There seem to be increased concerns regarding the homeless population in Prince George as the pandemic persists.
According to a new survey from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, five percent of Canadians have been homeless while another 31% know someone who has.
That five percent translates to about 1.6 million Canadians.
In April of 2018, a Point In Time Homeless Count was conducted in the northern capital.
Some of the notable findings included:
- 45% of participants had been in foster care
- 34% first became homeless before their 18th birthday
- 79% identified themselves as Indigenous
- 48% of respondents were between the ages of 25-44
Kerry Pateman with the Community Partners Addressing Homelessness told MyPGNow.com access to food and affordable housing remains an issue.
“We know that the people accessing food banks looking for food has always been there and may have a job or home but if they have lost either then yes, they will be struggling to pay rent and keep their housing.”
She added PG is seeing some new trends when it comes to the homeless population.
“People that may have been staying with friends or family have not been able to stay there. The casual people that we’re staying with people on a temporary basis are perhaps more visible.”
Pateman mentioned another homeless count was scheduled locally in April but ended up being postponed due to the pandemic.
However, some different options are being mulled over on how to best proceed.
“We will be discussing what we should be doing and with the Reaching Home federal funding we will be talking about how we move forward whether we conduct another count in April of 2021 or whether we look at other means of assessing homelessness in Prince George.”
In addition, Pateman applauded the efforts being made by the province and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness since COVID-19 began.
“We need to do better and I think during the pandemic there’s been a variety of progress made on how to house people in BC and I think we need to continue that and realize housing is essential.”
“We definitely support the work the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness is doing in urging the federal government to put back in place some significant policies around dealing with homelessness. Listening to their results, it indicated that we know some of the changes made by Ottawa in the 90’s that really impacted people’s ability to maintain their housing.”