seven solution to homeless people
Seven solution for homeless people
-Idea One: Trade Fairs for the Homeless
Ask any homeless person why they are living on the street, and one theme will inevitably emerge: they were unable to navigate the maze of programs and procedures intended to help. In addition to information about every short- and long-term housing program available in the city, Project Homeless Connect provided clothing, shoes, free phone calls, counselling, medical treatment, dental care, eye exams and glasses, benefits information, government identification cards, and more. There was live music, free food, and, yes, even secure valet parking for shopping carts, so that clients could wander the aisles without fear of having their few possessions stolen.
-Idea Two: Raise the Welfare Rates
You don't need another study to know most people become homeless when they can't pay their rent.
It's cheaper -- not to mention more humane -- to help people pay their rent rather than rescue them after they fail. The majority of Vancouver's homeless are on welfare. Taxpayers could spare themselves that $40,000-a-year in street services if the province would cough up a couple hundred dollars a month to cover the gap between what welfare pays and what it costs to rent an apartment.
Raise the Rates advocates raising welfare rates by 50 per cent and indexing them to inflation (the way MLA salaries are indexed). Also: ending barriers to getting on income assistance, and raising minimum wage to at least $10 an hour. Data compiled by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that raising welfare rates by 50 per cent would cost only about one-sixth of B.C.'s recent budget surplus.
-Idea Three: Train Young Workers
Those with the highest risk of becoming homeless are young adults recently discharged from institutions such as jail or foster care. Lacking even basic employment skills, a terribly high percentage of them wind up on the streets.
Even day labour can be hard to get for people
-Idea One: Trade Fairs for the Homeless
Ask any homeless person why they are living on the street, and one theme will inevitably emerge: they were unable to navigate the maze of programs and procedures intended to help. In addition to information about every short- and long-term housing program available in the city, Project Homeless Connect provided clothing, shoes, free phone calls, counselling, medical treatment, dental care, eye exams and glasses, benefits information, government identification cards, and more. There was live music, free food, and, yes, even secure valet parking for shopping carts, so that clients could wander the aisles without fear of having their few possessions stolen.
-Idea Two: Raise the Welfare Rates
You don't need another study to know most people become homeless when they can't pay their rent.
It's cheaper -- not to mention more humane -- to help people pay their rent rather than rescue them after they fail. The majority of Vancouver's homeless are on welfare. Taxpayers could spare themselves that $40,000-a-year in street services if the province would cough up a couple hundred dollars a month to cover the gap between what welfare pays and what it costs to rent an apartment.
Raise the Rates advocates raising welfare rates by 50 per cent and indexing them to inflation (the way MLA salaries are indexed). Also: ending barriers to getting on income assistance, and raising minimum wage to at least $10 an hour. Data compiled by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that raising welfare rates by 50 per cent would cost only about one-sixth of B.C.'s recent budget surplus.
-Idea Three: Train Young Workers
Those with the highest risk of becoming homeless are young adults recently discharged from institutions such as jail or foster care. Lacking even basic employment skills, a terribly high percentage of them wind up on the streets.
Even day labour can be hard to get for people