Homeless in Abbotsford, BC

Homeless Press Report

(HP) Abbotsford, BC

In a supremely ironic twist of fate it would appear that the wrong group was worried about the honesty of their new neighbours. Over the past several days the residents of Compassion Park have suffered the theft of several valuable and needed items. These items were of a large enough size that they could not have been removed through the Park unto Highway 11 without the residents seeing the thief. The only path the thief (thieves) could have used to enter and exit unseen is via the residential neighbourhood adjacent to Compassion Park. Thus it seems that the residents of this adjacent neighbourhood should not have been nearly as concerned about theft and the honesty of their new neighbours in Compassion Park as they (and obviously the residents of the Park) should have been/be concerned about the honesty of their old neighbours in their residential suburb.

Here is an Idea...

I was sitting listening to a lunch time conversation at the Salvation Army between two women. One woman was trying to convince the other, X, to see the advocate at community services about getting help infilling out all the forms needed for Social Assistance. I have known X for sometime and while she is a nice person she is not capable of handling all the forms and documents required to get welfare – and the workers are certainly not about to help her. I am not sure the advocate will do it all for you, just that he/she should as X is not alone in her inability to complete the application for welfare – filling out the forms, gathering documents (ID, Intent to Rent etc) and handling any other requirements social assistance demands. This is a service that community services should be providing since there are numerous among the homeless who are not capable of doing it for themselves. If such help is available they need to get the fact that this help exists out into homeless community so that those who need help can find someone to complete the complex set of documents the social assistance bureaucracy demands.

But a more interesting idea/thought occurred. It does not matter if this help exists since X is highly unlikely to go to community services. No, I have expressed my thoughts incorrectly – X is not likely capable of getting herself to community services. For some of the homeless even seeking out the help available to try to deal with the system is beyond their ability to do. As I looked around the dining room I realized that this is the type of place where these types of services need to reach out to. Having a community services building full of people, offices and help is all very nice for those who can find out what services are available and access those services. But what about those who cannot find out what is offered, or perhaps even worse, cannot get to community services to access the help? We have ‘Meals on Wheels’ why not ‘Information/Help on Wheels’.

It seems a rational and effective use of resources to ensure that those most in need get all the help they can from community services. I can think of no good reason not to have somebody who can answer questions on what is available perform outreach by such actions as attending lunch at the salvation army, visiting other venues that attract a crowd draw from the ranks of the homeless etc. Further, the services available could not be occasionally available at locations convenient to those in need.

In this way people who need help but are (for whatever reason) incapable of seeking it out will have a opportunity to get the help they so desperately need. Perhaps the real benefit of this approach is that by getting out into the ‘field’ the people at community services would be getting direct feedback on the needs of the homeless community – communication: the first step in understanding and addressing what is needed. This seems to simple and obvious to experiment with, why not?

What Next?

OK. The City has concluded that homelessinabbotsford.com were correct, it is pointless to chase the homeless from place to place within the city. They have begun consultations to decide on a location for the homeless to camp. As long as all parties involved remember to THINK, be courteous, and willing to compromise they should be able to work it out. Still, while deciding on a location grants this group a breathing space and some stability in their day-to-day lives, it leaves them camping out. More important a decision on where these people may camp affects only a relative few of Abbotsford’s homeless and does not address many pressing issues nor does it address getting off the streets and into a more structured lifestyle. So, (for those who e-mail and pose these questions) what do I want to do, suggest be done or see done?

I want to open the Locus of Dawn. ??? It will be a 24-hour drop in centre for the homeless, the poor, the lonely and the volunteer. The mission statement of the centre is in its name:

Locus: n.
1: a locality; a place;
2: A center or focus of great activity or intense concentration
3: The set or configuration of all points that satisfy specific conditions

Dawn: n.
1: a first appearance; a beginning;
2: an opening time period;
3: the earliest period;

v.
1: become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions;
2: To begin to be perceived or understood;

For some it will be a place for people to come to begin their journey. These journeys could be to goals such as housing, employment or addiction treatment. For some it will be a place for it to enter their minds, and for it to become clear, that they need to make some changes. For the community and others involved, it is a place to begin to perceive and understand all the facets of homelessness, poverty and addiction. It will provide a focus for the great activities needed to begin to help people move from homeless to employment and society. As a separate locality the centre’s concentration will be on its particular mission – the homeless, there will be no other groups (youth, families etc.) to divert it from its single-minded focus and concentration on address the needs of the homeless community. Although those who have a need that the centre can meet as part of its daily services provided to the homeless community would be welcomed as long as it does not detract from the mission to meeting the needs of the homeless. The centre needs to have a varied set (or configuration) of points (services, knowledge, contacts, et al) satisfying specific conditions (for each differing destination).

What do I envision this centre providing? ***

• Coffee; a location for church groups who wish to serve food (lunches or evenings); to ensure that a supper of some sort is available daily; a place to collect and distribute clothing, bedding, etc. a place that interested groups can use to distribute to the homeless and poor


• mail boxes, telephones for phone access, industrial washers and dryers, shower facilities, washrooms, storage lockers, computer access, internet access, email addresses and access


• résumés, cover letters, job hunting help and support, dressing & grooming for job hunting and interviews, liaising with the business community to build bridges and a portfolio of work available, job referrals


• liaison and or out reach point for services available from governments, churches, community services, treatment facilities, recovery houses, addiction counselling


• coordinating point among all the stakeholders, mediation between various stakeholders, recruiting of groups to provide goods, services, food, support and volunteers


• leadership and advocacy on questions, problems, ideas and on issues in conflict.


• housing issues: desperate need for more longer-term emergency shelter beds; transitional housing; subsidized housing; BC housing issues


• liveable social assistance levels - $850.00; lobbying local MLAs John van Dongen and Mike de Jong on assistance levels, grants and funding for programs to address the needs to reduce homelessness.


• working with our local MP Ed Fast to secure federal funding not just on the homeless issues but from funds for issues affecting the homeless such as employment, education, training, wage subsidies


• out reach to those who cannot seek out services, employment, housing, medical treatment, mental health help etc. on their own

***Heed: subject to revision without notice to incorporate any good ideas and suggestions.

This is only a beginning list of services and goals because it is my intention the centre always be a work-in-progress. That it be constantly experimenting, adjusting, adding and (were necessary) dropping offerings, always changing always flexible.

It is ambitious. More so because I see as part of the centre’s gestalt that it will need to show leadership on other pressing needs eg: the need for longer-term ‘emergency’ shelter or for reform of the provincial social ‘assistance’ system. (topics for future writings).

Based upon my own up close and personal experiences it is my considered opinion that a centre of this type is the most effective and efficient way to begin to address the many varies needs of the (extremely varied) homeless community. It will provide a focal point to co-ordinate and facilitate services. In the course of being homeless I have come into contact with many good people. To some of them it would provide an ideal job, their skills, education, experiences and personalities making them suitable to help accomplish the centre’s goals. For others the centre would be an anchor point for them to fan out from in reaching out to those on the streets not yet ready to come to the centre and start their journey off of the streets. Thus, when they are ready, someone is in contact and there to help and guide them in starting their journey, with the centre and its resources there to provide support and other needs. Still others feed and clothe the homeless. The centre would provide co-ordination with these people and groups to ensure that we maximize the benefits to the homeless from the food, bedding and clothing provided. The centre would also be reaching out to others to fill the gaps of the unmet needs.

It may be ambitious but … if we can bring the City council and staff, the Churches, the volunteers, the business community and the citizens of Abbotsford on board and get them involved, we can accomplish this. In addition, with the community solidly involved we can draw in the provincial and federal governments to do their part in addressing these needs.

It may not be easy; it may not be smooth or neat and tidy. It will require and demand vision, hard work, passion and stubbornness – but it can be done.

No, it will be done.

FIAT

Excerpts from a letter:

This is from a letter written to Fred Johns the editor of www.somethingcool.ca

Eviction. That is why street hope is totally closing down its location. Apparently the manager of the building got surrounding business people to call in and complain to the police about what was going on. That way there was reason for eviction. Now, this is only second hand but it makes sense and I trust the source such that I would pass it on to you as fact.

Dave had been planning to change his focus more to getting out into the streets and into the faces and lives of those who need help. Build a relationship, help them deal with the system and when they were ready get them into treatment. Actually he still is planning to do this as not having a building will not affect his plans. He is starting his course for volunteers (10 weeks) next week. But it affects other groups who were using the Street Hope location to help feed the hungry and those who were to take over for the group behind street hope on Thursday and Friday. As more local church groups had become aware of the need for evening food (especially during the winter cold and wet) some had started using street hope to serve food – and for some to share the word. There now is no location to use in the evenings. No place to get in out of the weather, dry out and warm up, get some food, touch base with others, get news on where any special
breakfasts or such were to be served.

I am not totally sure what the effect total effect will be on me. I do know that I am going to have some hunger as a result. I had started training for a job weeks ago, but the cash flow always lags, at work there is no way to make the Sally Ann or other places for food so I was very dependent on Street Hope for food four days a week. I could manage to purchase something the other three but there was no way to afford to feed myself seven days a week. So I expect the closing of street hope to lead to a lot of empty bellies and hungry people. I also expect it to cause a lot of cold dirty people as street hope passed out bedding, sleeping bags, clean socks, footwear, clothes and outerwear. You know, the kind of things that help keep people who live homeless alive at this time of year.

Those types of services are gone. No longer available. Hopefully, before the
end of February and eviction day something will be worked out. As I said
more local church groups have become aware of the need for some kind of food
in the evenings. There is one that uses the church bus to bring hot soup and sandwiches to the homeless or the hungry poor as well. They also have some
clothes and bedding. But the nice thing about street hope was you could get in out of the weather, warm up and enjoy your food a little more.

The answer to the question as to effect or making up services is “I have no
idea”. In the short term I expect things not to go well, but with more local
church groups involved and starting to co-ordinate (at least about street hope through dave) and them being considering this action not very
Christian the long term outcomes could be beneficial. But when you are homeless “short term pain for long term gain” is a nice concept – but with your pain levels already overflowing your really do not need any more. Part of the situation is that currently there is a major push on by the city (on behalf of the downtown merchants association) to drive the homeless out of downtown. As I have written (oops, may have held that one unposted for an emergency – IV antibiotics, lack of lucid argument). Anyway I consider it pointless. But it has driven some people out of this area. You could see the effects at street hope in few people in the evening – travelling very far in the night and weather is not done by the homeless. So some homeless had already started to have problems getting to these charity services. Instead of being constructive (co-ordinate the churches efforts and that of others, a few programs aimed at getting them into rehab, or coordinating programs and resources available to help people like me, looking for work in making local connections or numerous other little actions) abbotsford has chosen to be destructive in following a ‘persecution’ course of action. As I advocate I believe that being constructive would actually accomplish a few things, and if the city can afford to waste all those dollars on its current
course accomplishing nothing but dispersing the homeless to new neighbourhoods I think there is funds available (or funds to be save and used) for
actually getting something out of the money spent,

I need to end and rest. Hoping the above is semi lucid and rational (reality seems much more real today)

A Start.

It is good to see that the Mayor chose to meet with those camping in the woods across the road from the News. He and council have decided that the policy of forcing them to move, when they have no place to move to, does not make sense. So they are talking to the homeless who are camped there, to city staff, each other and members of the community to come up with a better solution. In the meantime they plan to leave people camped there in peace. My understanding is that the City will be evaluating what would be the best location to designate for the homeless to set up shelter on. Should the current location be judged to be unacceptable and the people camped there asked to move that is fine, as long as a location has been chosen for them to move to.

The good thing is that, as a place to start addressing the social problems of homelessness and poverty, this is a relatively neat and tidy issue to resolve. It always builds confidence when you can start off with a ‘doable’ situation. My hopes and goals are to take advantage of the current dialogue to get the City to see, think about and address some of the pressing other needs the homeless and poor have. As strange as it may sound at this time of the year to be thinking of this, winter is coming and we need to start planning and preparing now for the coming wet and cold. While the City is seeking to give the homeless who are camping a place so they can get some stability into their lives, it is also the time to think about what we need to put in place to help them transition out a camp and into society. These same facilities and services will help in addressing the needs of all the other homeless (do not forget that those at the camp are only a small part of the homeless population of Abbotsford). If thought out, planned and implemented properly these services and the facilities that deliver them should hopefully also be able to address some of the needs of the working poor and those living in poverty in our community.

As I said it is good they started with a relatively easy task because these pressing needs are more complex and addressing them is going to be tricky. Not impossible, but tricky. Requiring flexibility, a willingness to experiment, a willingness to fail, superb people skills, mediation among all the varied interests and parties involved … and many others as well. But I feel the three biggest things needed to successfully begin to tackle this situation is stubbornness, Ideas and lots of help and support form the community. This is not a nice easy situation to address, with nice easy solutions. It is going to be complex and messy. At times it is only by putting your head down and plodding on, by bulling your way through the obstacles that you can continue to move forward. Complex, messy, no easy solutions – these types of problems and situations demand interesting and new ideas, if people actually knew what to do … but we don’t and need Ideas. This need for new approaches and ideas is one of the things needed from the community. We need the community to get behind and support the work to be done to begin to reduce homelessness in Our Community.

I see signs that now is the time for taking action. The Mayor and Council are starting to look at addressing the homeless camp issue. As they learn more about the situation and what it means to be homeless, they will become aware of all the other needs that require attention to help not just those at the camp but all the homeless. Through the council we can reach out to the community, the churches, the businesses and community organizations and groups. The most heartening sign that now is a time for DOING not talking is the reaction of the citizens of Abbotsford to the picture in the Saturday April 8, 2006 Abby News of the Bylaw (law unto themselves) officers taking down the signs. I have heard many reports of people stopping by to drop of food, clothing and bedding. It seems that the community awareness of the homeless as people in need of their help is growing. With the overwhelming need of the community’s help and support in working on reducing the homeless on the streets of Abbotsford, this generosity is a sign of the community willing to come on board. For we need the community to provide political pressure on the politicians (municipal, provincial and federal) to act. We need new and innovative ideas from the community about how we tackle the many and varied needs. We need the people to get their churches, organizations, clubs, friends, family, family pets and companies behind this push. Yes, we will need financial support. But just as or even more important is the community involvement through volunteering their time, ideas, food, clothing, bedding even a location to work out of. As I said this is a complex problem with many ways for the members of the community to contribute to address, bit by bit and piece by piece, the problem labelled homelessness – and hopefully have a positive effect on some of the needs of the working poor and l those living in poverty.

So let us come together and start. Besides I badly need to do some laundry and am quite willing to drag people, kicking and screaming, into getting a facility that would provide me the ability to do laundry. But what that facility should also include is for another (the next) time.

IF only,


“Are we serious about social planning or is this lip service?” asked Coun. Lynne Harris. “I would like to see some real action taken”

Only one person out of all the members of council and the city administration seems able to see the Real World and what is taking place on the streets and in the social structure of our City. In the same article about the social planners report the reporter writes: “but there will be no quick fix to cure some of the problems highlighted." Evidence, based on the experience that the city uses lip service not action to address social problems, suggests that no real actions will be taken in spite of councillor Harris’s expressed desire to actually act on these social problems.

Since last year the refrain from the City has been ‘we will act as soon as the Social Planner reports on what we need to do.’ I do not know about you but to me this says the Social Planner was suppose to actually do some planning, not write a report with a long list of social ills and conclude this pressing issue needs more procrastinating than the years of no action, ‘DOH, what problem?’ the city has already wasted in permitting the situation to grow and fester into a mountain. One can only wonder how many more ‘Planning Reports’, how many years of ‘study’, how much more lip service and what other excuses the ‘recommended’ Social Sustainability Advisory Committee will come up with over the coming years and decades for taking no action.

Social planner Jodi-Lyn Newnham did get one thing correct when she wrote “What will differentiate Abbotsford from other communities is how we choose to respond.” As was clear from the statistics cited on the CBC Canada Now report of April 5, 2005 about the website www.homelessinabbotsford.com and the social situation in Abbotsford, all other cities are achieving some successes in addressing their social ills. Of course they are actually facing their responsibilities and needs and taking action on them. Abbotsford has definitely differentiated itself from other communities in choosing to respond by sitting around paying lip service to the problem instead of acting and improving the social situation as other communities have done. Something for the City council and administration, together with the citizens they represent, to be proud of?

The Ottawa Manifesto
Regarding Poverty And Homelessness

Manifesto Site

a copy of the manifesto is on the Meditations on the Spirit page, just click on the link to the right.

New faces...

…lots of new faces. At one point in February 2006 the dining room at the Salvation Army was only half full at lunch. In fact they started leaving the lights off in the back half of the room so no one would sit there and they would have less of a cleanup to perform every day. This drop in lunch attendance was a reflection of how many of the homeless the police had harassed into moving out of the downtown area and into the residential neighbourhoods. Unfortunately this lack of a lunch crowd did not last long. More unfortunate was that it was not the homeless returning from the residential neighbourhoods (where courtesy of the City of Abbotsford and the Downtown Businesses they are causing headaches for the residents of those neighbourhoods) but an influx of new people, thanks to the policies of the provincial Liberal government. These policies continue to add to the ranks of the homeless and those living in poverty while failing to reduce these numbers by providing the assistance needed for people to find employment and get back on their feet.

I have been searching for employment in accounting/finance/business, which is where my experience lies, but I think I will have to change this focus. Based on observation, thanks to the policies of out Liberal provincial government, the real job growth is going to be in servicing the demands placed on society by this growing population of homeless and those living in poverty. Personally I do not know why the Liberals would choose to pursue a course or courses of action that increases the ranks of the working poor, the homeless and those living in poverty but they are. One can only conjecture that someone with ties to the Liberal’s is position to benefit from the business opportunities opened by these increased numbers.

Compounding the problems that arise from this policy of increasing the numbers living homeless on the streets or those with shelter who are depending on some form of aid to manage to (barely) survive is that the City of Abbotsford is currently just reacting to this situation. In failing to think through all the problems that flow from the increasing population of homeless and poor the city has been worsenning the problems. Obviously the local governments of the cities of British Columbia need to get together to pressure the Liberal provincial government to change policies so that they stop adding to the problems and population of working poor, homeless and those living in poverty. They also need to begin to pressure the Liberal government to design and adopt policies that will actually aid in reducing this population. I stress that it is necessary that rather than letting the Liberals claim to be or that their policies are meant to help people on to their feet – people must look at the actual effects the policies have and demand that those that do not work or (as is the case currently) make the problems worse be changed.

The fact that this is, at least in theory, a matter for the provincial (Liberal) government to address does not absolve the cities from taking action. There are both philosophical and self-interest reasons for local governments and the citizens they represent to act and become engaged with the problems.

Philosophically, it is as Martin Luther King Jr. said “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.” Meaning that you cannot just sit there and point at some other party as being responsible for the actions (or inactions). In just accepting the actions (or inactions) we become as guilty and responsible for the evil as if we had done the evil. Sitting there and saying ‘Oh, that is a provincial matter or responsibility’ does not absolve the city and its citizens of their responsibility for addressing the wrongs, to relieve the misery and suffering.

If not for philosophical, moral or spiritual reasons, why then should the city or its citizens act? I am sure that the materialistic inhabitants of the city (as they have amply demonstrated) can relate to self-interest. There are many ‘costs’ associated with just accepting the situation and reacting thoughtlessly to it and these cost just continue to add up. As the numbers of homeless and poor continue to grow the costs are not likely going to climb in a straight line, with the rate of increase more likely resembling an exponential pattern for each new person added to the roles.

So what do I mean by costs? To do more that touch upon a few highlights (at least to me) would require a pages long list, which I have no interest in preparing and the reader is unlikely to have an interest in reading. I expect that if I suggest a few highlights the readers can add to the list themselves.

There are the direct costs such as the salaries paid to police and city workers who need to, time after time, deal with the same homeless. Since these persons are homeless they have nowhere to so the cycle just keeps repeating, while the costs of this cycle just continue to add up. Consider that if instead you invest in getting the person or people employed and on their feet they are not only no longer costing money but are contributing to the pool of $$$ available to be invested in further reducing the numbers of homeless on the streets and in the community.

There are a wide range of crime issues and cost associated with this that should be considered. First forget any questions of right or wrong. Focus just on the $$$ cost to deal with a homeless person through the legal system (police, lawyers, judges, trials, cost to house them in prison, etc.). It would appear to be a no-brainer that, unless we spend money on the level the Liberals are on their ideology and their friends at Partnerships BC ($160,000 average salary), it would represent a considerable cost savings to avoid the legal system by investing extra $$$ in getting these people back onto their feet. As an aside let me suggest that any extra $$$ spent on a person would be well spent if it keeps that individual out of the highly expensive legal system – even if the individual lack any pride or self-esteem and just sits on their fat ass. This because you still reap significant $$$ savings by avoiding the legal system’s very high per person costs.

Part of the costs of crime one wants to avoid fall directly onto the citizens themselves. I am not only speaking of the insurance $$$ costs but also the hassles of dealing with the fallout and paperwork of the crime, no longer having the peace of mind to feel safe, loss of memories and/or treasured family items and the nagging little worries that being the victim of crime puts into one’s mind. What price does one put onto these intangible costs?

Remember the screams of the tourist industry in Vancouver about the present and future $$$ they felt they were losing due to the presence of the homeless and poor on the streets? What effect does it have on business people or developers thinking of investing in the community? Here is a good one: What is the effect on real estate values, not just from the presence of the homeless and poor on the residential streets, but especially of any associated crime? Young G. Saini’s letter to the News reminds us that the situation has an effect on the youth of the city. Of principle concern, at least to me, is what lessons we are teaching here. Remember that the lessons adults think they are teaching may bear little relation to the lessons the young are in fact learning. Bigotry, prejudice, being judgmental, indifference to others, an uncaring attitude and ‘ME first’ selfishness are all things likely to be taught and learned here.

There are many other ‘costs’ here that I leave up to the reader to think of and consider. Let me just raise one last major ‘Cost’. What does it do to the Spirit or Spirituality of our City, Province and Country, indeed to the very ‘soul’ or fabric of our society that we have made human life the cheapest commodity on the planet? Yes, we have allowed the problem to develop into a monstrous size, some will claim that we have owe no ‘duty of care’ to our fellow citizens, others will claim it is not a matter of our own spirituality to help those among us who desperately need that help and we may find we have to be prepared to reallocate or invest some money to accomplish what needs doing. WE can do it and in fact it is the only moral course of action. Do I have all the answers – no, we need to seek out and experiment to find answers. It will take time and effort. Understand I am not calling for us to undertake massive new programs and spending, rather that we need to think and apply our resources intelligently so that we actually accomplish what we want and at a reasonable dollar investment.

May I finish with something I try to keep in mind and think we all need to remember if we are to do what our spirituality demands:

“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones come daily.”

The View from the Homeless Streets
byJames W Breckenridge
Abbotsord
www.homelessinabbotsford.com

Raising the Roof - website link for further information

No one should be homeless in a country with Canada's resources. Yet, across the country, we are witnessing dramatic increases in the number of people with no place to call home.

Homelessness - simply defined - is the absence of a place to live. A person who has no regular place to live stays in an overnight emergency shelter, an abandoned building, an all-night coffee shop or theatre, a car, outdoors, or other such places not meant to be living spaces.

In the early 1980s, it became obvious that there was an increasing number of individuals and families, in the wealthiest nations, who had no place of their own to live and did not have enough money to pay for life's necessities. They once had housing. They once had enough money to get by on. They once had a support network of family and friends in combination with a public "social safety net."

The person you see on the street is just the tip of the iceberg.The long-term or "chronically" homeless person - the individuals we tend to see on our streets - represent less than 20% of the homeless population. The rest are families and individuals who find themselves without a place to live for a period of time.

Download factsheets from our Resources section to help you identify the warning signs for homelessness, learn about solutions that work, and the practical things you can do to help combat homelessness in your community.

The tens of thousands of homeless Canadians are a diverse mix of young and old, families with children, couples and single people. Families with children are the fastest growing group. And, about a third of homeless people are living with some form of mental health problem.
Both the numbers of such people and the length of time they are homeless are increasing dramatically.

The reasons why people become homeless are complex. The basic cause is poverty. The underlying causes can include poor physical or mental health, violence or abuse in the home, lack of employment or an income, and a shortage of affordable housing in the community. No one chooses to be homeless and it can happen to anyone - from a teenager escaping an abusive care giver, to a senior citizen on a fixed income facing a rent or tax increase, to a child whose parents suddenly become unemployed. Today, the spiral from stability to distress can happen in the space of a five-minute meeting.

All homeless people have one thing in common - a lack of housing.
While homelessness is not just a housing problem, it is always a housing problem. For many households there is a large gap between the cost of housing and the money available to pay for housing.

Homelessness has escalated exponentially since federal and provincial governments have stopped funding social housing construction. In more cities, homelessness is also directly related to low vacancy rates. Tight or heated housing markets make it hard for anyone to find housing. For individuals or families trying to live on minimum wage, a basic pension or other fixed incomes, it is especially difficult - even in "normal" times.