Metro Vancouver has seen an overall increase in homelessness, with as much as a 157 per cent jump in areas like the Tri-Cities, according to data released on Tuesday from the 2008 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count.
The 24-hour snapshot shows that more than 2,500 people are homeless in the entire region, an increase of 19 per cent over 2005 data, and a jump of 131 per cent since 2002. The full report outlines the numbers.
The count is conducted every three years by the Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness and utilizes hundreds of volunteers in an effort to track homelessness for policy and planning.
Alice Sundberg, co-chair of the Regional Steering Committee, said this year's count gathered more accurate numbers in the suburbs, "where previously there had been denial that the problem existed outside the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver," she said.
The North Shore saw an increase of 148 per cent since 2005 and Burnaby saw an increase of 103 per cent.
The count canvassed people during the daytime on the streets and at service locations, and at nighttime in emergency shelters, safe houses or transition houses.
Some volunteers were turned away after hundreds of community members signed up to help conduct the count on March 11 across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Vancouver COPE Councillor David Cadman called on city council to act immediately, saying Mayor Sam Sullivan should scrap his Eco-Density policy of massive development in the Downtown Eastside.
"If we continue with rampant condo development in Gastown, Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside, without safeguards, all we're doing is pushing prices up for all and driving people into the streets," Cadman said in a statement.
Former city councillor and longtime housing advocate Ellen Woodsworth called on the province to create more affordable housing.
"Now we are seeing homeless people on Commercial Drive, Kitsilano, the West End and virtually every neighbourhood and in many city parks," said Woodsworth in a statement.
"Meanwhile, the province has a $250 million Housing Endowment Fund sitting unused in the bank," she said.
The count is an undercount by its very nature, officials say, but the data helps to identify trends and get a sense of the demographic group.
The report says an additional 398 people were perceived to be homeless, but were not interviewed because they were either sleeping or refused to be interviewed.
Funding is provided by the federal government's Homelessness Partnership Strategy, the Vancouver Foundation, and United Way of the Lower Mainland.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dag Sharman
