Chilliwack residents attended a public event at UFV's Chilliwack campus to hear Judy Graves, Vancouver’s first and only homelessness advocate, speak about the social and economic costs of homelessness.
Drawing upon her honours thesis on homelessness and public policy, experience in policy and program development and passion for working with marginalized members of our community, Fatima Zaidi talks about what it really takes to end homelessness.
Recording of an interactive live webcast of a theatre performance that addresses issues surrounding homelessness in Vancouver. The play's portrayals are based on real experiences of homelessness and ask questions about what it means to create safe housing in the context of social, substance abuse and mental health issues that often accompany homelessness.
Curio: It’s not something we like to think about but we see it every day no matter where we live: people living on the streets. Now some cities are turning to social and supportive housing developments to deal with the homeless problem. One recently opened in Vancouver but it’s not going over well in the community. Meanwhile, there’s another level of poverty in Canada – the working poor. These people have jobs that pay minimum wage yet they’re barely getting by.
Curio: Does Edmonton have the answer to the homeless crisis? Affordable rental options in Canada were already a scarcity prior to the onset of COVID-19. But the pandemic has increased the housing challenge as more people lose their jobs and government rent benefits run out. As the pandemic drags on, housing experts predict that the number of people living on the streets could rise. There’s one city in Canada that has set out to end homelessness.
In this episode, we’re exploring what it means to be young and homeless. Next, we examine youth homelessness in Canada through the lens of this report, Coming of Age: Reimagining the Response to Youth Homelessness. And we wrap up the podcast with Mary-Jane McKitterick of Eva’s Initiatives.
British Columbia is in the grips of a housing affordability crisis decades in the making, which has been compounded by a poisoned drug supply crisis and by the COVID-19 pandemic.
