Excellent commentary from @Rob_Fleming MLA on #Homelessness He presents a very clear headed and academic solution.

We urgently need a national housing strategy 

As the federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for housing prepare to meet in Victoria this week, it’s important to remember how and why we got to the housing and homelessness crisis Greater Victoria finds itself in today.

The ministers are coming together to discuss the development of a long-overdue national housing strategy. Victoria will provide these politicians with a precise backdrop of why we desperately need more federal and provincial investment in affordable housing.

Victoria has the unhealthy distinction of having the second-lowest vacancy rate in Canada. This week, RBC ranked Victoria as the third-least-affordable housing market, after Vancouver and Toronto. And the ministers will meet just a few blocks from the highly visible encampment that has taken root on the grounds of our provincial courthouse.

While many of these ministers have problems to solve in their own parts of Canada, it’s worth reflecting on how our country’s homelessness crisis was an entirely preventable situation. And it’s worth thinking about how different things could be today had governments been regularly investing in building affordable housing.

The federal government first got involved in building social housing after the Second World War. It was then accepted that some of our citizens would be unable to afford housing in the private market. Most political parties and Canadians shared a strong belief that we’re all better off socially and economically by ensuring everyone has a safe place to live in our communities.

Two decades into the 21st century, Canada and B.C.’s housing problems are screaming for more focus and attention. That consensus we once had can and must be forged again.

Our community has recently gained some provincial attention to provide additional temporary shelter space. And the province has said it will work with the region on long-term, permanent housing solutions for our most vulnerable citizens. Many long-term homeless adults struggle with chronic mental-health and addictions issues, so we must continue to address inadequate treatment and support services,

This apparent willingness to collaborate among all three levels of government presents an opportunity to finally get a long-term plan that begins by aggressively tackling the crisis we are in today. Our region has embraced a “housing first” approach, based on the idea that once homeless people have a safe place to live, they can start rebuilding their lives. We must make sure these positive signs of momentum are made real.

As the MLA for Victoria-Swan Lake, my office regularly hears from people desperately searching for a place to live. These are heartbreaking stories of the hidden homeless: families with children living in motels or cars, seniors that are one renovation-eviction notice away from the street and those who are working hard but still can’t afford the high cost of rent. Our region has more than 1,350 people on the B.C. Housing wait list, hoping for an affordable place to live.

The most recent survey of homelessness in our region — the point-in-time count — was conducted on the evening of Feb 10. It found that we have nearly 1,400 people with no address at all to call home, including 123 children and 120 youth seeking temporary shelter.

This situation requires our immediate attention, not just because no child should ever be living without a place to call home, but also because there is a strong connection between being homeless in childhood and being homeless as an adult. The PIT survey found that 36.9 per cent of the homeless adults surveyed first experienced homelessness when they were under the age of 18. We must make it a priority to prevent more lives from falling into a cycle of homelessness.

Our region’s message to the ministers meeting here next week is this: We need a national and provincial housing strategy with multi-year goals and funding commitments. While we develop local and provincial policy tools to deal with increasing rental stock and curbing international speculation in real estate, we can’t lose sight of the critical need to get shovels in the ground and build more social housing.

Rob Fleming is the MLA for Victoria-Swan Lake, a former Victoria city councillor and the former vice-chairman of the Capital Region Housing Corporation.