Homeless tally expected to rise in Vancouver

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a group of about 700 volunteers fanned out across Metro Vancouver, hoping to tally up the number of homeless people living on city streets.

The search is designed to provide information about social housing and the social safety net and is taking the volunteers across a region spanning from North Vancouver to the Fraser Valley, into nooks and crannies, behind dumpsters, under bridges and even beneath the cover of trees.

The woman leading the volunteers is convinced that homelessness in the Vancouver region has increased since the last count was done in 2005.

Judy Graves said there have been two previous homeless counts, both using the same methodology and geographical area.

In 2005, 1,105 homeless were counted, a huge increase from the 330 counted in 2002, said Graves.

"I'm not expecting that big an increase this time, but I'm pretty sure and I think anybody who walks in the city, or goes shopping, would say the same thing: there will be an increase.''

Graves said more subsidized housing is the answer to the homeless problem.

"That's going to be the only solution for homelessness,'' she said.

People who have lived on the streets, like Fraser Doke, agree. He volunteered to help with the count and told CBC he still remembers living in Stanley Park for six months when he was a homeless 15-year-old.

He believes Vancouver has become a place for the rich or the poor, with no room for anything in the middle — the stuff that he says makes a community.

Having been homeless since 2003, Brian Burness said he's on a list for subsidized housing. But he's not sure how soon he'll be able to get off the street.

"I'm trying to be [optimistic],'' he said. "But I don't know.''