B.C. details $633M to help former youth in care avoid homelessness

B.C. is detailing exactly where $633 million in funding for former youth in care will go, as part of a cross-government approach to target the root causes of homelessness.

Several cabinet ministers gathered for a news conference to share details of money first announced in Budget 2022 for supports over three years for people experiencing homelessness.

Mitzi Dean, minister of children and family development, says $35 million over three years will help former youth in care, almost half of whom experience homelessness at some point in their lives.

“That includes one year unconditional income supplements of $1,250 a month plus a no limit earnings exemption for young people so that they have an incentive to work into build that independence themselves, and expanded medical and health benefits,” Dean said Thursday.,

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The young adults will also be eligible for a $600-a-month rental supplement and increased access to counselling, medical benefits and life-skills programming.

“The key opportunities for government is to move upstream to identify the feeders into homelessness and to interrupt those feeders so that people don’t become homeless in the first place. Or if they are homeless, they’re homeless for as short period of time as possible,” Housing Minister David Eby said.

Other funds to help the homeless outlined by the ministers include $164 million to expand the government’s complex-care housing program and $264 million for a permanent housing plan to support about 3,000 people who were temporarily housed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

B.C. says new homeless data collection allows for better help

On Wednesday, Eby says a new method for collecting data on homelessness will help the province tackle the issue.

He says the government used anonymized data from multiple ministry databases to paint a picture of homelessness across B.C. in 2019 that found trends like high per capita rates in northern rural communities and among men.

The report shows that just over half of people experienced homelessness temporarily rather than on a chronic basis.
Eby says the province previously relied on data from point-in-time counts in 25 communities, but those were known to undercount the number of homeless people.

He says the new data, which found 23,000 people experienced homelessness at some point in 2019, will complement those ongoing counts.

The data is a compilation of BC Housing’s shelter use database, those on income and disability assistance listed as having “no fixed address,” and demographics identified through the Medical Services Plan.

Vancouver launches homelessness, street safety pilot program

Meanwhile, Vancouver is trying to respond to community safety concerns without criminalizing people living on the street.

The two-year pilot project, “Better Together,”  seeks to improve safety, access to support services, communication, and maintaining cleanliness.

The project will launch in the Olympic village, downtown south, and Mount Pleasant areas.

According to the city, many resident have brought forward concerns surrounding people experiencing homelessness due to a lack of safety and cleanliness.

However, advocates say people living unsheltered deserve compassion and it is important to work as a community to come to a mutual understanding.