> Nailing down the real homeless count
Nailing down the real homeless count
Contacts:
Michelle Patterson, 778.782.5279, michelle_patterson@sfu.ca
Julian Somers, 778.782.5148, jsomers@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
Michelle Patterson, 778.782.5279, michelle_patterson@sfu.ca
Julian Somers, 778.782.5148, jsomers@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
March 13, 2008
Michelle Patterson was one of about 400 volunteers scouring the streets
of Vancouver for homeless people during a 24-hour period on March 11,
the city of Vancouver’s 2008 Metro-wide Homeless Count.
But the Simon Fraser University health sciences researcher knew that the number of homeless people she found would greatly underestimate the true scope of the problem.
She identified five homeless people in her assigned area of the West End. But a study that she co-authored for the provincial government indicates that the real number—there and elsewhere—was likely two to three times higher than the “homeless count” found.
“Traditional homeless counts miss many people who are absolutely homeless but couch-surf with friends, double up with other families, live in vehicles, and learn to hide from public view,” says Patterson, a Vancouver resident.
“The homeless population is very diverse. The 24-hour counts and our study don’t capture the numbers of people who move in and out of homelessness because of episodic mental illness or changing economic circumstances. And we still don’t have a clear picture of the demographic make-up of the homeless population.”
This year’s Metro count of the homeless has yet to be released.
Patterson collaborated with SFU health sciences professor Julian Somers and colleagues at other universities in a detailed study titled Housing and Support for Adults with Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illness in British Columbia.
SFU’s Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA) released the report. It indicates that, province-wide, 8,000 to 15,500 adults with severe addictions and/or mental illness are street-homeless, and nearly 40,000 are “inadequately housed.”
The numbers are two to three times higher than the 4,500 to 5,500 homeless people historically counted in 24-hour counts such as the one on March 11, and in 2006 and 2004.
Patterson says the CARMHA study’s estimate is higher because it factors in information from a variety of sources, rather than relying on a one-day count of people in shelters and on the street.
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But the Simon Fraser University health sciences researcher knew that the number of homeless people she found would greatly underestimate the true scope of the problem.
She identified five homeless people in her assigned area of the West End. But a study that she co-authored for the provincial government indicates that the real number—there and elsewhere—was likely two to three times higher than the “homeless count” found.
“Traditional homeless counts miss many people who are absolutely homeless but couch-surf with friends, double up with other families, live in vehicles, and learn to hide from public view,” says Patterson, a Vancouver resident.
“The homeless population is very diverse. The 24-hour counts and our study don’t capture the numbers of people who move in and out of homelessness because of episodic mental illness or changing economic circumstances. And we still don’t have a clear picture of the demographic make-up of the homeless population.”
This year’s Metro count of the homeless has yet to be released.
Patterson collaborated with SFU health sciences professor Julian Somers and colleagues at other universities in a detailed study titled Housing and Support for Adults with Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illness in British Columbia.
SFU’s Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA) released the report. It indicates that, province-wide, 8,000 to 15,500 adults with severe addictions and/or mental illness are street-homeless, and nearly 40,000 are “inadequately housed.”
The numbers are two to three times higher than the 4,500 to 5,500 homeless people historically counted in 24-hour counts such as the one on March 11, and in 2006 and 2004.
Patterson says the CARMHA study’s estimate is higher because it factors in information from a variety of sources, rather than relying on a one-day count of people in shelters and on the street.
—30—