TREATMENT BEFORE HOUSING

Drug treatment beds and mental health services - two things homeless
people need before affordable housing according to Maple Ridge Mayor
Gord Robson.

He made the remarks following the release of the Report on the
Homeless in Tri-Cities on Thursday.

The report, conducted by the Hope for Freedom Society (HFFS) and
funded by the Ministry for Employment and Income Assistance, surveyed
the homeless population in Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody
from April to September 2006.

Of the 122 homeless people involved in the survey, it was found that
39 per cent suffer from some form of mental illness, while 86 per
cent experience addictions issues.

Rob Thiessen, managing director for HFFS said the results surprised him.

"The fact that the percentages were as high as they were was a
surprise," he said.

HFFS operates as a drug and alcohol recovery facility, he said, so he
knew the number of homeless people affected by addiction would be
high. But the number living with mental illness, he said, threw him.

"That's about 15-per-cent more than I thought it was." He was also
shocked that the average age of the "typical" homeless person was 43.5 years.

"They are older than I ever would have suspected," Thiessen said.

Thiessen suspects that if a similar survey were conducted in the
downtown Eastside, "I'm sure they would be much younger."

While Thiessen said that it is still "premature" to provide
recommendations on how to attack the homelessness issue, he did admit
the findings show there ought to be priorities set.

"We need more resources, particularly for the mentally ill. Those are
the people I felt the worst for, those are the people that we've abandoned."

And Robson agrees.

In fact, he suggested that those who think throwing affordable
housing at the homeless and upping welfare stipends "are nuts."

"You can't house people who are addicted," Robson said.

To reduce crime, to combat homelessness, he said, the first priority
must be to increase the number of drug treatment beds available.

The report, he added, "confirms everything" done by the Crystal Meth
Task Force.

Affordable housing is a secondary concern, he said, explaining that
until addiction and mental health issues are addressed "everything
else we do is a waste of time."

"Hopefully (the report) will silence the critics."

While Salvation Army Captain Kathy Chiu agrees that more resources
need to be poured into addictions and mental health, she argues that
affordable housing is just as important.

She agrees that for the entrenched homeless, those who have been
living on the street for months and years even, are often plagued
with mental illness and addictions problems.

But they didn't become homeless overnight, she cautions. They had
homes once, too, she said, and families.

"You don't just choose to become addicted and then 'Boom' you're homeless."

Homeless people are there, she said, because so many "bad choices compound."

The "invisible" homeless, those who are couch surfing or sleeping in
their cars, and those who are at risk of becoming homeless, Chiu
explains, often aren't facing the same barriers as those who are
"dumpster diving" and camping out in wooded areas.

It's dangerous to ignore the people who are on the verge of becoming
homeless, Chiu warns, as they will become the next group of street
entrenched people.

"If you have a boat and you have several leaks you're still going to
sink if you don't plug them all," she cautions.

"You can't just plug one leak," and focusing on drug addiction and
mental health to the exclusion of affordable housing doesn't deal
with all the issues facing the homeless.

Thiessen agrees and suggests that the report shows "we can't just be
pendulum swingers," and affordable housing, he said, is important.

But on a list of priorities, he said, it's not at the top of the list.

More treatment beds and help for the mentally ill, he said, ranks No. 1.

Because of the survey, HFFS was able to help get 44 homeless people
off the street, he said. Once their addiction and mental health
issues were dealt with, finding housing wasn't that big of a problem.

"There is a shortage of secondary suites," he said, but the biggest
shortage is in access to resources.

Currently, said Thiessen, it takes four months for a person to be
assessed by a mental health worker.