HAW 2011 coverage continued...

ASK KAMLOOPS 

HOMELESS COUNT RESULTS A SURPRISE

13 Oct 2011, Kamloops Daily News, Bob Hughes is executive director of ASK Wellness in Kamloops.

It was more than just a shock when Ken Salter, street outreach co-ordinator with ASK, told me the results of this year’s homeless count. 

For the past four years, ASK has managed the City’s homeless count in the fall. The original count was done in 2005 by volunteers and led by TRUE Consulting. Funding for this comprehensive inquiry was provided by Service Canada and the result was 166 people identifying as homeless on some level. This number included those who were in program beds and broadly were atrisk of homelessness. 

In 2008, when we decided to do a count again in keeping with other B.C. communities, we counted 176. However, this included three of the five units at KRCC, the local provincial custody centre. 

By 2009, we were shut down from accessing KRCC and the number of men and women in the community that we reached who indicated they were absolutely homeless was 105. This included contacting the detox centre and the men’s and women’s shelter, and obviously walking the beaches and streets. 

In 2010, we had hoped the numbers would have declined based on the opening of several supportive-housing programs built and operated to tackle those with histories of homelessness or were currently homeless. 

As well, by last year, the private rental market had opened enough and more and more private operators were taking it upon themselves, with the support of non-profit organizations like ASK and others, to take people with social and behavioural issues. 

Sadly, we were wrong and the count remained much the same with 103 indicating they were homeless. What was apparent, however, was the fact that profile had changed over the two years before. Instead of people interviewed saying they were longterm homeless and had lived in Kamloops for many years, 70 per cent indicated they had only been homeless for the past six months and were new to Kamloops. 

So, you can imagine my shock when this year’s count showed only 45 people as absolutely homeless. My first reaction was disbelief and I am sure one of my hairy eyebrows raised. I had hoped we might only find 70-odd people out there but to find fewer than half that, I was certain something must be wrong. 

However, upon reviewing the forms completed and confirming that our methodology was the same, it became apparent that on Oct. 8, 50 volunteers found only 45 people homeless.

We obviously could and likely did miss individuals who were either inside somewhere or were unwilling to disclose their circumstances, but I find it highly unlikely that we missed 50-plus people. 

What we can’t forget is that over the same weekend as the count that was so promising, there were 180 people who attended the New Life Mission Thanksgiving Dinner and well over 100 individuals come to the Pit Stop each week. What this tells me — along with the countless people who come to our office each week and those who reside in our buildings — is that while we have done an admirable job of finding a roof over many people’s heads, we still have not tackled the underlying causes of homelessness. 

The inadequacy of our income assistance rates and the realities of the working poor play out in the kitchens of our community. 

And it is these bigger issues — systemic poverty and the lack of access to suitable and respectful health care — that will be the next challenge that ASK and many others will set their sights on to tackle knowing that our efforts to eradicate homelessness were not in vain.