A Downtown Eastside non-profit society with a long history of providing housing and services for low-income people with health and substance use challenges has been chosen to help find homes for people living in Oppenheimer Park.
The PHS Community Services Society has signed a contract with B.C. Housing that also requires the non-profit to identify and work with other homeless people living in the broader Downtown Eastside community.
Tanya Fader, director of housing for the PHS, said the society will serve as a coordinator and work with other housing providers to find homes for the estimated 50 to 60 people who remain in Oppenheimer.
鈥淯ltimately, it would be great if we can get everybody housed,鈥� Fader told the Courier Friday.
鈥淎re we going to be able to do that? I don鈥檛 know. It also depends on really . We know that housing is a health intervention, and we also know that the longer people stay outside, the more risks there are to their health.鈥�
Fader said she wanted to be clear that the PHS is not managing the park, noting that鈥檚 the jurisdiction of the 麻豆传媒映画Park Board, which worked with the City of 麻豆传媒映画and B.C. Housing to hire the society.
鈥淲e鈥檙e there to provide support, connect people with other services, do referrals, help them with paperwork and really try to assess their housing needs, and help people get into shelter, if they鈥檙e amenable to that,鈥� she said.
Fader emphasized the work of assessing people and making efforts to find housing will extend to people living and sleeping in the alleys, alcoves, parks and other areas of the Downtown Eastside.
That population size is difficult to estimate, but previous have shown homelessness is at its greatest in the Downtown Eastside, where many people are living with a mental illness, an addiction, or both.
The hiring of the PHS comes after the city鈥檚 Carnegie Outreach Team and B.C. Housing have worked for more than a year to find housing for people in the park. Over the summer 130 people were moved in to housing.
Asked what the PHS will be able to accomplish that the city and B.C. Housing hasn鈥檛, Fader said 鈥淚 can鈥檛 really speak to anything they鈥檙e doing or not doing, I just know what we鈥檙e doing.鈥�
She said staff working at the park are 鈥渞eally good at building connection, as we do across our services and our housing,鈥� said Fader, noting the society moved more than 30 people from the park into PHS buildings in August 2019.
But at that time, PHS wasn鈥檛 in an official role and not funded to provide supports in the park or the rest of the neighbourhood. Now with a funded contract, the cost of which Fader wouldn鈥檛 reveal, 鈥渕ore boots鈥� can be on the ground in the park and across the neighbourhood, she said.
Fader said many staff already have links with homeless people associated to other PHS programs and have informally brought food and other services to people in the park and neighbourhood.
The society鈥檚 contract with B.C. Housing expires April 1. The park board said in a Jan. 20 news release that its general manager, Malcolm Bromley, maintains the authority to seek an injunction to clear the park 鈥渋f conditions become favourable for such a court decision.鈥�
鈥淚 can clearly state that we are never, and will never be associated with injunctions or the word they used 鈥榙ecampment,鈥欌�� Fader said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not anything to do with us. We鈥檙e just clearly there as a support.鈥�
The PHS manages approximately 20 buildings in 麻豆传媒映画and Victoria, along with two shelters, which house about 1,500 people. The society also manages drug injection sites, needle exchange depots, detox programs, dental care and other health care services.
Fader said there are no vacancies in any of the PHS buildings to house the homeless people in Oppenheimer. She noted there are other homeless people who don鈥檛 want to move into a single-room-occupancy hotel because they have a spouse or want to re-connect with a child.
鈥淓ven if they don鈥檛 fit in our housing spectrum, it doesn鈥檛 mean that we wouldn鈥檛 be helping them with all the paperwork and referrals and all that,鈥� she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a collaborative effort, we just happen to be the ones being the point people to provide that on-the-ground support.鈥�
Fader said the PHS will look for housing outside of Vancouver, if that is what homeless people want. She said people could be looking to reconnect with family or friends and the PHS would make efforts to make that connection.
She noted the cost of housing, however, is an issue, particularly in Vancouver.
鈥淓verybody knows as just a regular renter in this city, it鈥檚 really difficult to find appropriate housing, and so it鈥檚 extra challenging for vulnerable populations,鈥� Fader said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e dealing with people that have very real and valid concerns and wishes for what they want, and we may or may not be able to meet those for whatever number of people.鈥�
@Howellings
