Forecast: More Rain, Homeless

Initial numbers from the March 11 homeless count in Vancouver show approximately 2,600 people living on the streets, and increase of 19% from the 2005 survey. While this number may be amplified by the fact that there were more volunteers this time around, this page shudders to think what the number would be like if more people were doing the counting. It's obvious that no level of government has their collective heads wrapped around this issue, and the least among us will continue to suffer as a result.

The key factor in Vancouver's homeless problem is addiciton: the addiction to right-wing, me-first, market-driven ideology at City Hall, the BC Legislature, and the House of Commons. The NPA responds to the homeless by criminalizing them with Giulianist idiocy like 'Project Civil City' and extending the unaccountable long arm of the 'Downtown Ambassadors' program. Meanwhile, in Victoria, the BC Liberals do everything possible to alleviate homelessness without actually having to do anything. The Gordon Campbells and Carole Taylors of the world don't grasp that rental subsidies and increasing the number of shelters don't help fight homelessness: if you get a rental subsidy, you may be poor, but you still have a home. As for shelters, I will say this only once, so pay attention: Shelters are not homes. Homes are places people can live in without being told to move on, and build themselves a base of operations for the journey into the workplace and society. Homelessness isn't just a local issue, it's a national epidemic, but the public won't get a response from the Harper Conservatives because in their faith-based/blame-the-victim view of the world, the homeless are getting what they deserve.

Of course, one can't mention the homeless crisis in Vancouver without mentioning the vicious, deluded, high-stakes real estate tomofoolery spurred by the 2010 Winter Olympics. The fact that the value of my home has increased over 150% in the past five years because this city will be host to the ski, skate & spandex set for a couple of weeks points to the absolute detachment of logic from capitalism. Rational leaders would do something to intervene, but at this point in time, our leaders refuse to lead - they simply don't have the imagination or the compassion. Why not place a small tax on Olympic tickets to subsidize social housing? With 1.6 million tickets going on sale, how much money could be raised to find 2,600 people a decent place to live? Why not consolidate the patchwork of social service agencies in the Downtown Eastside (and across Metro Vancouver) into a single, effective resource and advocate for the homeless? Why not tell developers who don't want to include social housing in their projects, that they must pay a social housing 'offset' to be paid so that housing could be built at another location?

The answer, again, comes down to leadership, and we have leadership addicted not only to ideology, but also easy money in the form of campaign contributions from the Real Estate industry. Change those people, and real change can begin.