In a time where Canada is setting records for the amount of houses being sold, it is also seeing an increase in the amount of people who are homeless. Canada is continuing to see an escalation in homelessness and precarious housing situations across the country as rents increase and incomes stay level. And although new home construction reached near-record levels in recent years, there was very little affordable rental and almost no new social housing built.
Although there are no exact figures on how many people are homeless in Canada, the number is estimated at somewhere around 200 000, and approximately 65 000 of those people are between the ages of 16-25. The number of homeless people living in Winnipeg is approximately 2000 people. Those numbers which are too high in themselves, does not necessarily include the thousands of people who live in substandard, poorly maintained, overcrowded make shift accommodations that are far from the definition of a “home”.
With cities throughout the country building more new houses than ever before, it seems odd that the number of people living below the poverty line would be increasing. But only one out of every 100 new homes that are being built in Canada is being considered affordable. With the increase in the price of housing, comes an increase in the price of rent. If people are depending on social assistance to pay their rent, the cost has become unaffordable, and this can lead to homelessness. According to Manitoba Family Services and Housing an average single person on social assistance living in Manitoba is given approximately $243 a month for basic rent, or $271 a month for rent with heat, lights and water which is nowhere near enough for anyone to afford a decent place to live.
Winnipeg is seeing an increase in homeless people and a decrease in subsidized housing. In a market where houses are selling way above the asking price, creating affordable housing is a problem. However, although the city is lacking in the creation of affordable housing, there are government initiatives as well as private organizations which are doing everything in their power to help those in need.
Siloam Mission is a Christian humanitarian organization which has been in operation in some form or another since 1987. They provide meals, clothing, and counseling services to Winnipeg’s poor and homeless community. In 2007 alone Siloam Mission provided 173 552 meals to the homeless, 15 514 nights of shelter and much, much more to the homeless population of the city.
The Main Street Project began in 1972 as a federally funded local initiatives project. It began as a response to the high volume of crisis situations on Main Street, largely involving intoxication and street fighting. From the initial program, the project expanded its activities to meet more of the needs of the area residents. The Main Street Project now has an emergency shelter which operates 365 days a year and provides safe and supervised overnight shelter for those who need it.
The Main Street Project also has created a space for short term living assistance known as the Mainstay Residence. It is a supervised room and board environment that provides short term accommodation, meals and a stable environment for both men and women who are disadvantaged or homeless. They provide not only shelter, but counseling as well as substance abuse programming if needed.
Winnipeg is not the only Canadian city which is seeing an increase in homelessness. According to the Regional Homeless Plan for Greater Vancouver the number of homeless people has nearly doubled from 1121 in the year 2001 to over 2100 in 2005. Those numbers do not include the over 58000 household owners who are at risk of becoming homeless.
Why is this happening? According to the B.C provincial government there are several reasons. The main reason is the same as in the city of Winnipeg, the lack of affordable housing. Very little affordable new market rental housing has been built over the last few years because it is uneconomical to do so, and the stock of housing that is affordable including motels and rooming houses is being lost. Vancouver is known for its extremely high housing costs and very low vacancy rates, leaving low income individuals and families in an extremely vulnerable position. According to the government of B.C people who are working for low wages or that receive income assistance simply cannot afford to pay anything near to the cost of an average market rental unit, and the waiting lists for affordable social housing has grown to the point where there are almost 10 000 households waiting for independent social housing.
With such an increase in homelessness, what is the solution? Creating more subsidized housing would create a temporary fix, and is simply a band-aid solution on a much bigger problem; what are the causes of the rapid increase in homelessness and what can be done to counteract this problem?
I believe that there should be more programs available for training and educating those who are having difficulties finding and maintaining a job. By training them, it would give them the opportunity to obtain a job that could hopefully get them off of social assistance and out of subsidized housing. These types of social programs would benefit not only the individuals involved but society as a whole by reducing the unemployment rate, thus reducing social assistance costs and boosting the national economy. The construction of subsidized housing units is a government money pit and acts as a screen to the real issue of increasing homelessness throughout the nation.
Resources
Manitoba Family Services and Housing
http://www.gov.mb.ca/fs/eiafacts/rental.html (retrieved March 20, 2008)
Regional Homelessness Plan for Greater Vancouver
http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/homelessness/pdfs/FinalPlanUpdateReport.pdf (retrieved February 20, 2008)
Siloam Mission
http://www.siloam.ca/ (retrieved February 20, 2008)
Homeless Count 2005-On our streets and in our shelters…
http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/homelessness/pdfs/HomelessCount2005Bulletin.pdf (retrieved February 20, 2008)
CANADA: High Housing Prices Swell Ranks of Homeless
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41169 (retrieved February 20, 2008)
Main Street Project
www.mainstreetproject.ca (retrieved March 17, 2008)
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