A minimum of 163 people experienced homelessness in Prince George’s downtown core during March’s Point In Time Homeless Count.
Over half of all who took part in the survey were between the ages of 25 and 44.
Lynn Florey with Community Partners Addressing Homelessness told MyPGNow.com if they expanded their search, even more, the homeless count would be even higher.
“That probably is what worries me the most are all the ones we know we’re not capturing. The ones that are couch surfing potentially or they are just up in the Hart or in College Heights.”
Of those surveyed, 68% of people identified themselves as Indigenous, that’s an 11-point decline (79%) from the 2018 count.
“The vast majority of the people who are on the street accessing social service organizations due tend to be from the Indigenous community and you will find that everywhere you go,” added Florey.
When broken down by gender, 57% of all respondents were men while just 40% identified as female.
Florey added the 400-dollar per month amount through income assistance and other benefits are nowhere near enough to cover rent and utilities for those wanting to get off the street.
“There is nowhere in Prince George where you can get that. There are some really bad places you can get into for that sort of money but it’s not actually somewhere you would want to live.”
“Yes, they have to be able to afford to live in something but at the same time, you also have to make sure that what they are being given is equal to what rents are.”
When asked “How old were you when you first became homeless?”, nearly half of the 115 respondents (47%) said before their 24th birthday.
Respondents to the PiT (Point in Time) survey reported a variety of locations they were spending the night – with 71% accessing a homeless shelter.
In addition, 106 people indicated they had stayed in an emergency shelter over the past year whereas 16 stated they had not.
Main Reasons for not staying in a shelter included:
- Fear for safety
- Turned away (banned)
- Preferred to stay elsewhere friends, family
- Bedbugs and other pests
- Theft of goods
- Turned away (shelters full)
When asked what caused housing loss among our homeless population, 18% of respondents stated not having enough income/unable to pay rent as the biggest reason, while a substance use issue was the next common response at 14%.
In addition, our street population noted some of the problems they experience when trying to find housing.
The top four barriers are as follows:
- Rents too high (24% of people surveyed)
- Low income (19% of people surveyed)
- Discrimination (9% of people surveyed)
- Addiction (9% of people surveyed)
Other key points in the report include 82% of respondents are considered chronically homeless while 4% stated they had served in the Canadian Military or the RCMP.
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