Photo: Contributed

Just like Nelson’s claim to being the number one small arts town in Canada is waning, the assertion of it being a liberal-minded and tolerant community is also diminishing.

The recent Nelson Committee on Homelessness (NCOH) point-in-time (PiT) count around homelessness in Nelson revealed an underbelly to the street issues of the city, one in which the level of intolerance for those who are experiencing homelessness is rising.

While Nelson is very much in line with provincial trends around homelessness in general, the report found, almost one quarter (23 per cent) of survey respondents indicated that discrimination contributed to their most recent loss of housing — a self-reported occurrence — compared to just six per cent in B.C. as a whole.

In fact, the report found around one third identified stigma and discrimination as barriers to accessing both housing (32 per cent) and essential services (31 per cent).

However, systemic discrimination could be discrimination based on Indigenous status, it could be discrimination based on economic status, whether or not someone uses or is perceived to be using drugs, or someone has mental health issues, the street culture issues are viewed as a new issue in Nelson and resistance to change has followed, said NCOH co-chair Cheryl Dowden.

“I think people are feeling that more, and probably because of those sentiments that are being expressed on social media and in the community that there may be more of a reluctance for landlords to rent to people that are homeless or have experienced homelessness,” she said.

“It may be that folks that have tried to get market housing, or to rent from landlords, have experienced that kind of discrimination because of that sense of reluctancy, so I think the stigma is borne out there.”

Around 41 per cent of the people surveyed in Nelson identified as either First Nations, Metis, or Inuit or having Indigenous ancestry, despite these four groups combined comprising only six per cent of B.C.’s total population.

While housing availability and affordability is a problem for all Nelsonites, for multiple reasons it is a much greater problem for the city’s homeless and precariously housed.

Many have histories that include, youth homelessness, mental illness, addictions or marginalization because of extreme poverty, racism, homophobia/transphobia, chronic health issues, disabilities, involvement in the justice system and/or trauma leading to discrimination and stigmatization.

Discrimination, is an issue that not only perpetuates shame and keeps people in the shadows of their addictions, trauma and mental health wounds, it also creates barriers to pathways out of homelessness, said Dowden.

There is a lot of myth and misinformation about homelessness and people that are homeless. One of the myths circulating in Nelson for decades is that, because the city has social services here that people are attracted to the area and come here to be homeless, said Dowden.

“But if we get outside of our bubble and see what is happening in the rest of the province and the country we see that this is an issue that not only persists but has … grown and increased over time” everywhere, she said.

Interpersonal conflict, including domestic violence, was another major contributor to housing loss, while the combination of high rents and limited income was the most frequently cited barrier to securing housing, with lack of transportation and costs being the most common barriers to accessing essential services and supports.

Around 22 per cent of respondents were unable to access essential services due to being banned, with many expressing frustration at a lack of appeal or restorative options and lack of transparency where such options might exist, said Dowden.

The survey — conducted on Nov. 7 — found that 56 per cent of those who are now homeless in the city and have been without stable, long-term housing for a year or longer, is 32 per cent higher than it was in 2018.

Although both figures are less than the current provincial average of 70 per cent — up from 53 per cent in 2018 — it is a concerning trend and one that doesn’t have any immediate solutions, noted Dowden.

The data from the PiT count shows that people are going into homelessness and they are staying in homelessness for a longer period of time. Unsheltered or absolute homelessness is on the rise, again in B.C. as well as in Nelson, and now accounts for 37 per cent of the total amount of all forms of homelessness in the city, compared to 25 per cent in 2018.

In total, 122 Nelson residents were found to be in some form of homelessness during the 24-hour enumeration and three-week survey period, with 102 people completing the survey.

A total of 40 Nelson residents were found to be unsheltered or absolute homeless, a designation which which includes anyone sleeping in a tent, a makeshift shelter, an empty building, an unheated trailer, park, or sidewalk or any other unsheltered outdoor location.

An additional four people were found to be staying in vehicles, while 59 people were provisionally housed at two shelters and four transitional housing sites. A further 19 people, primarily youth, were found to be “couch-surfing” or staying at someone else’s place because they had no safe home of their own to go to.

Where it happens

The point-in-time count is part of a nationally-coordinated effort to measure homelessness in Canada, a requirement of communities who are receiving funding from the government of Canada.

In Nelson, the count was led by NCOH, in partnership with Nelson CARES, Nelson Community Services, School District 8, the Rural Empowered Drug User Network (REDUN), Freedom Quest and the Kootenay Boundary Adult Supported Recovery Program and consisted of a 24-hour enumeration, along with a 28-question survey of community members found to be experiencing some form of homelessness.

Surveys were conducted at six sheltered sites — Stepping Stones, Cicada Place, North Shore Inn, Ward Street Place-TAP, Aimee Beaulieu Transition House and the Kootenay Boundary Adult Supported Recovery Program — as well as at various community locations, including ANKORS, the Nelson Public Library, the Nelson Community Food Centre, Our Daily Bread, and the NCOH/Salvation Army’s weekly drop-in centre, as well as on the streets, in alleyways, and at various other public locations throughout Nelson.