In the last seven years, the homeless population of Nanaimo has almost doubled, rising from 335 people in 2018 to a stark 621 in 2024. However, these numbers rely on self-disclosure and willing participation in the yearly count, which does not represent the whole population of unhoused persons.

While there are more than 621 persons living without housing in Nanaimo, the number of available shelter beds is less than 100, city wide. The excess demand is clear, distinct, and overwhelming.

Housing is considered a human right under international law, particularly in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 25), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

In 2019, the federal government recognized housing as a human right; however, it seems like the only ones who are doing something about it are non-profit organizations.

Nanaimo has two main shelters supported by BC Housing that offer emergency housing: the Unitarian Hall near Bowen Park, and the Salvation Army’s New Hope Centre in the Downtown area. Nanaimo Family Life Association HUB is a third shelter that is operated in partnership with the city.

Bern Muller is the director of the Salvation Army’s New Hope Centre in Nanaimo. He has previously worked with Island Catholic Schools for almost three decades, and believes that kindness and patience are the foundations of healthy relationships and meaningful growth.

“People come to us at a point where they essentially lose their capacity to look after themselves. They don’t have the ability to get work or present themselves any longer to have work,” Muller says.

A four-story structure is being built by Salvation Army to replace the old Salvation Army Red Shield Centre, built in the 1890s. The new building will have 52 emergency shelter beds, 15 ‘pathway of hope’ beds for vulnerable people living in poverty, and 21 beds for the Salvation Army’s correctional residential facility program.

“When we find people who are experiencing a sense of hopelessness, we identify it as a prolonged stress response.”

“The first thing we do is open the doors for people who are cold and hungry,” Muller says. “Homelessness really destroys your autonomy, your sense of self… your wholeness. Our chaplain works extensively with people trying to help them to integrate within their own spirit, build self-esteem and a sense of purpose.”

Case workers at the New Hope Centre work to identify challenges of people’s ability to return to a stable and sheltered life. Breaking barriers into bite-sized pieces makes them more manageable to overcome.

For example, if someone needs a haircut, they are given a phone number and a phone to make a call and schedule an appointment. After the appointment is scheduled, they are given a coupon for the haircut.

Muller proposes a model for helping folks access housing. First, emergency shelters provide a safe space to sleep, to take a shower, access a meal, and a referral to transitional housing. Then an individual can be placed in transitional housing, which is a kind of small, independent set of units and is also funded by BC Housing.

But what is the cause of this increase in unhoused people in Nanaimo? Well, the problem is bigger than us, bigger than the Island.

Last year, BC’s Affordable Housing polling reported that only 17 percent of the renters could afford rent for a similar home in their community if they had to end their current tenancy today. Implying that, in the case of an emergency, 83 percent of renters wouldn’t be able to afford tenancy.

The loss of stable income is a leading cause of homelessness. Combined with the housing crisis in the province of British Columbia, fears of not being able to find affordable rental are visibly pronounced. They may well be at their highest.

The loss of a job could create the unstable cocktail it takes for someone to lose their home.

Younger generations are often presented with unrealistic expectations from how the housing market and even life’s milestones looked like for Baby Boomers and early Gen X. A poll from 2023 shows that a mind-boggling 89 percent of Canadians aged 18 to 34 have worried about paying their mortgage or rent in recent months.

Alarmingly, more and more families with young children, as well as pension-dependent seniors, can no longer afford their rent. Many choose to move into their vehicles or tents and are forced to live in unsafe situations. Our society has been built on structures and norms that benefit a small number of individuals, while many others are left to struggle to meet their basic needs.

The number of precariously housed seniors is increasing. United Way BC is a non-profit organization that focuses on poverty reduction and emergency response, as well as helping children, youth, and seniors.

A 2023 report by the United Way BC on the growing housing crisis for seniors shows that today, seniors’ rates of low income in BC (15.2 percent) are nearly double that of any other age group.

As the cost of housing in our province has been skyrocketing, it is nearly impossible to find affordable rentals in many communities. Subsidized programs where renters pay 30 percent of their income for housing is an effective way to ensure that housing is affordable to low-income seniors. However, despite a 20 percent increase in the senior population from 2017 to 2022, access remained unchanging over this period.

Close to 30,000 units of subsidized rent-geared-to-income housing will be lost in BC by 2033, and 51 percent of these will be seniors’ units due to the expiration of agreements with the provincial and/or federal governments, according to United Way BC.

Naomi Woodland is a director of United Way BC. They are from Stevenage, Hertfordshire and currently live in Nanaimo. Woodland is an avid gardener
and protector of land and wildlife, as well as a solution-focused
community developer.

In their experience, Canada’s homelessness is hugely impacted by the lack of accessible healthcare services in Canada and is made worse by low income.

“We have a huge divide between people who are living paycheck to paycheck or less, and those who have a lot more money than that,” Woodland explains. “What we see on the streets is a really magnified and intensified crisis, because of the lack of access to affordable housing, lack of access to proper income, and limited health services.”

Holly Thomas, a sociology major at VIU in her fourth year, points out that “everything is interwoven. If we had to simplify to talk about the reasons behind this housing crisis it would be wage stagnation, and allowing ‘the fire sector’ finances, investment and real estate—to dictate the market.”

Minimum wage in BC is $17.85, and according to the Living Wages for Families in BC campaign, it is not a living wage. As calculated in this campaign, the living wage in Nanaimo is $23.79 after tax deductions, and does not include debt repayment or savings.

According to BC Housing’s 2023 report, more than 11,000 British Columbians experienced homelessness in 27 communities across our province.

Gordon Fuller has been a resident of Nanaimo for 37 years, a longtime community and social advocate. Fuller has served at the Nanaimo City Council and is an invaluable asset to the community, working in the social service sector with adults and youth for over 20 years. Now, he is on the board of Nanaimo 7-10 Club Society, an organization which has been feeding people in Nanaimo for 40 years.

“The simple answer to why it’s mostly non-profits that are involved with homelessness is because there is no profit in it,” Fuller says. Blunt, but true, as is his nature. “There are two things that work and they’ve been around for a couple decades now… Housing First model and Four Pillars approach.”

Housing First is a recovery-oriented approach to ending homelessness that focuses on providing immediate access to housing first, and then provides additional support and services as needed. Its basic underlying principle is that people are able to better move forward with their lives if they are housed first—similar to what the New Hope Centre hopes to fulfill.

With the current housing and life affordability crisis, no one is completely safe from the possibility of ending up without stable housing.

How can we possibly shift thinking as a society, to provide proper support as United Way BC, the New Hope Centre, and 7-10 attempt to do every day? Changing perspective to a lens of compassion for those living without shelter is crucial for making a difference in our community.

What if we find strength in ourselves to stop judging the homeless for their circumstances?

Instead, we must encourage individual change and growth, through support and understanding, both emotionally and physically. Peer support work is hard work, and anyone can become a part of the solution by volunteering for these local organizations.

For many, this path is not a choice. It is a result of continuously poor circumstances, and it is so deeply rooted in the personal history of each person. The first step we can always take is to feel compassion.