Outreach funding to run out

By Dan Hilborn
Published May 20, 2006


Funding for Burnaby's lone homeless outreach worker will run out in less than three weeks, at a time when local service agencies are finding an increased need for that kind of service.

Lynn Wood, executive director of the Progressive Housing Society, said she is desperately seeking a new source of funding for the worker, who has been busy for the past year compiling statistics and providing help to people who are either living on the street or at risk of becoming homeless.

"As soon as our outreach worker started her job, the need for her work increased exponentially," Wood said. "It is frustrating. We've got to the point where people are convinced there is a problem, but we need to find the right agency to help us fund this."

The outreach worker position was funded by a special grant from the Fraser Health Authority as part of its commitment to the Burnaby homelessness task force. But that temporary funding is not available after next month, and a recent application to the federal crime prevention action fund for replacement money was unsuccessful.

Progressive Housing has also sent a funding application to the B.C. community health association, which has some money available for homeless outreach services, and, failing that, the society will likely apply to the B.C. Gaming Commission and other non-profit funders, such as the United Way and Vancity Foundation, for assistance.

Wood said recent statistics compiled by Patricia Pedersen, who has been Burnaby's homeless outreach worker since last October, show that the need for services has risen dramatically ever since the community learned she was available to help.

Since last October, Pedersen has been in contact with 160 clients, including 56 children in 25 families, all of whom either live on the street or are at risk of becoming homeless.

Those numbers are substantially greater than the 40 homeless people who listed Burnaby as their city of residence during the Lower Mainland's most recent official homeless count in March 2005 and substantively more than the 17 people who listed themselves as homeless in Burnaby in 2002.

The demand is so great, Burnaby could probably use the services of "three or four" outreach workers around the city, plus a resource centre where people could get a daily meal, showers, use of a computer and referrals to other agencies, Wood said.

In fact, Wood said that Pedersen has been so busy in the Edmonds neighbourhood, in the southeast quadrant of the city, that she has been unable to look into what level of help or services might be needed in the other three corners of Burnaby.

The total cost of the outreach worker's position is about $80,000, of which less than $50,000 covers the worker's salary and benefits. The remaining money would pay for travel costs for the worker and for her clients to access services in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, bus passes for clients and occasionally food.

Wood also said she has been pleasantly surprised by the substantial donations of household items and clothing that have been brought to the society since their work became public. "We've kitted up whole families with furnishings and clothing," she said.

Southside Community Church has also stepped forward with an offer of space for the homeless resource centre and a further offer of assistance for outreach services to the multicultural community, Wood said.

And while Wood was happy to see the Burnaby Alliance Church open an emergency homeless shelter during the coldest days of last winter, she said that service was only offered with about three hours' notice, which was not adequate to bring people indoors.

"With homeless people, you have to build a level of trust over a significant period of time," she said. "You can't just drive up in a van at 10 o'clock at night and ask them to come with you to an emergency shelter.

"They have to regularly come to a location to feel comfortable."

Wood said her society and the homeless task force have been studying the various aspects of homelessness for more than a year and they should be ready to develop a formal service plan in the near future. The only thing lacking is money, she said.

"We've made significant headway in the past year and I'd hate to see it lost. We are very Burnaby-focused and that is the best thing possible," she said.