A study for the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness led by a Simon Fraser University master\u2019s student has found that a disproportionate number of people chronically staying in Victoria\u2019s emergency shelters are seniors.<\/p>\n
Hannah Rabinovitch conducted the longitudinal study on emergency shelter use patterns in Victoria under the MITACS Accelerate Program, in partnership with the Centre for Addictions Research at the University of Victoria. The SFU public policy master\u2019s student examined data collected between April 2010 and May 2014.<\/p>\n
The study tracked 4,332 individuals and examined nearly 46,000 shelter records. More than 85 percent of users accessed shelters for short periods, meaning only once or twice \u2013 findings that point to the need for affordable housing and preventative measures, according to the study.<\/p>\n
Another 13.6 percent accessed the shelters five times over the four years with average stays of 30 days. The remaining 1.5 percent, many of them seniors, had stayed four to five times with average stays of six months.<\/p>\n
As a former emergency shelter worker in Victoria, Rabinovitch, now a Vancouver resident, said she finds these results worrisome but not shocking. \u201cI was stunned by the number of seniors with complex physical and mental health problems regularly seeking refuge in emergency shelters. I kept thinking emergency shelters aren\u2019t supposed to become discharge plans for hospitals that aren\u2019t equipped to keep them long term.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the data also indicates that \u201cwomen and youth are underrepresented in this study,\u201d meaning their numbers don\u2019t reflect the extent to which they are homeless. \u201cFor example, it\u2019s widely known in research that homeless women avoid emergency shelters for fear they\u2019re unsafe and that their children will be apprehended, and because they lack women\u2019s beds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabinovitch conducted the study under the supervision of Bernie Pauly, a scientist at UVic\u2019s Centre for Addictions Research and associate professor in UVic\u2019s School of Nursing, and Doug McArthur, a professor and director of SFU\u2019s public policy program.<\/p>\n
Pauly said it\u2019s important to maintain strategies that address the needs of different groups and make efficient use of resources. \u201cThose experiencing temporary homelessness would benefit from rapid re-housing, more emergency cash assistance and rental subsidies to prevent or quickly address homelessness. Those with re-occurring episodes of homelessness would benefit from programs that combine intensive supports with housing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A study for the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness led by a Simon Fraser University master\u2019s student has found that a disproportionate number of people chronically staying in Victoria\u2019s emergency shelters are seniors. Hannah Rabinovitch conducted the longitudinal study on emergency shelter use patterns in Victoria under the MITACS Accelerate Program, in partnership with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2091,2090,2093,2092],"class_list":["post-7969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local","tag-hannah-rabinovitch","tag-homelessness","tag-mitacs","tag-sfu"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}