85 Million for Homeless
photo credit: Laura Grace
According to this Globe and Mail article, the government will be spending another $85 million on helping the homeless with shelters – and this is only the amount listed and doesn’t include welfare already given (average $969/person), or existing project costs.
So let’s say conservatively they are spending $100 million on new projects.
Divide this by the estimated number of homeless in the east side – 2,592 – according to this count.
This works out to $40,000 per person.
Average salary in Vancouver = $51,628 (family).
Interesting…
The average Canadian spends $11,200 a year on housing. Government-run supportive housing where residents get social services, such as counseling costs $28,000 a year.
You’d think that with the kind of money they throw at the problem, there would be a decline in homelessness…
You’d be wrong.
In the US, homelessness has been in decline. The number of chronically homeless people living in the nation’s streets and shelters has dropped by about 30 percent — from 175,914 to 123,833 — from 2005 to 2007.
The US project called “Housing First” is working… I’m hoping that Vancouver is going in this direction.
Vancouver is doing at lot in preparation for the Olympics – hiding the embarassment of the homeless situation seems to be top priority now.