In our most recent post in our series on poverty and homelessness we asked people to consider sharing a story about their experiences. Sharing these stories serves as a reminder that poverty and homelessness are not a choice. It’s important for us to end the stigma and stereotypes that are too often associated with these issues. Those who are homeless, just as those who are housed, should not be defined by where they live. Each of us has followed a different path from the past to the present. Yet some of our paths have been rockier than others.

This week we are pleased to offer the second these stories. We are grateful to The Cridge Centre for the Family for providing it to us. The Cridge Centre for the Family has been providing brain injury services for almost 25 years with a commitment to providing supportive housing for survivors of brain injury in Greater Victoria.

Recent studies have offered insight into a possible connection between brain injuries and homelessness, with 53% of the Toronto homeless population found to be living with a traumatic brain injury. The following is an impact story about how the Cridge services have helped a local man overcome the challenges of living with a brain injury.

Surviving a Brain Injury May Be Challenging but There is Hope

DF is 47 year-old male living with a brain injury. He was incarcerated on and off for a total of 14 years. DF’s life has been fraught with addiction issues and his crimes were in support of those addictions. His life was not easy and he makes no excuses for his past; however, he has remorse and regret. Every day he works a little bit harder to make amends and to do good in the community.

DF was homeless and living in a shelter for two years during his parole. In 2012, DF was accepted into Mary Cridge Manor (MCM). MCM is a program within the Brain Injury Services of the Cridge Centre for the Family. It is a housing program where clients live independently with supports. Although nervous, DF was excited for the opportunity to live in an apartment. He had not had a home in five years when he came to live at MCM. When DF moved in, he was so proud of his apartment and how it looked that he didn’t want to go out. He found great pleasure in staying home and knowing that he was safe and in an environment where he could finally thrive.

DF is completing his third year at MCM, which is the maximum time a person can be in the program. During this time, DF committed to developing life skills, interpersonal skills, leisure planning, vocation and addressing his addiction issues. It has not been an easy road but he certainly has tackled each step with courage and determination.

DF felt little hope until moving into this program. Not only is he preparing to move from MCM, he has returned to school and recertified in first-aid and trained in maintenance so he can now seek meaningful employment. He is excited about his future for the first time in many years, and so are we!

This is the fourteenth in our series of stories celebrating the outstanding accomplishments of youth in our community. These inspirational young adults are enriching our lives with their passion and commitment to the betterment of society.

Logan Graham

Each year, 83 outstanding scholars from around the world are awarded a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Eleven of these students are from Canada and only one from the Province of British Columbia. Past Rhodes Scholars include former Prime Minister John Turner, former President Bill Clinton, former premiers Bob Rae (Ontario), Danny Williams (Newfoundland) and Allan Blakeney (Saskatchewan) as well as Andrew Wilkinson the MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena and Minister of Advanced Education. This year, Oak Bay High School graduate Logan Graham joins the Rhodes Scholars Elect class of 2015. In so doing, his name is added to a distinguished group of 108 previous British Columbia Rhodes Scholarship winners since 1904.

During our interview with Logan, it became obvious to us why he was awarded a 2015 Rhodes Scholarship. In just twenty years, Logan has accomplished more than many people achieve in a lifetime. And he’s done so while facing significant health challenges, having been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at age 4 and suffering massive complications from the illness between ages 4 and 8 years.

Logan is in his final year at UBC working towards an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Economics through funding from a UBC Major Entrance Scholarship for outstanding leadership, academics and entrepreneurship and the ConocoPhillips Centennial Scholarship administered by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada for young Canadian visionaries. But Logan’s family roots are here in our community. Remarkably, and coincidentally, I found out during our discussions that his uncle was James Graham (now a Fine Arts professor at the University of Lethbridge). James and I were good friends in high school and both graduated from Oak Bay in 1979. While some might argue that we are all only six degrees of separation from each other, in Victoria it’s more like one degree it seems!

Prior to moving to Victoria with his family, Logan, who was born in Vancouver, attended West Point Grey Academy until Grade 7.  At the tender age of seven, when most grade two children are focused on school, their friends and playing, Logan set out to form a foundation to advocate for children afflicted with rheumatic illnesses. That year Logan made a remarkable New Year’s resolution: “I’m going to hold a car wash and raise money for kids with arthritis”. The car wash raised $10,000 and since that first fundraising event, the Children’s Arthritis Foundation that Logan established with his parents and sister has raised over $160,000.

To date, Logan, as Founder of the Children’s Arthritis Foundation has delivered presentations to over 5,000 people across Canada and the U.S., developed matching partnerships with donors and recruited several hundred students to help him run fundraisers. He’s done all of this because “kids with rheumatic illness have a really small say in the medical and political world that affects them. So over the past fourteen years, we’ve done things like provide the right shoes to kids for free, initiate the establishment of a research chair at UBC and train the next generation of health practitioners”. His motivation for starting the foundation came from a desire to help his friends – other children he had met with similar conditions.

When his family came to Victoria, Logan skipped grade 8 and went straight into grade 9 at Oak Bay High School. Not surprisingly, he excelled academically and was elected Valedictorian for his 2011 graduating class. During grade 9, he was part of the founding group of Oak Bay youth who worked with a municipal councilor whose goal was to make Oak Bay a youth-friendly place. He participated in the Leadership program at Oak Bay High and was on the Student Council. In 2010, he helped co-organize and lead an Oak Bay delegation and presentation to a Vancouver Island symposium on the recession.

As President of the local Rotary Interact Club from 2010 to 2011, Logan worked to raise money in support of a project in Rwanda. He also coordinated a “Memory Café” through partnership with Oak Bay Lodge to hold youth-senior discussion sessions.

While in his last years at Oak Bay High School, Logan took up debating under the direction of Tim Bradshaw, an inspirational teacher who Logan described as the “sort of teacher where you look back and say he’s the one who opened up my eyes”. He excelled in debating and participated in several competitions including Oak Bay High’s annual Golden Gnome debate tournament, Model UN sessions, and a BC Commonwealth Debate competition hostedat St. Michaels University School.

Logan’s interest in financial economics, which ultimately took him to UBC, were nurtured and inspired by Chad Jacques, a teacher at Oak Bay. He recalls his teacher walking into business class one day and asking, “Do you know what today is”.  Nobody responded. “Today is the start of a recession,” proclaimed Chad Jacques. For Logan, these words were motivating. He couldn’t believe that society could mess things up so badly; Logan went off to the library to start pouring through economics books.

In grade 10 Chad Jacques also wrote a letter in support of Logan’s desire to attend a month long summer program at Oxford University in International Economics. Despite the prohibitive cost to register, Logan was determined to go.  So during the course of the year he used his entrepreneurial skills to set up an estate management and home care company that allowed him to subsequently earn the $10,000 required. Clients were easy for him to come by, as his compelling story about wanting to attend the program at Oxford University was a door opener.

Ever since Logan was ten years old, he knew that Oxford was “a place I want to end up”. During a family vacation “his eyes lit up” at the magnificence and splendor of Oxford’s collegiate architecture. And sure enough, in 2015 Logan will fulfill his dream as he starts an MPhil in Economics.

Having grown up in an entrepreneurial family environment, Logan knows what it means to take risks, show leadership and develop a strategy to reach one’s goals. In his first year at UBC, he founded the UBC Social Enterprise Club, as a place for student to apply “business techniques to real-life situations in order to solve social issues”. His passion for social enterprise together with his recognition of the need to facilitate ways for students to become involved in innovative business ventures that have significant social impact, has ensured the club has been a huge success. Through the club, hundreds of students and high-profile social impact professionals have come together to help bring ideas into reality. The club has created three employment opportunities by establishing Canada’s first student social venture consultancy and consulting with nine fast-growth local social ventures.

Last year, while attending the Global Social Business Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Logan had the good fortune to meet 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank (known as the Bank of the Poor) and the concept of microfinancing in Bangladesh during the 1970s. Inspired by this workshop that was designed to bring young social entrepreneurs together with established more seasoned world leaders, Logan, along with three of his peers, launched another organization called: Yunus & Youth. This online platform connects young entrepreneurs and pairs them with world-renowned mentors, trains them with these experts and connects them with a global support network.

Logan has a strong desire to continue to travel the world. After an exchange to the National University of Singapore in 2013 he had the opportunity to backpack around parts of China and was fascinated by what he witnessed. Logan commented to us on how China’s remarkable economic growth in recent years can be viewed as the world’s “single best poverty reduction program”. Sometime in the future Logan see himself spending time working in China, perhaps Guangzhou, a city he found to be most welcoming and exhilarating.

An article from the UBC Vancouver School of Economics aptly notes that Logan is “an entrepreneur with a passion for using the principles of economics to solve social problems”. Whether at school, in business, or DJing under the catchy handle “Logarhythm”, Logan excels in all that he does. Yet family, and in particular his sister, are incredibly important to Logan. They struggled together as Logan battled rheumatoid arthritis at an early age. Logan is never short of praise for his family. He described his sister Tookie as “the smartest most caring person I know” and on social media when letting his friends know about his award he started off by saying: “Before anything else, I want to say that my biggest mentor, educator and inspiration has always been my sister Tookie Graham. From the moment you first tried to drag me through the bars of my crib, you have always been trying to show me the world.”

Logan views the Rhodes Scholarship as “a free path to learn about anything and then challenge everything”. I’m sure he had no idea how inspiring it was for me to hear him describe his academic aspirations in such terms. Whether it is poverty and homelessness, global population growth and sustainable development, climate change and water availability, or sustaining global biodiversity, the world’s greatest challenges require creative approaches in developing innovative solutions. We need visionaries in today’s youth to emerge as our political leaders of tomorrow. And it is our job, as the decisison-makers of today, to remove the barriers that otherwise would limit these social entrepreneurs from succeeding. Thank you Logan for all that you do.

In our most recent post in our series on poverty and homelessness we asked people to consider sharing a story about their experiences. Sharing these stories serves as a reminder that poverty and homelessness are not a choice. It’s important for us to end the stigma and stereotypes that are too often associated with these issues. Those who are homeless, just as those who are housed, should not be defined by where they live. Each of us has followed a different path from the past to the present. Yet some of our paths have been rockier than others.

This week we are pleased to offer the first of these stories. We are grateful to the Threshold Housing Society for providing it to us . The Threshold Housing Society provides transitional housing to youth at risk of becoming homeless.

Threshold Housing Society: Mitchell House 2014

By: Graham Kelly – House Supervisor

It was the night before Christmas, and all through the Scots Motel, many creatures were stirring: not only the mice. Skinny teenager Miles Winter was stirring also, or rather tossing and turning sleeplessly. The motel’s roaches were the worst when you felt them on your face, but at least they were silent. It was the scurrying sound of the mice that actually kept Miles awake, even on Christmas Eve, when everyone was supposed to be in a deep sleep dreaming of all they’d be waking up to. Miles knew there wouldn’t be much to wake up to in a few restless hours, when the sound of the motel alarm clock would go off like every morning, and his dad would plug in their tiny plastic tree and say “Merry Christmas kiddo.” It would not be his best, nor would it be his worst Christmas — so long as it was just the scuffling sound inside the walls, and not the rising sound of fighting through them, or the approaching sound of sirens after that. Lying uncomfortably in a pull-out cot, Miles thought of his little cousins a city away, who would wonder how Santa could get down into a motel room without a chimney, and where you would hang stockings when there was no fireplace – only an old, dead heater.

As he finally drifted off to sleep he hoped his cousins were having a Christmas like the one good one Miles had ever known, the one time the family was together and he got the toy he wanted. And he hoped his own Christmases would get better, be happier, and be in a nice house instead of an old motel.

**** **** ****

But the following Christmas, things looked no better for Miles. He and his dad had fled the infestation of that motel and moved on to another, staying as long as it took for his dad to be accepted into low income housing. The place his dad moved into did not have room for Miles, and he was forced to sleep on friends’ couches, until the welcomes finally wore out. He thought he might have to brave the cold and set up a borrowed tent in the park, spending Christmas outside, all alone. But exactly one week before Christmas Eve last year, everything changed. Miles was accepted on an emergency basis into

Mitchell House, the home for young men that I run. On the night of our Christmas dinner last year, Miles arrived to meet other residents and members of the Threshold Housing ‘family’. He was cold and thin, but excited to start a new life with us – well, right after eating a plate piled high with turkey and stuffing.

**** **** ****

This week, Miles and I went Christmas shopping together. We went straight to the toy aisle, where for a moment Miles seemed to become a child again, challenging me to a duel with a telescoping light sabres.

I noticed how much he has grown in a year, how much stronger he is after learning to cook for himself, and how physically fit he is from his job prepping food for sports events. I see the new clarity in his eyes, the focus and motivation he has gained, as he moves closer to his dream of becoming a chef. I see a strong, gifted, caring young man who has survived and thrived after being given a foundation to build on, and who now wishes to give back. And as he picks out toys to give his young cousins on Christmas morning, I see a young man who will never go back, and will make the world better as he goes forward.

– For every youth like Miles that is accepted, Threshold Housing has to turn away four more –

Earlier this month the BC government gave British Columbia’s 100,000+ hunters a rather astonishing Christmas present.

On December 10^th, the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations announced his decision concerning how hunting licenses would be allocated between industry and British Columbia’s resident hunters. In what ended up being a surprise to many people – and in stark contrast to the advice he received from his own staff – the Minister chose to increase the proportion of hunting licenses that would be available for the guide outfitting industry at the expense of resident BC hunters. For many BC hunters, this was like adding salt to an existing wound. Over the last decade there had already been a steady erosion of their allocation relative to industry’s.

I sincerely hope that the government reconsiders this decision as in my view it’s not in the public interest.

The allocation of hunting permits between industry and residents involves an extensive consultation process between the Guide Outfitting Industry (represented by the Guide Outfitters Association of BC, — GOABC), resident BC hunters (represented by the BC Wildlife Federation —BCWF) and the provincial government. The purpose of this process is to ensure that all interests are represented in a consistent, fair and transparent way. Ministry staff subsequently take recommendations to the Minster on how permits should be allocated sustainably, with a priority placed on meeting the social and ceremonial needs of First Nations while also maintaining healthy wildlife populations.

This time the allocation process seemed to take on a life of its own. Rather than accepting the permit allocation recommendations as in the past, a very different set of numbers were provided in the Minister’s decision. No one I have spoken to has any idea where these numbers came from. Certainly they did not come from the allocation process or expert advice.

Figure: British Columbia’s eight hunting regions (left) and a table (right) showing the recommended allocations as well as the Minister’s final decision.

Contrary to the established Harvest Allocation Policy and the consultation process that developed it, this new decision allocates a large increase in the proportion of licenses available to industry at the expense of resident hunters. In addition, the Harvest Allocation Policy specifically states:

Many of the changes in the table above can hardly be described as gradual. And it’s certainly not clear to me that resident hunters were a treated as a priority in light of the fact that these numbers differed so much from those recommended through the consultation process.

So why is this important?

This is yet another example of government putting the needs of special interests ahead of British Columbians. Hunting is an important part of life for many British Columbians; for quite a few, hunting provides an important source of protein for their families. In addition, resident hunters working under the umbrella of the BCWF have a rich history of conservation.  And the BCWF cites a twenty percent growth in the number of BC hunters over the past 10 years.

This is not the first time that I have raised a question about how the Guide Outfitting industry is being regulated by this government. This past spring legislation was introduced that removed the requirement that a guide outfit could only be owned by a citizen of of our province. In my view, hunting priorities in British Columbia should be focused on ensuring healthy wildlife populations and meeting the needs of British Columbians. They should not have these priorities trumped by corporate interests especially now that can also be foreign-owned.

I have raised similar concerns in the past about the Grizzly Bear Trophy hunt. Unlike the Black Bear hunt, where hunters are required to “remove from the carcass the edible portions of the four quarters and loins to the person’s normal dwelling place or to a meat cutter or the owner or operator of a cold storage plant“, there is no such requirement in the case of Grizzlies. Most British Columbians, including the hunters I have spoken with, are not supportive of the trophy kill. Even the simple requirement of forcing hunters to remove all edible portions from grizzlies, as in the case for black bears, would be a step in the right direction.

In his June 2014 mandate letter, the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations was directed to “continue to work with BC Guides and Outfitters and other back country operators to ensure continued access and business certainty to Crown land and provide economic and tourism opportunities in rural British Columbia.” What’s clearly missing from this mandate is the requirement that this not be done at the expense of British Columbians.

If you are as concerned about this development as I am, please take the time to write to your MLA and the Minister. You might also consider signing the petition that has been put together by the BC Wildlife Federation and/or a similar petition at change.org.

“spending $10 on housing and supports for chronically homeless individuals
with the highest needs, result[s] in $21.72 in savings related to health care,
social supports, housing and involvement in the justice system”
The Homeless Hub

Public Opinion on Homelessness

I’ve used the phrase “hidden homelessness” a couple times throughout this series. It is a term that my team and I started using as we began to realise the amount of poverty and homelessness that goes unseen throughout Greater Victoria.

Last month I once more met with Andrew Wynn-Williams, the Executive Director of the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness, to get an update on the current status of homelessness in our region. As part of the update, Andrew informed me of their recent survey looking at public attitudes towards homelessness.

The survey provided some optimistic findings with regards to public opinion on housing first strategies. For example, 70% of people agreed that providing an individual with housing is cheaper than the costs of homelessness on government services, 90% agreed affordable housing would help reduce homelessness and 85% agreed that ensuring access to affordable housing is the government’s responsibility.

However, I was shocked to read that nearly half of the residents surveyed in Sidney and the Western Communities, and a third of those in Saanich, Oak Bay, Victoria and Esquimalt, did not think that homelessness was an issue in their communities.

While this was a disheartening revelation, I remain optimistic as their seems to be clear public support for the importance of housing initiatives.

Backing public opinion, a number of studies have been released highlighting the benefits of a housing-first strategy for ending homelessness.

Cost-Benefits of Ending Homelessness

Both national and international research has shown the extent of the possible cost-savings associated with shifting our energy from trying to manage homelessness through the provision of emergency services, to actually trying to end homelessness through a housing-first approach. A recent national report from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness concluded that spending an extra $46 per Canadian a year on affordable housing could dramatically reduce homelessness, and in turn reduce the $7 billion per year cost of homelessness on our economy.

To find evidence to back these claims up, we need look no further than some of our southern neighbour states. In 2005, Utah launched a homelessness reduction strategy after it was estimated that by housing the chronically homeless the state could save an average of $8,000 per person on costs such as emergency room visits and jail stays. As of 2014, the program has reduced chronic homelessness in Utah by 72%.

While direct data on the overall net savings of the program is not yet available, a similar pilot project in Denver, Colorado found significant savings. For example, total emergency related costs among project participants declined by 72.95% in two years (an average savings of $31,545 per participant), incarceration days and costs were reduced by 76% and emergency shelter costs alone were reduced by an average of $13,600 per person.  

Along these same lines, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) recently released the findings from their At Home/Chez Soi study. With projects established in five cities, including Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Moncton, the study showed that not only can a Housing-First approach be effectively implemented in Canadian cities of varying size and ethno-racial and cultural composition, but it can also provide overall economic cost-savings while rapidly reducing rates of homelessness. This is especially true among the chronically homeless, where for every $10 invested in housing first services there was an average savings of $21.72.

The project was so successful that the federal government has since expanded the program, committing an additional $600 million over five years.

Other studies have found similar cost savings, both direct and indirect, when examining housing versus emergency management of homelessness. A summary of some of the most significant findings can be found in the Coalition’s report on Housing and Homelessness in Greater Victoria.

All of these findings are consistent with estimated cost savings of a housing first approach here in Victoria, where the average annual cost of a shelter bed is $25,525 while the estimated annual cost of new supportive housing is only $16,748 per unit. And the annual cost of a rent supplement, including support, is even lower at $6,800 per unit.

A number of groups already provide supportive and affordable housing here in Victoria, including the Victoria Cool Aid Society, Pacifica Housing, St Vincent de Paul Society, and the M’akola Housing Society. But with more units desperately needed, housing remains a top priority throughout the region (to see a list of  some of the current housing projects needing funding, visit the Coalition’s Priority Housing Project List). 

Action Item

Poverty is something that touches us all. Whether we have lived in poverty ourselves or have seen its impact in our communities, it has affected each and every one of us.

With this in mind, I would like to invite you to share a story about your experiences with poverty and homelessness. Share it with a friend, family member, co-worker, or even your social media following.

In sharing these stories, let it serve as a reminder that poverty and homelessness are not a choice. It’s important for us to end the stigma and stereotypes that are too often associated with these issues. Those who are homeless, just as those who are housed, should not be defined by where they live. Each of us has followed a different path from the past to the present. Yet some of our paths have been rockier than others.

If you cannot think of a personal story, then help spread the stories shared by groups such as Our Place, the Dandelion Society and the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness.

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