The extent of the homeless situation in the Harbour City will become clearer in the coming weeks thanks to a nationwide survey initiated by the federal government.
Nanaimo was among a handful of communities across Canada that participated in the country’s first-ever co-ordinated Point-in-Time Homeless Count on Tuesday. Organized by the federal government, the count, referred to as a PiT Count, is designed to give communities and the nation as a whole a much better understanding of the homeless situation by surveying those who are living on streets, staying at shelters and in short-term housing.
Held at Neutral Zone on Franklyn Street, dozens of volunteers from various organizations including United Way and the Nanaimo Homeless Coalition provided the homeless with free meals, haircuts and goodie bags filled with toiletries. Those who completed the survey were given a free pair of socks and anyone who identified themselves as being homeless was counted. A team of volunteers also went out into the community to identify homeless people.
John Horn, co-chairman of the Nanaimo Homeless Coalition and social planner for the City of Nanaimo, said the questions on the survey are designed to give city planners accurate demographical information so they provide better services in the future.
“We want to know if the number of homeless individuals has gotten larger than it used to be. Has it gotten smaller or has it stayed the same and what does that mean?” Horn said. “We only ask people, ‘what community did you come from last?’ Because we want to get a sense of if people are coming from the mainland or are they coming here from Victoria or the Vancouver Island community.”
Timothy Manson, 46, was among the homeless people who completed the survey at Neutral Zone. Manson, who has fetal alcohol syndrome, has been homeless for the past five months and has been staying at various shelters throughout the city.
“It’s been a rough going,” Manson said.
Among the countless problems and obstacles for homeless people is the lack of access to wireless Internet. Manson said it isn’t as simple as showing up at a Starbucks and logging on.
“Some places have Wi-Fi but in order to do that they want me to purchase their product,” he said.
The City of Nanaimo has conducted homeless counts between 2005-08. Horn said he isn’t expecting any significant changes in the demographic profile for this year’s count, adding that the majority of homeless people have been in Nanaimo for years.
“What we are seeing is about 12 years residency in the city,” Horn said. “There is a rumour that people are coming here fresh from some cities, but that is not exactly the case. We are finding that a lot of the people that are using the services here have been here for awhile.”
Results from the PiT Count will be made available to the public in the coming weeks.