Oh, Canada ...
Following up on this previous post ...
Welcome to the 'Burbs, Meet the New Homeless
Their ranks are growing in cities like Surrey, as the working poor slip their grip.
By Monte Paulsen
Sherry and Chris spent the past few years "just getting by." The couple paid $420 a month to share a house in Surrey. The rent cost more than half their income. And yet, as Sherry put it, they got by.
Until they didn't.
Sherry, Chris and their many cats were evicted in September. Since then, they've camped out behind an abandoned strip mall a short distance from their former home.
When they stepped across their threshold for the last time, they left behind the 1.5 million Canadian families that are "just getting by" -- the federal government describes these as households in "core housing need" -- to join the ranks of the estimated 300,000 Canadians who are homeless.
Their story helps illustrate why homelessness is growing so rapidly in sprawling suburbs such as Surrey, which may already host more homeless people than Vancouver. And a day on the road with a pair of homeless outreach workers shows what suburban homelessness looks like -- when you can see it.
"We're in a situation that could happen to anybody," Sherry told me. "We're not staying out here for very long. We'll do whatever we have to do to get our own place."
Now playing at the Vancity Theatre.
That was two months ago.
Working poor pushed out of Vancouver
"It's a known pattern. The working poor are getting pushed out of Vancouver, out to the suburbs," said Rich, an outreach worker, as he drove across Surrey. "A lot of these people, when they move here, they are like one pay cheque away from becoming homeless."
Rich and his colleague Lori work for Options, a society that operates the Hyland House shelter among other community services. (The Tyee agreed not to publish Rich and Lori's last names in order to protect their privacy.) Surrey is one of 49 communities served by homeless outreach teams under contract to BC Housing.
They work a territory that includes most of Surrey as well as Cloverdale, Ladner, Tsawwassen and White Rock. They drive a minivan packed with supplies: snacks, soap, water, juice and high-protein drinks. Their job is help the homeless find housing and other support services.
"There are two categories of homeless that seem to outweigh the rest. One being young adults who don't have employment and don't have a clue as to where to go or what to do. They're just not prepared for life," Rich explained.
"On the other side of the scale, we have quite a few people who are on the top edge of middle age. They've worked hard all their lives. But now they've lost their employment, and they don't have a clue as to how to jump through the hoops to get the support services necessary to keep going," he continued.
'The mindset that society is against them'
The Options minivan rolled to a stop at the edge of a small wooded lot. There was a shopping mall on one side of the lot, and a row of expensive-looking townhouses on the other.
Rich and Lori led me through the brush to a small campsite near the centre of the lot. Rich called out to anyone who might still inside the tent, but no one replied. I reached down and placed my hand over the propane cook stove. It was still hot.
Rich joked that they've been finding "a better class" of homeless people this year. By that he meant people who are still working, and who had not yet slipped into the well of addiction or mental illness.
"They're just poor," he said. "They simply don't earn enough money to live in this society."
From where I squatted, I could see into the living rooms of the townhouses across the street. Had I been there at night, I probably could have smelled what they ate for dinner, or watched them watching TV.
"When they are living in this condition, and they see the guy across the street in the expensive home -- the guy who's not doing anything to help them -- you can see how they begin to develop the mindset that society is against them," Rich said.
I asked whether they thought the families across the street watched back.
"I doubt it," Lori replied. "Most people just don't realize how close to their backyard other people are sleeping."
Only two beds left
When Surrey residents do come to realize how close the homeless are sleeping, they typically call the RCMP or the city bylaw enforcement office. Those organizations, in turn, often call the outreach team.
As Rich drives to the next campsite, Lori sits in the back seat with a telephone. It rings every 10 minutes or so. Some calls come from concerned residents. Others come from the soon-to-be-homeless, looking for a bed.
One such call came from an elderly woman who said she wanted to leave a Vancouver shelter where other clients were using drugs.
"That lady who just phoned?" Lori said. "She was born in 1937. Do the math. Wow."
Another call came from a man who said he needed a place to stay for a week while he waited to get into a recovery program.
"We get that a lot," Rich said. "They cycle through recovery programs. Once they are out of the recovery program, if they can't find a place to live, they feel hopeless and a lot of them wind up using again. Then they start the cycle all over again."
Surrey's outreach team is modeled loosely on the outreach program pioneered in Vancouver. But whereas Vancouver outreach workers have literally thousands of shelter beds and government-owned hotel rooms into which to place homeless clients, the Options team has just 35 beds at the Hyland House shelter and sometimes a few more at smaller shelters nearby.
On this particular day, only two beds are available. If both of the homeless people who called Lori this morning show up this afternoon, those beds are already full.
I look at my phone. It's not yet 11 a.m.
(Keep reading ...)
Their ranks are growing in cities like Surrey, as the working poor slip their grip.
By Monte Paulsen
Sherry and Chris spent the past few years "just getting by." The couple paid $420 a month to share a house in Surrey. The rent cost more than half their income. And yet, as Sherry put it, they got by.
Until they didn't.
Sherry, Chris and their many cats were evicted in September. Since then, they've camped out behind an abandoned strip mall a short distance from their former home.
When they stepped across their threshold for the last time, they left behind the 1.5 million Canadian families that are "just getting by" -- the federal government describes these as households in "core housing need" -- to join the ranks of the estimated 300,000 Canadians who are homeless.
Their story helps illustrate why homelessness is growing so rapidly in sprawling suburbs such as Surrey, which may already host more homeless people than Vancouver. And a day on the road with a pair of homeless outreach workers shows what suburban homelessness looks like -- when you can see it.
"We're in a situation that could happen to anybody," Sherry told me. "We're not staying out here for very long. We'll do whatever we have to do to get our own place."
Now playing at the Vancity Theatre.
That was two months ago.
Working poor pushed out of Vancouver
"It's a known pattern. The working poor are getting pushed out of Vancouver, out to the suburbs," said Rich, an outreach worker, as he drove across Surrey. "A lot of these people, when they move here, they are like one pay cheque away from becoming homeless."
Rich and his colleague Lori work for Options, a society that operates the Hyland House shelter among other community services. (The Tyee agreed not to publish Rich and Lori's last names in order to protect their privacy.) Surrey is one of 49 communities served by homeless outreach teams under contract to BC Housing.
They work a territory that includes most of Surrey as well as Cloverdale, Ladner, Tsawwassen and White Rock. They drive a minivan packed with supplies: snacks, soap, water, juice and high-protein drinks. Their job is help the homeless find housing and other support services.
"There are two categories of homeless that seem to outweigh the rest. One being young adults who don't have employment and don't have a clue as to where to go or what to do. They're just not prepared for life," Rich explained.
"On the other side of the scale, we have quite a few people who are on the top edge of middle age. They've worked hard all their lives. But now they've lost their employment, and they don't have a clue as to how to jump through the hoops to get the support services necessary to keep going," he continued.
'The mindset that society is against them'
The Options minivan rolled to a stop at the edge of a small wooded lot. There was a shopping mall on one side of the lot, and a row of expensive-looking townhouses on the other.
Rich and Lori led me through the brush to a small campsite near the centre of the lot. Rich called out to anyone who might still inside the tent, but no one replied. I reached down and placed my hand over the propane cook stove. It was still hot.
Rich joked that they've been finding "a better class" of homeless people this year. By that he meant people who are still working, and who had not yet slipped into the well of addiction or mental illness.
"They're just poor," he said. "They simply don't earn enough money to live in this society."
From where I squatted, I could see into the living rooms of the townhouses across the street. Had I been there at night, I probably could have smelled what they ate for dinner, or watched them watching TV.
"When they are living in this condition, and they see the guy across the street in the expensive home -- the guy who's not doing anything to help them -- you can see how they begin to develop the mindset that society is against them," Rich said.
I asked whether they thought the families across the street watched back.
"I doubt it," Lori replied. "Most people just don't realize how close to their backyard other people are sleeping."
Only two beds left
When Surrey residents do come to realize how close the homeless are sleeping, they typically call the RCMP or the city bylaw enforcement office. Those organizations, in turn, often call the outreach team.
As Rich drives to the next campsite, Lori sits in the back seat with a telephone. It rings every 10 minutes or so. Some calls come from concerned residents. Others come from the soon-to-be-homeless, looking for a bed.
One such call came from an elderly woman who said she wanted to leave a Vancouver shelter where other clients were using drugs.
"That lady who just phoned?" Lori said. "She was born in 1937. Do the math. Wow."
Another call came from a man who said he needed a place to stay for a week while he waited to get into a recovery program.
"We get that a lot," Rich said. "They cycle through recovery programs. Once they are out of the recovery program, if they can't find a place to live, they feel hopeless and a lot of them wind up using again. Then they start the cycle all over again."
Surrey's outreach team is modeled loosely on the outreach program pioneered in Vancouver. But whereas Vancouver outreach workers have literally thousands of shelter beds and government-owned hotel rooms into which to place homeless clients, the Options team has just 35 beds at the Hyland House shelter and sometimes a few more at smaller shelters nearby.
On this particular day, only two beds are available. If both of the homeless people who called Lori this morning show up this afternoon, those beds are already full.
I look at my phone. It's not yet 11 a.m.
(Keep reading ...)
WOW. Seriously, this article left me speechless. In our hectic lives we often don't realize there are hundreds of suffering people even in the streets of Vancouver. I support few charities, but I am sure there's much more I could possibly do to help many people and it makes me feel bad about myself.
ReplyDeleteJay
"this article left me speechless"
ReplyDeleteSame here, friend ... same here.