Homelessness on the rise in Metro Vancouver, says report

The organizers of this year's homeless count in Greater Vancouver say the preliminary numbers appear to show a significant rise in the number of people sleeping on the streets.

On March 11,volunteers swept through the streets and shelters of Greater Vancouver, and identified and interviewed nearly 2,600 people considered homeless.

In raw numbers, that represents a 19 per cent increase in the number counted in 2005, and more than double the number counted in 2002.

But an organizer says the numbers should be viewed as a snapshot, not a full, accurate picture of homelessness in the Metro Vancouver area.

That's because there were more volunteerscounting this year than previous years, particularly in the suburbs, and each year the study is conducted the volunteers get better at finding people than previous years, according to Alice Sundberg, co-chair of the regional steering committee on homelessness, which organized the count.

"So, yes, there is a danger in comparing, but each of these counts has been accurate to the extent we can be accurate, and in every case, there has been an under-count because there are people we aren't able to locate," said Sundberg.

Still, Sundberg said this year's count is the most reliable data to date on the number of homeless in Vancouver, and she believes that despite the problems with drawing comparisons, the number of homeless people in Metro Vancouver is rising.

After releasing the preliminary results on Tuesday morning, Sundberg called on the federal government to provide stable funding to help the homeless find housing.

The full breakdown of the homeless inMetro Vancouver including ages, sex and ethnicity won't be available until September.

The regional steering committee isa coalition of 40 service providers, community-based organizations, businesses and all levels of government.