If you were wondering where all those homeless people in Vancouver were coming from, I can tell you this: There is no single factor that leads to homelessness more than whether a person spent part of his or her time as a youngster in government or foster care.
Of course there are other reasons why folks find themselves homeless in our city. They may have been released from prisons or jails that don’t care whether they have a home to go to; they could suffer long stays in hospital because of a disability and forfeit whatever housing they have; or they may have been caught in low-paying jobs or on social assistance that provides insufficient resources for them to afford the most meager of dwellings in an increasingly unaffordable market.
Last week’s survey conducted for the Vancouver Foundation considers “facts about foster youth transitioning out of government care in B.C.”
That “transitioning” can happen as early as 16 years of age when the government signs youngsters to a “youth agreement” and they head off to live on their own with some government funding. But by 19, they are out the door. Adios.
Those “facts” provide a good profile of who those youngsters are.
Some 40 per cent of homeless youth have been in foster care at some point in their lives. Of the approximately 8,000 young people in government care, 55 per cent are aboriginal. And 65 per cent of kids in care have been diagnosed with a mental health issue at least once during childhood.
More than two-thirds of youth in care in B.C. will reach age 19 without a high school diploma. Almost half of them will go on income assistance within a few months of their 19th birthday.
They are, for the most part, disasters just waiting to happen.
And, by the way, this year more than 700 youth in care will turn 19, “age out” of the government system and many will join the ranks of the new homeless.
That is why you can understand how the City of Vancouver Homeless staff report can claim a measure of success in dealing with homelessness these past few years even though the number of people in shelters and on the street combined have remained static.
Prior to 2008, the number of homeless people was rising by about 100 a year. Since then, if anything, the drivers of homelessness have only become more intense.
But millions have been spent, not just on shelters but on more permanent homes and the actual number of people living on the street have declined slightly. You can only shudder to imagine what a state we would be in if the city, the province and private sector not-for profits like the Streetohome Foundation, the Vancouver Foundation, Aunt
Leah’s Independent Life Skills Society and Covenant House were not leaning into this problem.
There seems to be a consensus that cutting folks loose at 19 is only asking for trouble. Parents of this generation will tell you it is not uncommon for their children to seek advice and support well into their twenties. B.C. is behind a number of other jurisdictions in Canada and south of the border by expecting 19-year-olds to be able to “transition” effectively.
The Vancouver Foundation survey found parents frequently support their children well beyond 19: “In fact, 80 percent of parents who have 19 to 28 year olds living away from home provide their children with some form of support.”
Yet here is the irony. Vancouver Foundation CEO Kevin McCort says: “The lack of public support to help youth successfully transition out of government care to adulthood suggests we have a higher expectation of young people who have been bounced around the foster care system and forced to make it on their own when they turn 19, than we do for our own children.”
If you are looking for more information on this subject, I refer you to a superb series led by journalist Pieta Woolley in The Tyee called “Fostering Truth.”
But don’t expect this relentless march towards homelessness to go away in a big hurry until more of us insist, as the Vancouver Foundation makes clear, that “young people belong in homes in their community with opportunities to learn, grow and contribute.”
