Homeless in Vancouver , British Columbia, Canada is a social crisis that has grown considerably over the past decade. According to the UN, homelessness can be relative or absolute. Absolute homeless people describe people living in the absence of good physical shelter. Homeless relatives describe people living in poor health or safety conditions, including the absence of personal safety and regular income despite having a physical abode to live in. In 2011, some 2,651 people in Vancouver became the target of one of these homeless types, or were transitioning between them. Homelessness as a social problem in Vancouver comes from cutting federal funds for affordable housing. Once the housing market is rising, the cost of housing becomes one of the main causes of homelessness in Vancouver, in addition to lack of income. The homeless population in Vancouver has developed or previously suffered mental health problems and addiction, and they are subjected to high crime victims. There are several approaches to reducing homeless populations in Metro Vancouver by cities and other organizations. In 2011, the homelessness rate in Vancouver has stopped rising, but not decreased as well.
Video Homelessness in Vancouver
History and demographics
Homelessness did not matter in Vancouver until after the 1980's. Prior to that, there was generally enough affordable housing provided by the surplus of Canada's Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which had begun in 1946 by the federal government. However, the affordable national housing program received funding cuts from the government during the 1980s. The amount of housing stocks increased after the cuts in federal funding, but derived from the private sector development of market housing rather than affordable housing. Between cutting affordable housing, and an increase in market housing, real estate is growing out of the price range of some low-income groups.
Since 2000, the homeless rate has steadily increased in Vancouver. The effects of homelessness have been most severe at Downtown Eastside, an area in Vancouver that has become known for crime and poverty. The beginnings of the homeless were not rigidly defined, except that it emerged as a city problem around the 1980s and 1990s, with the number of homeless in 1999 being below 600 people. In 2002, the homeless situation in Vancouver has grown to about 1,121 people. From 2002 to 2005, the number of homeless people in the Vancouver area changed from 1,121 to 2,174, almost doubling over three years. Finally, 2,592 people were counted during the official one-day count of 2008. Rapid homeless growth in less than ten years is an indicator of why homelessness is considered a crisis in Vancouver, as it continues to grow despite many attempts to address this problem.
The ethnic distribution of homeless people in Vancouver is uneven, with Aboriginal people and Europeans making most homeless. Aboriginal people make up about 30% of Vancouver's homeless population while comprise only 2% of the Greater Vancouver population, and only 8% of the total homeless population identify themselves as non Aboriginal, European or otherwise born in Canada. In Vancouver, the problem of homeless youth on the streets becomes clear; However, it is difficult to get numbers on the number of youth on the road because they tend to avoid shelters. The number of homeless senior citizens nearly tripled between 2002 and 2005 in Greater Vancouver. As a result, the number of homeless youths in Vancouver is underestimated. Homeless youth are defined as those who leave home at age 16 and aged up to 24 years; However, most street homeless people in Vancouver are between 35 and 44. Homeless adult men typically fall between the ages of 25 and 44, and homeless women tend to be older. The figure for Canada says that about a third of Canada's homeless population is defined as homeless youth. In 2008, half of Vancouver's homeless population has been homeless for over a year, and 90% of them are homeless alone without spouse, child, dog, or friend in any form. Homeless juveniles in Vancouver tend to have lower rates alone, and the number of homeless youth for each sex is evenly split.
Found in 2011 Homeless Count by Metro Vancouver that the number of homeless remains unchanged; on the other hand, homeless street people have declined and homeless residences have increased, as well as families, women and young homeless.
In December 2016, Vancouver City decided to open a community center for overnight stays by the homeless. The centers were named central heating for the homeless. The decision was criticized by families and staff and the program was halted in most centers. The complaint is that regular staff are not trained to deal with homeless people and fear. Special boxes for disposable needles are not available in central heating.
Maps Homelessness in Vancouver
Cause
The two main causes of homelessness in Vancouver are the lack of income and the cost of housing. These two factors can be attributed to about 66% of the homeless population in Vancouver according to a 2005 survey conducted by City; However, this declined to a total of 44% in 2008. This suggests that Vancouver's reasons for homelessness have diversified in recent years, with several causes being attributed to substance abuse situations.
Lack of earnings
This factor accounted for the largest share (approximately 44%) of the lifeless population in Vancouver in 2005. Though it fell by 25% in 2008, it still accounts for the lion's share of Vancouver homelessness. Welfare support, used by nearly half the homeless population in Vancouver, is still insufficient for rent in many areas of the city. Nevertheless, government income assistance provides a lot of income for homeless people in Vancouver, as well as additional income from work on the side like garbage, and babbling.
Housing cost
This factor accounted for the second largest share (approximately 22%) of Vancouver's homeless population in 2005 and fell to 19% 2008. There was an increase in government support for social housing between 1994 and 2001; However, after 2001 the government's support for social housing declined, so in 2006, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UNCESCR) urged the Canadian government to tackle homeless and inadequate housing as a national emergency. As a result, the homeless in Vancouver accelerated rapidly. This is marked by the increasing number of people on the road from 2002 to 2005 from 1,121 people to 2,174 people. In 2006, complications in the Vancouver housing market masked support for social housing that was re-announced by the government, causing a lack of affordable social housing units for low-income groups.
Health issues
There are many health related issues related to homelessness, including mental health problems, substance abuse, and sexually transmitted infections. Those with absolute homelessness are more susceptible to health problems; However, it is not limited to them and affects people in relative homeless as well. In Vancouver, the number of homeless found on the street has increased by about 205% from 2002 to 2005, and it is noted that more homeless people tend to sleep outside the home than in shelters. The difference between street and sheltered homelessness is found to have no effect on the outcome of total incidents of health problems, with a total of about 78% of Vancouver homeless reporting one or more such health problems. However, it was found that addiction plays a greater role for living homeless on the street than in shelter. There is a 31- higher mortality rate for homeless women and the mortality rate of 9ÃÆ'â ⬠"is higher for men than the average Canadian death rate. In Vancouver, homeless men constitute about 70% of the homeless population. Substance abuse is not just a result of homelessness, but it can be a cause as well, and sexually transmitted infections like HIV are at an increased risk of contraction for Vancouver homelessness. Alcohol, marijuana, and the use of shabu-shabu are prevalent, and substance abuse along with the crowd at the shelter leads to an increased risk of contracting tuberculosis.
Found in 2011 that access to food has become more trouble for street homeless people, and that health conditions have generally worsened since the 2008 count.
The victim is when a person is damaged in person or property.
Vancouver's homeless population often experience various forms of victimization, which may include unhealthy gender-based relationships as well as attacks and other forms of violence. From the survey sample used by Mario Berti in its 2010 report involving homelessness and victimization in Vancouver, it was found that 88% of the 196 homeless people surveyed reported casualties. Police were only informed about 11% of the incidents of all surveyed respondents. In addition, 40% of reported cases only damage to the person, 24% report only property damage, and 35% of reported cases have become both. More than half of the survey respondents, when questioned, felt that police and the judicial system in Vancouver would ignore or ignore their situation.
Solution
The Greater Vancouver Regional Homeland Steering Committee for Homeless (RSCH), a coalition of community organizations and municipal, provincial and federal governments, was established in 2000, developing a 10-year Regional Homeless Plan entitled Three Ways to Home with funding from National Homelessness Initiative. The plan was updated in 2003. Three elements of "solutions for the homeless are affordable housing, support services and adequate income." Since 2011 Metro Vancouver manages Federal Housing Deployment Strategy fund with RSCH as a Community Advisory Board. The plan was updated in September 2013.
Reducing the number of people at risk of losing absolute homelessness in Vancouver is one of the best solutions proposed, which means dealing with relative or relatively close homelessness. This can be done with increased welfare support from the government, which has a 13% increase in the number of users from 2005 to 2008.
There are a large number of government, nonprofit, charity and religious organizations dedicated to providing assistance to Vancouver's homeless population, but they are not consistently in supply and can be dispersed geographically.
In 2006, Greater Vancouver spent about $ 51 million annually to defend grants to street residents without the place it used to be; However, it is estimated that about $ 250 million in spending a year will be needed to fix the crisis.
Also in 2006, the Civil Municipal Project was initiated by Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan to tackle homeless issues and drugs to try to make the city more interesting for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The project includes housing and social care initiatives, although it has caused some controversy in Vancouver.
In 2007, a large amount of land around Greater Vancouver and Victoria was purchased by the provincial government with a view to creating affordable housing from a one-room residential hotel on the ground.
A group known as the Pivot Legal Society is very active in convincing the provincial government to buy hotels. The Pivot Legal Society has been active in promoting solutions to tackle homelessness and other social issues in Vancouver since its inception in 2000.
Metro Vancouver has completed numerous studies, including the 2011 Homeless Exodus Study, which has been done to better understand the options that can be used to resolve the homeless situation.
See also
- Eastside City Center
- Vancouver Gentrification
- Homeless in Canada
- Poverty in Canada
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia