Efforts to reduce and eliminate homelessness in Richmond are done on a piecemeal basis and, according to homeless advocates, the city lacks a year-round emergency shelter for the most vulnerable members of society, whose numbers are on the rise.
“Its shameful that …we have over 200,000 people living in our city and we have nowhere for homeless to sleep at night. I just think, how do you justify that? And the inequality in Richmond, we’re a city with a lot of money and the focus is on development. It would be nice to have resources for these people,” said Reverend Margaret Cornish, of St. Alban Anglican Church, in an interview this week with the Richmond News.
As it stands, Richmond has two overcrowded shelters, one for women fleeing domestic abuse and the other dedicated to men transitioning to a permanent home. When temperatures dip to freezing an “extreme weather” shelter opens at Cornish’s church as well as at the men’s shelter, providing a total of 22 spaces for the homeless.
A 2003 Metro Vancouver study of homeless options in Richmond (the Regional Homelessness Plan for Greater Vancouver) shows the numbers haven’t changed. Despite significant development and population growth, there has been no increase to the city’s capacity for the homeless in more than 10 years.
Furthermore, the 2003 study cited that Richmond needed an additional 23 permanent, barrier-free beds. Those beds have never been made available, and, even if they were, they wouldn’t be adequate.
Cornish argues that the needs are much greater now and include at least two spaces for families and beds specifically for women and youth.
At Richmond House, the city’s aforementioned shelter for men, operated by the Salvation Army, manager Lennie Cristobal said he is presently turning away 30 clients a month at his 10-bed shelter.
“Our challenge is we’re dealing with mental and addiction issues,” said Cristobal.
“We have a waiting list and turnaway numbers that are humungous. I have to admit that a lot of people who call us can’t get help,” he added.
Homeless numbers
A homeless count in Richmond conducted in March found 38 homeless people on the city’s streets. However, Cornish called the count “flawed.” She estimates there are 100-200 people in Richmond who meet the definition of homeless, even if they aren’t sleeping on the streets. An academic study of the homeless issue in 2009 in Vancouver indicated there are 3.5 times more homeless than are visible in street surveys, backing up Cornish’s anecdotal information. Cornish said one of her challenges is simply convincing people that Richmond has a problem.
Two years ago, St. Alban opened a drop-in centre for the homeless. And while it has been successful and recently secured a part-time coordinator, Cornish said it has shed light on the gravity of the problem.
“Richmond has to do something, there are just too many people who have nowhere to go, and they don’t want to go to the Downtown Eastside. They’re not from Vancouver; they’re from Richmond. They have friends here, and there’s a sense of insecurity down there,” said Cornish.
In Metro Vancouver, only Vancouver has year-round shelters. Surrey recently shut its six-month shelter and only operates extreme weather shelters. Most social services for the homeless exist in Vancouver as well. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s election platform focused, partly, on resolving homelessness. In 2013, the city spent $6 million on supportive and interim housing, according to city data.
During the recent civic election, the Richmond News asked city council candidates if they would fully fund a homeless shelter in the city. Of those elected on Nov. 15, only Coun. Harold Steves said ‘yes.’
The challenge, according to Mayor Malcolm Brodie, is finding provincial funding for such a facility.
“The services have been downloaded to the city regularly, but we’ve tried to pick up the slack, but we can’t do everything. …When your resources are limited you have to have other partners. …Senior levels, particularly the province, certainly have a role to play,” said Brodie.
He noted he would need to understand the magnitude of funding required before speculating on what the city could offer, but said he was “quite flexible as to what the city contribution could be.”
Cristobal said Richmond House costs about $600,000 to operate annually.
Should the city move on advocating higher governments for money, a likely scenario would involve the city either purchasing older homes and/or donating land.
In fact, Brodie noted the city did buy a home for a shelter in 2007 but couldn’t find operating funding. The home is now used by Turning Point, an addictions recovery agency.
At an all-candidates meeting hosted by the Richmond News, Cornish asked candidates what they proposed to do about the need for a homeless shelter. She said Brodie approached her following the meeting, and she’s hopeful a long-term resolution can be worked out. However, she said she’s seen a lot of toe dragging and paper shuffling on the issue before.
“It’s not wholly the city’s responsibility but they have to take some responsibility.”
Cornish recalls one candidate expressing indignation that the provincial government ‘downloads’ the responsibility of homelessness on the city. “And I’m listening and thinking, how dare the city download this problem to the churches,” said Cornish.
“There’s good will (on city council) and I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, but, it’s getting to a point where it’s really ridiculous that we don’t have anywhere to put our folks,” she said.
Just this week, the parks committee, chaired by Coun. Steves, drafted a motion to investigate the needs “to examine the types of shelters that could accommodate families and women.”
In September 2013, the City of Richmond pledged to update the city’s homelessness strategy, but that is still in the works, according to the city.
With a pregnant couple and a grandmother with a mentally ill grandchild recently being turned away, Cornish is concerned about the pace at which the problem is being addressed.
The reverend said local MLA Linda Reid is one of St.Alban’s “best friends,” having helped organize the drop-in centre, but she’s still concerned with how the system operates.
“We’ve got guests at the drop-in centre or extreme weather shelter who have gone to their support workers or the Ministry and they say ‘there’s nothing we can do for you, go to St. Alban’s.’ There’s something grossly wrong with that picture,” said Cornish.
The centre depends heavily on volunteers, like Dianne Woodhouse, who is also becoming increasingly concerned.
“We try to pick up the slack, but we’re all volunteers,” she said.
Woodhouse said the “extreme weather” shelter that temporarily opens (only when it’s freezing) does little to safeguard against cold, wet days.
“What would make more sense is a wet weather shelter. We should have a shelter — well it should be 365 (days) — when it’s wet, it’s miserable,” said Woodhouse.
She said St.Alban “desperately” needs a homeless outreach worker, to theoretically find those aforementioned “hidden” homeless, who sleep in bushes, cars and, if they’re lucky, on a friend’s couch. She said she knows of two women who have recently been sleeping in the casino, which, ironically, is the source (via gaming revenue) of at least $13.5 million of future, annual unallocated funds at the city’s disposal.
Creative solutions
Recently, Woodhouse and Cornish consulted with members of St. Joseph’s the Worker Parish on Williams Road.
The group of older adults and seniors met with Cornish to discuss poverty in Richmond.
“I think there’s good work like this being done, but there are probably a lot of people under the radar. There’s also a lot of hidden poverty. It raises awareness and hopefully triggers a response,” said Anne Wicks, a member of St.Joseph’s.
Part of that response, recently, has been at Chimo Community Services, which began a unique housing program for certain homeless in Richmond.
After being approached by developer Clive Alladin of Balandra Development, a Steveston-based homebuilder, Chimo has begun temporarily housing people in homes slated for demolition.
Other developers have stepped up to the plate and, over the past six months, 24 people have found a home to get back on their feet, according to Chimo’s executive director Mark Miller.
“We had homeless people, and we had vacant houses; it was win-win. It was good for developers, as well. They didn’t have to leave the homes vacant. They didn’t have to worry about bylaw infractions and people breaking in,” said Miller. He said Alladin was particularly mindful of the needs of women fleeing abusive relationships.
There is worry, however, that the model isn’t sustainable.
“The houses will be demolished. So we still need houses, no doubt about it,” said Miller.
Also, the program does not help certain homeless people, namely those with mental health issues.
“It’s really hard to house some people,” said Miller.
The help Chimo is getting from developers has recently been complimented by a new, three-year $178,000 annual grant from the provincial government.
Rent subsidies
The Homeless Prevention Program helps subsidize rent specifically for eligible women, youth, First Nations members, and those exiting a corrections facility.
The program money includes paying for an outreach worker and additional administration.
Having taken on the director’s role at Chimo eight months ago, Miller is confident the service providers and community will is in place to solve homelessness in Richmond.
“What I’m seeing is a real collective effort amongst the agencies to get things done …and I would include the City of Richmond in that. There is a definite — starting to be a collective — effort to address the issues that are there. It doesn’t happen overnight and you don’t change some traditional thoughts overnight but there’s an effort,” he said.
That said, Miller notes the women’s shelter Chimo runs — Nova Transition House — is at capacity.
As noted by City of Richmond spokesperson Ted Townsend, homelessness is a “multi-faceted” challenge that requires support from all levels of government.
He notes, over the next five years, the federal and provincial governments will spend $1.25 billion nationwide as part of the Housing First program.
Metro Vancouver’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy is to take proposals from community groups for help.
Woodhouse said she would not want a shelter to become a “flop house” and that it must be done correctly with community consultation.
“We have to come up with a model as to not create what the NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard protesters) don’t want,” said Woodhouse.
The city has not consulted neighbourhoods as to where a permanent shelter could be placed.
Miller said the homes Chimo is helping to operate have not faced any issues with MINBYism, which reared its head in Surrey resulting in a decision to not run a winter shelter.
Coun. Harold Steves and MLA Linda Reid were unavailable for comment.
