A lack of affordable housing on the Sunshine Coast has created hidden and relative types of homelessness - people living in tents, cars, boats, leaking and unheated trailers; people crashing on friends' and family's couches; people living in unsafe or vermin-infested housing; and people living in precarious situations, where they may suddenly need to vacate their home.
"It doesn't look like the Downtown Eastside in Sechelt or in Gibsons or in the regional district, but that doesn't mean there aren't issues that people are facing and that there aren't vulnerabilities and risk," said Matt Thomson, research and planning consultant with the Sunshine Coast Community Services Society's homelessness outreach project.
This was one of the key issues highlighted at a well-attended Community Housing Forum, held Nov. 19 at Roberts Creek Community Hall, which focused on the Coast's housing needs and some potential solutions.
Thomson, who presented a needs and strengths assessment of homelessness and risk on the Sunshine Coast, noted that over the past decade, median Coast incomes have risen significantly - by nearly 30 per cent - just between 2003 and 2007. This, he said, has in turn pushed housing prices up and resulted in ever-increasing problems for low-income individuals and families searching for affordable housing.
Seniors housing advocate Sue Jackel spoke about the rising need for supportive housing for the Coast's aging population. She noted that while some supportive housing exists - at Greencourt in Sechelt, for example - it's unlikely to be enough in the near future.
Jackel also highlighted a population of the Coast's seniors who either can't or won't sell their high-value homes, yet are cash poor, with incomes between $20,000 and $40,000.
"We talk about at-risk youth; there are also at-risk oldsters," she said.
This population, she said, will neither be able to afford private pay supportive housing nor qualify for subsidies when they come to need support for meal preparation, laundry and housekeeping. Jackel noted one possible solution to this: an approach called the Beacon Hill Village model, where a group of seniors pay into a kind of co-op that provides support services to their homes.
Homelessness outreach project co-ordinator Jim White spoke about supports that are currently in place for the Coast's homeless population. Currently, he said, the project is serving 35 clients, many of whom have very serious health problems. White said he's currently trying to establish an affordable housing registry of rental housing for under $650 a month. Anyone with housing to list can contact White at 604-865-0624.
Sechelt town planner André Boel talked about recent policies in Sechelt and Gibsons that mandate affordable housing in large new developments. He noted that Sechelt has legalized the construction of secondary suites in single-family homes, but noted there are unauthorized suites all over the Coast that pose a conundrum for local governments: how can they create secondary suite registries to address housing problems without facing liability issues if they don't demand upgrades to or shut down suites that don't meet the building code?
Attendees commented the people with unauthorized suites are unlikely to come forward for White's affordable housing registry for fear of their suites being targeted by bylaw enforcement officers.
But White said he hoped that wouldn't be an issue, given the altruistic goals of the project. And he said that when he comes by to check on a suite for the registry, the needs are basic.
"Sometimes, anything better than a tent," he said.
