Homeless youth in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows will have a place to turn to thanks to a new program aimed at giving them the life skills to avoid ending up on the streets and find them stable housing.
The Alouette Home Start Society’s Route 29 program is getting underway this month, and will offer temporary housing for up to six months for people aged 17 to 24 at risk of ending up on the streets at a new four-bedroom facility in Maple Ridge.
The program was made possible thanks to $260,000 in funding from the Vancouver Foundation, while the four-bedroom house was donated by the District of Maple Ridge. The program also has funding from B.C. Housing to provide eligible young people with income supplements in order to pay their rent.
The Route 29 program takes its name from the fact that there were 29 homeless youth counted in Maple Ridge during the last Lower Mainland homeless count last year.
But that number is just the tip of the iceberg, says coordinator Nicole Wismer.
“It’s not just downtown, and it’s not as visible,” she said. “But kids are resourceful and they look out for each other.” As a result, homeless youth are more likely to “couch surf,” then end up on the streets.
But often those places aren’t a safe place for them to stay.
“We want to give them somewhere where they can pursue their goals and dreams,” said Wismer.
The program is still in its development phase, but executive director Stephanie Ediger said the scope of Route 29 will extend far beyond the transition house.
“It encompasses a whole lot more than finding them a place to live,” she said. “The program is about life skills, and giving young people the support they need.”
Affordable housing is few and far between in Maple Ridge, especially for young people, and in order to maintain housing, you need job skills, as well as social skills.
“Many landlords aren’t willing to rent to young people,” said Ediger.
Part of Wismer’s job will be to help the young people in the program learn those life skills many take for granted. Things like making a monthly budget, proper nutrition and how to shop, and how to take advantage of what social supports are available.
For many 19-year-olds confronted with the bureaucracy of social assistance, the experience can be overwhelming, and many end up not taking advantage.
Wismer said she’ll be working with homeless youth to guide them through the maze of red tape. The young people taking part in the program will be referred by local agencies Alouette Home Start Society has partnered with, such as the local school district and Alouette Addictions.
Ediger said she expects many of the young people to go through the program to be fresh out of foster care.
“There a lot of kids aging out of foster care and they’re on their own and left to fend for themselves,” she said. “Once you turn 19, that’s it.”
Ediger said Route 29 will help provide a bridge between the Alouette Home Start Society’s Iron Horse Youth Safe House, which offers temporary supportive housing for 30 days at a time for teenagers, and their soon to be opened
“It’s a natural extension,” said Ediger. “And at the end, they will have the tools to live on their own and be successful in life.”