City needs more affordable housing
I’ve been driving up Main Street for 50 years and not seen a change since shelters like Siloam Mission started, someone told me this week.
The person was referring to a scene we’re all too familiar with — panhandlers, homeless people catching some sleep on the sidewalks, mentally unstable folks talking to themselves, intoxicated individuals crossing the street.
I want to put this person’s comment into perspective a little bit.
In 1995, the federal government cut the social housing budget, and for nearly two decades there has been virtually no new affordable housing built.
Over the last 18 years, the provincial government increased shelter allowance for an individual by a whopping $35, setting the total at $285 per month.
If you have ever tried finding an apartment in that price range, you know it’s tough.
According to Housing Vulnerability and Health: Canada’s Hidden Emergency, a study completed by many partners across Canada, there are 17,000 shelter beds nationwide and 400,000 people who would be considered homeless.
Published just three months ago, the study also revealed that for every shelter bed in Canada, there are another 23 people who live with “housing vulnerability.”
These people are in and out of housing or shelters throughout the year.
Bringing it closer to home, there are 426 shelter beds available in Winnipeg.
Although Siloam’s shelter only houses 110, more than 1,6000 different individuals stay there each year. That is a ratio of 1 to 16.
What happens with the other 1,500 on any given night? They might couch surf with family and friends, or live on the street.
Wherever they may find shelter, the real problem is they have no place that is home.
The study also looked at the health of people without a home. Whether they were temporarily staying with friends or family, or had a place of their own for a few months before losing it again, their health did not improve.
More than half — 52% — of the individuals studied reported a past diagnosis of a mental health problem, and one third reported chronic health conditions.
Nearly 40% did not have access to proper health care because of their mental and physical disabilities.
These numbers are shocking; more than half of all homeless people in Canada are mentally ill and nearly half do not get the help they need because they are suffering from depression, bipolar disorder, or other post-traumatic disorders.
That means among the 1,600 Winnipeggers who use Siloam’s shelter at any given time of the year, 800 might be mentally ill and 320 of them might not be receiving the support they need.
From experience, I can say many of them are not even on the prescribed medication they should be on.
Faced with all these circumstances — lack of affordable housing, adequate allowance, proper health care, and proper meds — many people simply give up.
If we are going to gain ground, we must add housing with supports for these people; supportive housing because a reported half of them struggle with mental health issues.
Main Street will continue to look the same — or worse — until there is a place for people to move from shelters.
— Floyd Perras is executive director of Siloam Mission.
