This infographic represents some of the public perspectives on homelessness in Greater Victoria. In this survey, 85% of people felt that affordable housing could help reduce homelessness, however, lack of affordable housing wasn’t listed in the top 5 causes of homelessness.
The high ranking of mental health in the perceived causes made me reflect on my own experiences and perceptions of mental health. As we showed in the earlier infographic on homelessness and mental health, there is certainly a connection. I wondered what conditions would it take for me to lose access to safe housing? If everyone in my household lost their sources of income and loan sources dried up, how long would I have before I couldn’t afford safe housing? Unfortunately, it can be much quicker than some people think.
During my undergraduate degree at Ryerson University I took a course on homelessness in Canadian society that was taught by Tanya Gulliver and Pascal Murphy. During one of the early classes, we were discussing the definitions of homelessness. A few people in the class had ‘couch surfed’ or stayed with friends due to a temporary lack of access to housing. Those who had, didn’t identify themselves as having experienced homelessness. Mental illness is fairly prevalent in Canada; surely some of those students had various hidden disabilities. However, they wouldn’t necessarily have said that their mental illness was the cause of their lack of housing. Other reasons that they were without housing included:
- low rental vacancy rates
- having to leave substandard housing
- they were ‘between places’
- lack of available affordable housing
It is difficult to explain that there is certainly a connection between homelessness and mental health. However, even if someone has a mental illness it wasn’t necessarily a cause of his or her homelessness.
With social support someone may have access to a temporary place to stay. Without support, those same people may be forced to access emergency services or sleep outside. This infographic does a great job at presenting some of the basic public perceptions of homelessness.
Despite the one major problem with public perception, there are several positive findings:
- 2 of 3 people surveyed thought it would cost more to provide someone with services when they are experiencing homelessness, than it does to provide housing.
- 59% believed that homelessness can be ended.
- 84% agree that affordable housing is the government’s responsibility.
I will end this blog post with another quote from the Coalition to End Homelessness in Greater Victoria.
“Anyone can become homeless in the current economic conditions. Homelessness is not a static state but rather a fluid experience, where one’s shelter circumstances and options may shift and change quite dramatically and with frequency. Experiences of homelessness are unique and each individual or family will have a story about their pathways into and out of homelessness.”
