A little research, PLEASE. This means you, Catherine Holt, Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce CEO and author of an opinion piece in the Victoria, B.C. Times Colonist.
You have us in the palm of your hand with your headline: Catherine Holt: Non-Market Housing is Essential. Excellent! We at affordablehousingaction.org salute you.
But how far from our admiration you fall after only a few short paragraphs!
For some reason, it comes into your head to compare affordable housing to homelessness. Guess what? One is a housing condition, the other is a human condition. They don’t directly compare.
But Ms. Holt, you plow on regardless with an (entirely unnecessary) definition of homelessness. “Homelessness is a difficult set of issues . . .”
So far so bad. What’s difficult about homelessness? It’s a condition of not having a home. Over 1,500 people without homes were counted in the most recent Victoria Point-in-Time survey, which took place in March 2018.1
But anyway, on to the heart of the ignorance: . . .”Homelessness is a difficult set of issues that surround mental illness and addictions . . .”
Well, thank you, Ms. Holt. We see where you’re coming from, and we’re not impressed. Yes indeed, that topless man blocking traffic in the rain while shouting insults at passers-by was pretty scary, and we sympathize with how quickly you fled the scene. Absolutely no doubt he has issues.
But Ms. Holt, is this your take on homelessness, to the point of suggesting “nothing to see here about affordable housing, let’s move on?” Well in that case, we’re afraid you are most profoundly misinformed.
To begin with, you are focused upon the visible part of homelessness, the tip of an ever-growing iceberg, a mere handful of people you may occasionally encounter on the streets. On the night of the Point-in-Time count, the number of unsheltered people was 232, only 15% of the people who were counted.
And on that subject, while we’re contemplating the small handful of the visible homeless, what on earth gives you the idea that they all have mental illness or an addiction?
These days, homelessness can be a sensible survival solution. Perhaps you didn’t notice an article published this year about your bigger noisier neighbour on the mainland — Vancouver. The annual neighbourhood challenge to eat for a week at public social assistance levels was cancelled this year. Why?
Because the organizers determined that after paying for housing and other life necessities, it was not possible for anybody under any circumstances to eat for a week on the remaining money. Read more in the The Free Press: Welfare Food Challenge Cancelled As Rent Rates Leave $5.75 Per Week For Food
In Victoria’s Point-in-Time count, the income of a third of the people surveyed was disablity pension. Social assistance accounted for the income of another third. In this environment, homelessness may not be either mental illness or addiction, but a simple practical decision to live on the streets or in shelters rather than starve to death.
On to shelters, as well as other forms of temporary housing. This is where a large, largely invisible and unfortunately increasing number of homeless people hang out. The majority in the Victoria Point-in-Time count, 909, were provisionally accommodated in transitional housing, treatment facilities, correctional institutions, motels or staying temporarily with family or friends. The counters are very confident that 909 is an undercount.
Have you heard about the growing numbers of homeless children, who are quite likely to be neither addicts nor burdened with mental health issues? And what about the working homeless, who live in shelters because their jobs don’t pay enough for a private home? Fully 30% of the people who participated in the Victoria Point-in-Time survey were working. However, their income was not enough to afford housing.
Do these folks belong in mental hospitals or drug rehab clinics? In the Point-in-Time survey, some (and they are more likely to be under 25) reported that they needed mental health supports. They may indeed need mental health supports, but they, too, belong in homes. Living on the streets is clearly a health problem in itself. The incidence of mental illness goes up when people become homeless.
Ms. Holt, just from your personal CV we understand that your business advocacy may feature wonderful public/private partnerships that will create a certain flavour of ‘affordable’ housing for the middle class. (That’s the flavour of affordability which the housing industry likes to build when tasty subsidies are available.) We fully understand that there’s not enough of this ‘missing middle’ housing and there needs to be more of it built.
And even though the jury’s out (well OUR jury anyway) on how successful public/private partnerships really are, we recognize that private industry and free housing markets are a fixture of democratic society. One way or another, we understand that private housing construction and finance will continue its long and distinguished service to the housing needs of nations around the world.
So, Ms. Holt, we were more or less with you from the start, most particularly if your interests are not specifically aligned with the housing industry, but with the interests of all area businesses and their need for a solid work force.
Until . . you decided to make it an either-or issue. You mischaracterize and set apart needs of people who are homeless, and by extension a much greater population of citizens who are rapidly approaching the prospect of homelessness as they become increasingly burdened by the cost of housing. This group is not included in the Point-in-Time count, but the Canadian Census reports on households with high housing costs. In 2016, 28.5% of Victoria’s households (46,381) were paying more than 30% of their before tax income for housing.
Ultimately, your city needs both ‘missing middle’ housing, as well as what is often described as ‘social rent’ housing for low wage workers, the disabled, seniors, etc.
So should we put your blinkered dismissal of homeless and near-homeless people down to housing industry cronyism? Or lack of research on the issue?
We prefer to think it is a lack of research.
And we most certainly don’t want to stand in the way of you speaking for yourself and your affordable housing advocacy in the Victoria Times Colonist: Catherine Holt: Non-Market Housing Is Essential
Sadly, Ms. Holt, we quit reading after your entirely unnecessary misrepresentation and dismissal of homeless people, and by extension, those in danger of becoming homeless.
If only we had continued, we would no doubt have been suitably impressed by your observations about the city’s economy, which is affected by the lack of affordable housing. Also, by your advocacy for non-market housing and doubts that simply building more luxury housing will trickle affordability down to the middle class anytime soon.
All right, we’ll admit it. We didn’t quit reading. And we were impressed. Just wish you hadn’t shot yourself in the foot so early in your opinion piece, though.
Footnotes
- The Point-in-Time report includes the number of unsheltered and temporarily sheltered people who are homeless. It also reports information about who is experiencing homelessness and what factors contribute to experiences of homelessness. See the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness: Everyone Counts
