The number of homeless in Metro Vancouver has statistically stayed the same from the last time researchers did a one-day count four years ago, Metro Vancouver's steering committee on homelessness said Tuesday.
But inside that global number of 2,623 people a significant shift has been taking place, with many municipalities reporting the number of street homelessness actually in steep decline. Virtually every one of the more than 800 people who left the street moved into emergency shelters or other temporary accomodation, according to the Metro Vancouver report.
In Vancouver, the number of street homeless reached an all-time low of just 145 people, down from a high of 815 in 2008. That's largely because of the push by Vancouver and the provincial government to fund Homeless Emergency Action Team (HEAT) shelters where the homeless get access to basic care.
The count, done on March 16, is the fourth effort by Metro Vancouver to try and quantify the number of people without adequate and stable housing. Two years ago Vancouver also did a survey using Metro's methodology, and found the numbers in decline.
The new count gives advocates for housing the homeless ammunition to argue with the provincial and federal governments for more resources to build stable housing, said Alice Sundberg, the co-chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness.
But the latest count also shows that aboriginal people continue to represent a disproportionate number of homeless, said Patrick Stewart, the co-chair of the Aboriginal Homelessness Steering Committee. Nearly one in four people in this latest count are aboriginal. There's been a seven per cent decrease since 2008, but many first nations people still continue to live on the streets or in shelters. Surrey has the highest percentage of aboriginal homeless, at 24 per cent, because it does not have a dedicated facility for first nations, he said.
Overall, in Vancouver there are 1,605 people catagorized as homeless. Of those, 1,392 live in emergency shelters. Another 98 are classified as having "no fixed address" but who were staying in hospitals, detox centres or police cells. The remaining 145 live rough on the street.
Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang said the numbers show Vancouver's homelessness strategy is paying off. Since 2008 the rate of people being catagorized as homeless has slowed, from 16 per cent between 2008-2010 to nine per cent between 2010 and 2011, to six per cent in the latest count.
Dick Vollett, the president of the Streettohome Foundation, which partners private money to build housing, said he was encouraged by the findings.
One statistic that did rise is the number of youth. In 2008 the survey found 270 youth under the age of 25 on the street. This year they found 370. But Sundberg said that number may have to do more with the fact they changed the methodology for how they count youth.
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