So I have finished finding out information concerning homelessness and now I want to move onto implementing a social innovation that will reduce the problem.
I have joined up with four other class mates that are also interested in the same topic and here is the link to the new blog we are creating:
After researching several different ideas about how to reduce the problem I have been able to come up with my own idea of how to resolve the problem. The main idea is taken from the Covenant House where their main goal is education to reduce homelessness. I believe this is the big difference between being able to make it on your own and being forced to live on the streets. My idea is to create a shelter not just for youth but for whole families. There would be rooms that can sleep parents and children that are at risk of becoming homeless or who have already become homeless. There are a few places throughout Vancouver that already offer this service but their space is very limited.
The project will also offer education for all of these families and our programs will vary depending on the situation of each family. The programs could be:
The whole idea of these classes is that eventually the family will be able to function as a unit and support each other. Once they have been rehabilitated they will not be sent out on their own. Support will be offered even once they have left the program.
The issue of homeless families does not seem to be very publicized one, yet when you look into near by cities such as Calgary there is an estimated 200 homeless families with one or more children. This study also found the 79% of the families were living in shelters, many of which do not offer the support they need as a family in order to get out of the cycle of homelessness. This is the reason why it is crucial they have a place to go for support, if we can help these families then we will also reduce a lot of the homeless people that are currently in shelters.
Social Value Proposition
To help families get back on their feet and teach them how to be self sustainable.
Homeless Nation is a site that allows homeless people to stay connected and communicate with each other. Here is a video about the website and interviews with some of the homeless people.
more about "Homeless Nation Video", posted with vodpod
I moved to Vancouver just over 3 years ago with no idea about the homeless situation in Vancouver. Once I moved here I quickly realized how serious an issue this was and after I did a project in it in my first semester at SFU I wanted to raise awareness about the issue.
One thing that always makes me want to help more is taking a drive through the downtown east side, its shocking to me that we still have people in Canada that live in conditions such as these. Knowing nurses who have worked in the downtown east side I have heard many stories of how low these standards of living are. This also has enabled me to understand that many people that have been forced to live in this area are mentally ill. We consider Canada to have an advanced medical care system yet we allow these people to be forced into these living conditions. This is another area of homelessness in Vancouver that has to be addressed.
One way to really understand how hard it must be is to put yourself in the place of a homeless person. Imagine having to find somewhere to sleep every night and not know if you were going to be attacked or mugged. Not only that but imagine it was winter and temperatures were going to drop to -15 degrees over night. Well one website to visit and check out is www.homelessnation.org. This is a web site that lets homeless people blog about their experiences and whats on their minds. I have taken a short paragraph from one of the blogs on the site. To see the full blog just click here.
“I got mugged by some guys with a hammer. There was a girl there to and she told them to hit me again. After the first hit I went down on one knee and told them “Its going to take more than that boys!!” Well they gave me more!!! I lost hearing in my left ear and and had a skull compressed fracture. I then stayed drunk for 4 more days to take the pain away and I wanted to rest so I went to a detox.“
The first and most obvious reason to care is the fact that these are human beings and they are living well below the poverty line. These homeless people include all age groups, anything from children to seniors. Even if all you do is drive through the downtown east side you can see how horrible the living conditions are there and how dangerous it can be. To those who have not driven through this area I strongly advise you to do so and take a look at the standard of living. It is something you would expect to see in a 3rd world country and not on our own doorsteps.
Another major issue with homelessness is the image it gives the city. Vancouver is a city which has a large tourist business but this is being damaged by the areas that have large amounts of homeless people in them. If you do a search for vancouver tourists in google there are warnings on many of the websites about how there is a large amount of homeless people. This is obviously not a good image for any city to have and its one that can damage the tourist industry significantly.
There is strong evidence as to how serious an issue this is in Vancouver but one other factor to take into consideration is how it is rising. This report is know as the Metro Vancouver Homeless Count Figure and is performed annually. This is the 2008 report and the figures are alarming. As already discussed on this blog since 2005 there has been an increase of homeless people by 37%. The most alarming part of this report is the fact that the amount of shelters available for the homeless has remained around the same since 2005 and this has meant a much larger percentage of these people are forced to be out on the streets.
Here we are going to look at some of the table which are shown in the report.
From this table you can see how much the street homeless increased from 2005 to 2008, this was a figure of 420 people. However when you look at the number of sheltered homeless from 2005 to 2008 it decreased by 2 people and this is an alarming number epically when you consider the idea that the number of homeless people will continue to rise. If this will happen it will mean more people will be on the streets.
This table give you an in depth break down of where the homeless people are located and the percentage increase from 2005 to 2008.
These figures make it obviously how serious a problem this is. With homeless expected to increase even more over the next few years then something has to be done. Not only for the homeless people them selves but also to save Vancouver`s image.
Here are afew interesting facts about the homeless people in Vancouver. Click on a fact to see more information about it.
- Vancouver: 1,547
- Surrey: 386
- New Westminster: 124
- North Shore: 113
- Tri-Cities: 95
- Maple Ridge: 90
- Burnaby: 86
- Langley: 80
- Richmond: 54
- Delta: 17
Click here to view the article.
This article shows exactly how serious a problem homelessness is in Vancouver. It states that there is 1,547 homeless in Vancouver and 2,592 in Metro Vancouver. The shelters are not able to hold any where near this number of people, and this one of the reasons the situation is so desperate.
With the dramatic rise in standard of living in Canada in recent years it is shocking how bad this problem is. I believe it is a classic problem of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. As the porperty prices in Vancouver rise so does the problem of homelessness. Less and less people can afford housing and this is what forces them out onto the streets. This explaines the dramatic rise in homeless people in recent years.
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