Homeless tally taken pre-COVID doesn’t paint the whole picture
The 2020 Metro Vancouver homeless count found the number of people living on the street had increased marginally since the previous count three years ago.
This year’s count, taken on March 3 and 4 and released on Wednesday, found 3,634 people who were homeless, up by 29 from 2017. But that was before COVID-19 began making things much worse.
“These are more than 3,600 people who are struggling and suffering, and for the most part really in need of more support,” said Jeremy Hunka of the Union Gospel Mission (UGM). “But the thing that makes it particularly hard is we know the homeless count was compiled before the pandemic struck.
“Since the pandemic struck, the majority of our indicators show a substantial increase since March.”
For instance, from April to July in 2019, 150 requests for shelter had to be denied for
lack of space. In the same four months of this year, that number was 620, Hunka said.
Of the 3,634 individuals counted in March, 1,029 people were unsheltered and 2,605 were in shelters.
“It’s important to recognize that behind each of the statistics is someone who is living without a place that they can call their own and who deserves every chance to realize their full potential,” said Lorraine Copas, chairwoman of the community advisory board that oversees the count.
Vancouver had the highest homeless count, at 2,095, followed by Surrey with 644 and Langley with 209.
Surrey and Langley were two of the five communities that had increase in homelessness, along with Burnaby, the North Shore and Richmond. Vancouver, the Tri-Cities, White Rock, Ridge Meadows, New Westminster and Delta had small decreases over 2017.
Indigenous homelessness remained disproportionately high: Although Indigenous people made up 2.5 per cent of the Metro Vancouver population in the 2016 census, they made up 33 per cent of the 2020 homeless count.
“Homelessness continues to be a critical issue for which we have not found a solution,” said David Wells, chairman of the Indigenous Homelessness Steering Committee. “Events of the past several months have only amplified this harm.”
The majority of our indicators show a substantial increase since March.”