Health authority joins city on new task force

By Dan Hilborn
Published Jan. 22, 2005


The Fraser Health Authority has agreed to work with the City of Burnaby to review the impact of homelessness in the city.

"We'd be pleased to partner in an interagency task force to review the homeless situation in Burnaby to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the resources and strategies to support homeless people in Burnaby," health authority spokesperson Simrita Johal-Virk said this week. "We'd be more than happy to co- chair this task force, and the most likely person to do that from a Fraser Health perspective would be the medical health officer for that area."

Johal-Virk said that the authority already provides $32 million to fund housing in the region, however, all of that money is targeted at people with previously identified mental health issues.

"Fraser Health does not provide housing specifically for homeless individuals seeking shelter, however, we do partner with a number of agencies to enable them to develop and run shelters and support recovery homes that are available to mental health and addictions clients," she said.

The agreement to conduct the survey comes more than four years after a Greater Vancouver Regional District study found that found there were large service gaps for the homeless in the region, particularly on the north side of the Fraser River and outside the City of Vancouver.

The study, which is posted on the GVRD website, lists Burnaby, New Westminster and Richmond together as the 'inner municipalities' of the region, which share $771,703 for a 'minimal barrier emergency shelter.' The area comprising Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Anmore and Belcarra received no money for a shelter, however, a shuttle service recently started to bring people from that district to the emergency beds in New Westminster.

By contrast, the study showed that $4.8 million was spent on shelters in Vancouver, $4.25 million was spent on the North Shore, another $3 million was spent in the Fraser South area comprising Delta, Surrey, White Rock and Langley, while $1.3 million was spent on shelter in the Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows area.