Guess the amount of homeless people in Canada on any given night.
You have 3 chances. Think hard.
The problem worsens as the composition of homelessness changes and grows more diverse. Different from the past when older men compose the majority of the homeless, there has been an increase of homelessness among other groups of the population such as families, youth, Indigenous people, newcomers and members from the LGBTQ community in recent years.
28-34% of the shelter population is Indigenous
Youth make up to 18.7% of the homeless
27.3% of the homeless population are women.
Approximately 2,950 veterans, 2.2% of the shelter population, face homelessness.
The reason why homelessness women and youth are less noticeable is because not all homeless are absolute homeless and must resort to the street. Homelessness can divided into four main categories:
Unsheltered refers to people dwelling on the street or places not intended for living
Emergency Sheltered concerns those residing temporarily in shelters.
Provisionally Accommodated includes those whose housings are temporarily or are without the security of tenure
At Risk of Homeless specify non-homeless individuals whose financial situation is in peril or whose accommodation does not satisfy the health and safety standard.
According to “The State of Homelessness in Canada 2013”, a Homeless Hub research paper, homelessness is a result of three main causes: structural factors, system failures and individual and relational factors. Structural factors are financial and social issues that influence one’s community such as “the lack of adequate income, access to affordable housing and health supports and/or the experience of discrimination”. System failure ensues when policies and various systems such as healthcare institutions, corrections and child welfare fail to support the vulnerable population, leaving them exposed to homelessness. Individual and relational factors encompass all private situations that originate or are originated from homelessness. Unlike most stigmas and stereotypes views of homelessness, vagrancy is not always created by personal factors but numerous other social circumstances and systemic variables. Here are a few examples:
In a study conducted by Dr.Ahajumobi from Walden University, fifteen Canadian participants of various backgrounds who were once homeless are interviewed to share their past experiences and their perspective about homelessness. The following theme emerged.
This is the point of view of a homeless individual. Unwelcomed. Discriminated.
Rejected and ignored. Invisible in the eyes of the public.
Hard to start a new life when every opportunity shuts in front of you.
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