The City of Maple Ridge is doing its part to get people off the streets, and to help the homeless regain a secure and rewarding life.
Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon was recently interviewed by the Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows News about a new supportive housing complex opening on Fraser Street this month. That interview came on the heels of the City of Vancouver's controversial suspension of any new supportive housing projects, with Mayor Ken Sim saying neighbouring cities need to do more. Vancouver provides more than three-quarters of the supportive housing in the region, with only one-quarter of the population, he said.
There is little doubt Vancouver has grasped the nettle on the issue of homelessness, but how are neighbouring cities handling their responsibilities to the people living outdoors in their communities?
Maple Ridge now has three facilities, each with space for about 50 residents, as well as the Salvation Army shelter. All four buildings are located in or near the downtown core.
The latest, Rivers Reach, is built to last decades, and its 52 units will take the people who have been staying at the Royal Crescent Modular Housing, which was a temporary, and now run-down facility.
Allowing that the province has wrangled with past city councils about where to locate facilities for the homeless, the housing minister said Maple Ridge is now the least of his worries.
From Kahlon's perspective, the citizens of Maple Ridge appreciate that people struggling with life on the streets must have support.
However, Kahlon singled out the Tri-Cities as a group of municipalities that are not shouldering their share of this work.
Vancouver Mayor Sim's gripes about his city doing more than its share, while it has sparked public protests, is relatable. The street population is associated with crime, and residents not feeling safe. Vancouver council is caught between protesters demanding support for the homeless, and stores complaining that brazen theft will force them out of business. There are also terrifying stories about unprovoked stranger attacks in the media contributing to public demand for solutions, and change.
Every city in the Lower Mainland has people struggling with mental health and addiction, and each should offer supportive housing, with the number of units proportionate to their population size.
The idea that government is coddling people using illegal drugs can be a barrier to citizens getting behind new supportive housing projects in their communities. Those burdened by this belief should know that senior citizens are an increasing part of the demographic at supportive housing facilities.
According to Coast Mental Health, the non-profit that runs all three supportive housing facilities in Maple Ridge, the largest demographic in their many units spread across the Lower Mainland is age 55-plus. It's the result of an aging population meeting with a crisis of affordable housing.
While homeless seniors are an obviously vulnerable population, that is also true for women, and everyone on the streets. And every city hall in the region should do their part to protect them.
