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Definitions of Homelessness
There are two forms of homelessness, according to the United Nations, and they are both relevant in the discussion of homelessness in Vancouver. Absolute homelessness describes people living in absence of proper physical shelter. Relative homelessness describes people living in poor conditions of health and security, including an absence of both personal safety and steady income, despite having physical shelter to reside in.

History and Demographics
Homelessness was not an issue in Vancouver until after the 1980s, much like the rest of Canada. Prior to the 1980s there was generally enough affordable housing provided by surpluses from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which had been initiated in 1946 by the federal government However, national affordable housing programs received funding cuts from the government during the 1980s. Total housing stock increased after the federal funding cuts, but it was from private sector development of market housing rather than affordable housing. Between the affordable housing cuts, and increase in market housing, real estate grew to be out of the price range of some lower-income groups. Since 2000, rates of homelessness have continued to accelerate in Vancouver. The effects of homelessness have been felt most heavily in the Downtown Eastside, an area of Vancouver that has gained some notoriety. The outset of homelessness is not rigidly defined, except that it emerged as an issue of the city around the 1980s and 1990s, with the homeless count in 1999 being under 600 people. By 2002, the homelessness crisis in Vancouver had grown to about 1,121 persons. From 2002 to 2005, the number of homeless in the Vancouver region went from 1,121 to 2,174 individuals, almost doubling across three years. . Finally, 2,592 people were counted during an official 2008 one-day count. The rapid growth of homelessness across less than ten years is an indicator of why homelessness in Vancouver is considered a social crisis, as it has continually grown in number despite many attempts to address the issue. The ethnic spread of homeless people in Vancouver is unequal, with Aboriginal people and those of European descent making up a large portion of the homeless. Aboriginal people make up about 30% of Vancouver’s homeless population while only comprising 2% of the total population of Greater Vancouver, and only 8% of the total homeless population identify themselves as not being Aboriginal, European, or otherwise born in Canada. . In Vancouver, the issue of homeless youth on the street has become apparent; however it is difficult to get a number on the amount of youth on the street as they tend to avoid shelters. As a result, numbers of homeless youth in Vancouver are underestimated. Homeless youth are defined as those who left home around the age of 16 and are up to 24 years old, however of Vancouver’s street homeless are between 35 and 44. . Adult homeless men usually fall between the ages of 25 to 44, and homeless women tend to be older. Figures for Canada say that about one-third of Canada’s homeless population is defined as homeless youth. By 2008, half of Vancouver's homeless population had been homeless for over one year, and 90% of them were homeless by themselves without a partner, child, dog, or companion of any kind. Homeless youth in Vancouver tend to have lower rates of being alone, and the amount of homeless youth for each gender is relatively evenly split. It was found in the 2011 Homeless Count by Metro Vancouver that the total number of homeless remained unchanged, on the other hand street homelessness had decreased and shelter homelessness had increased, as well as family, female, and youth homelessness.

Causes
The two main causes of homelessness in Vancouver are lack of income and cost of housing. These two factors could be attributed to about 66% of Vancouver’s homeless population according to a 2005 survey done by the City, however this decreased to a total of 44% by 2008. This shows that Vancouver's reasons for homelessness have diversified in recent years, with some of the causes being attributed to situations of substance abuse.

Lack of Income
This factor accounted for the largest part (about 44%) of Vancouver's homeless population in 2005. Although it was down to 25% in 2008, it still accounted for the largest portion of Vancouver's homeless. Welfare support, which is used by almost half of Vancouver's homeless population, still cannot provide enough for rental in many areas of the city. Despite this, income assistance from the government provides for much of the income of Vancouver's homeless, as well as supplementary income from binning, panhandling, etc..

Cost of Housing
This factor accounted for the second largest part (about 22%) of Vancouver's homeless population in 2005 and was down to 19% in 2008. There had been an increase of government support for social housing between 1994 and 2001, however after 2001 until 2006 government support for social housing declined. As a result, homelessness in Vancouver accelerated quickly. This marked by the increase of people on the street from the year 2002 to 2005 of 1,121 persons to 2,174 persons. In 2006 complications in Vancouver’s housing market clouded support for social housing that had been re-announced by the government, leading to a shortage of social housing units which could be afforded by low-income groups.

Health Issues
There are many health-related issues that are associated with homelessness including mental health issues, substance abuse, and sexually-transmitted infection. Those in absolute homelessness are more susceptible to health problems, however it is not limited to them and affects people in relative homelessness as well. In Vancouver, the number of homeless found on the street had grown by about 235% from 2002-2005, and it was noted that more homeless tend to sleep outdoors than in shelters. The difference between street or sheltered homeless was found to not have much of an affect on the outcome of total incidences of health issues, with a total of about 78% of Vancouver's homeless reporting one or more health issues of some kind. However, it was found that addiction played a larger role for homeless living on the street rather than a shelter. There is a 31x higher death rate for homeless females and a 9x higher death rate for males over the average Canadian mortality rates. In Vancouver homeless men constitute about 70% of the homeless population. Substance abuse is not only a result of homelessness, but can be a cause as well, and sexually-transmitted infections such as HIV are at increased risk of contraction for the homeless of Vancouver. Alcohol, marijuana, and crystal meth use are prevalent, and substance abuse along with crowding in shelters leads to an increased risk of contracting tuberculosis. It was found in 2011 that access to food had become much more of a problem for street homeless, and that health conditions had generally worsened since the 2008 count.

Crime-related Issues
Victimization is when one is subject to damage to their person or property. The homeless population in Vancouver is often subjected to various forms of victimization, which can include unhealthy gender-based relations as well as assault and other forms of violence. Out of a survey sample used by Mario Berti in his 2010 report entailing homelessness and victimization in Vancouver, it was found that 88% of the 196 homeless people surveyed reported victimization. The police were only notified of about 11% of incidents, out of all of the victimized respondents to the survey. Furthermore, 40% of the cases were reported to be only damage to the person, 24% reported only property damage, and 35% of the cases were reported to have been both. Over half of the survey respondents, when asked, perceived that the police and justice system in Vancouver would disregard or not care about their situation.

Solutions
Reducing the amount of people at-risk of absolute homelessness in Vancouver is one of the best proposed solutions, which means addressing those in relative or near relative homelessness. This could be done with increased welfare support from the government, which had a 13% increase in number of users from 2005 to 2008. There is a widespread number of government, non-profit, charity, and religious organizations dedicated to giving aid to the homeless population of Vancouver, but they are not consistent in supply and can be geographically scattered. In 2006, Greater Vancouver was spending about $51 million dollars per year to maintain giving aid to the street homeless population as it was, however it was estimated that about $250 million of spending a year would be needed to fix the crisis. Also in 2006, Project Civil City was initiated by Vancouver’s mayor, Sam Sullivan, in order to deal with issues of homelessness and drugs to try to make the city more appealing for the 2010 Winter Olympics. This project included social housing and care initiatives, despite causing some controversy in Vancouver. In 2007, large amounts of land around Greater Vancouver and Victoria were purchased by the provincial government with the intention of creating affordable housing out of the single-room occupancy hotels on the land. A group known as Pivot Legal Society was highly active in convincing the provincial government to purchase the hotels. Pivot Legal Society has been active in promoting various solutions towards dealing with homelessness and other social issues in Vancouver since its founding in 2000 Metro Vancouver has completed various studies, including the 2011 Pathways Out Of Homelessness Study, which have been done in order to better understand the options that can be used to solve the homelessness crisis.