In the bushes or on the street? Sleeping outside in Vancouver
A bed in the bushes of East Van
Sleeping on Commercial Drive
Vancouver’s Frances Bula reported in the Globe and Mail today that 400 people were sleeping outside in Vancouver, with another 1,400 in homeless shelters. This is the lowest number of people sleeping on the streets since 2002 – because there are more spaces in shelters set up by the provincial government during the Olympics.
However, the number of people who need housing (1,800 people) has gone up 12 percent in the past two years. Now the City of Vancouver is hoping the B.C. government will continue to provide housing support for all these folks. Frances reported these initial findings from the Vancouver Homeless Count 2010 last month.
“The city will use those numbers in the next 21 days in an attempt to persuade the province to come up with money to move all 1,800 homeless to interim housing or at least continue paying for the operation of some of the seven emergency winter shelters the province agreed to fund during the Olympics. Those shelters housed an additional 600 people on top of the 800 shelter beds that operate permanently in Vancouver,” reads the story by Frances, who also has a great blog on the issues of Vancouver she has covered for many years: The State of Vancouver.
This outdoor bed is a little more out in the open – right on Commercial Drive, over a vent that blows warm air. This is one of many storefront nooks in which people camp for the night. Some stay outside because they have dogs that aren’t allowed in shelters.
It would be so cool if you interviewed a few of the people sleeping outside and found out what their stories were.
Yes Todd that would be such a great opportunity. I hope I get a chance to meet with more people. I have informal meetups with folks all the time around the neighbourhood
In my conversations with the homeless, I’ve found that pets and carts are big factors in keeping them away from shelters. Many also just find that the conditions and company at shelters wear them down after weeks or months of trying to get sleep there. I know how irritable I can be after having one night of lousy sleep; I couldn’t imagine months of that.
Shelters face tough policy choices: either they allow pets and bulky possessions, which can bring a host of sanitary issues (like bed bugs) and noise issues, or they keep things very tidy, clean, and orderly, but turn away (or refer) people who have pets or who come intoxicated.
That conundrum really points to the fact that we need more long-term affordable housing, housing with the kind of supports (like counselling and addiction recovery services) that can help people back on their feet, or at least to a place of stability.
Derek raises a good point about the difficulty of running the shelters – and, first off, let me say thank you to the shelters for all they are able to do. I can totally see how there must be some very difficult policy choices. It makes sense why pets and large amounts of belongings are not easy to accommodate. I heard about a church downtown offering some type of locker area for carts and large belongings – and a couple that allow pets. As Derek says, we need long-term affordable housing with supports.