Quote:
Originally Posted by Klazu
I just wish we would have become a more progressive and equitable society when it comes to helping those down on their luck that are experiencing homelessness. 
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Sure, and the best way many studies suggest we can help reduce homelessness is to build more housing for people with limited finances. With so many of the homeless coming from an indigenous background, supporting organizations like Lu’ma Native Housing Society should help. This also creates housing outside the DTES, with 24/7 staffing, and support services which the article says includes "daily meals, Indigenous cultural programming, skills building, and connections to volunteer or employment opportunities Additionally, healthcare supports by Vancouver Coastal Health will be available to residents, such as on-site or in-reach care, and access to referral health services".
Many studies show housing people first, and then providing support to help them deal with the problems that got them into homelessness, is cheaper for society, and more effective than providing more expensive services like hospital care whenever a health crisis occurs. We're playing catch-up for many years of not providing housing at the lowest level of affordability, and some municipalities have been very reluctant to acknowledge the need, or be willing to do anything about it.
The current BC Government seem to be supporting or directly building more housing like this than for many years. In Burnaby there are several
new non-market projects for nearly 1,000 units. That's something that wasn't seen in the Corrigan years. The projects include buildings that will be managed by the Vancouver Native Housing Society, and will have units for both indigenous and non-native residents. That's also true of several of the Vancouver buildings managed by indigenous housing organizations - there are a variety of models being adopted, but acknowledging that there are many more indigenous homeless than their proportion of the overall population should suggest. (Edit - I put the Burnaby example in here because I know you live there - not to divert the General Vancouver thread!)