger problem, I suspect, is not going to be the numbers in this report, Numbers are numbers and reports are pieces of paper. No, it’s going to be the actual experience most people in the city will have when 600 people go back to sleeping on the streets — more than doubling the number out there now — that has the negative impact.
That’s a lot of people and it will be visible. We’ve forgotten a little what it’s like to be walking past people sleeping under pieces of cardboard or next to their shopping carts or in grubby sleeping bags sheltered from the rain by a small overhang. It’s not a pretty sight and it doesn’t make any of us feel good about our city or ourselves.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Paul // Apr 8, 2010 at 2:38 pm
“…and clearly shows we’re no closer to solving the homelessness problem in the City of Vancouver.”
I thought I would add that finisher to your post.
The only tangible thing the city has done to try to solve homelessness are the HEAT shelters and they are very clearly not a solution.
That’s a shame.
2 local resident // Apr 8, 2010 at 3:23 pm
“reduced by almost exactly the number of beds created in the mayor’s seven emergency shelters”
Wow I didn’t know they were the mayors shelters, how much is he paying for them?
If only we could match the mayors shelters with taxpayers shelters we’d be set.
3 BS // Apr 9, 2010 at 11:32 am
Maybe dear greghor is gooing to be so kind to take in some homeless tenants in his “corporation owned” house of his.
4 Sean Bickerton // Apr 11, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Warehousing the poor in temporary shelters, the same thing they’re proposing for chickens, is heartless if it’s not paired with a comprehensive plan to move people into permanent housing and connect them with existing services to address long-standing mental and physical health issues and treatment for alcohol and other addictions.
In London they surveyed the homeless population and found it was comprised of four very different groups, each requiring a dedicated strategy targeted to that demographic.
One of the results that surprised them was that more than a quarter of the homeless population in London turned out to be transient youths backpacking across Europe and roughing it in London for a short amount of time. They didn’t need permanent housing, but they did require access to relatively inexpensive services – email to contact families and friends, treatment for minor health-related issues, free or inexpensive short-term hostels, etc.
This knowledge helped them develop a targeted comprehensive plan that has helped them make real inroads in reducing homelessness.
Where is Mayor Robertson’s plan?
5 Michelle S of Mt Pleasant // Mar 3, 2012 at 12:27 pm
“Only 400 sleep outside” isn’t that 400 too many?
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