The Board of St. James Community Service Society has formally endorsed the Streetohome Foundation's new 10-year plan to end homelessness in Vancouver.

The plan (download here) was developed with a range of stakeholder input, including staff and Board representation from St. James. We strongly recommend that you - our supporters and contacts - review and distribute the report throughout the community. It sets out to:

1. Identify and recommend policies and initiatives that help prevent people from becoming homeless;
2. Outline the scope of homelessness in our city, the supply of supportive housing, and assess the gap in housing and services;
3. Forecast the number and type of housing units and services needed to relieve homelessness in Vancouver;
4. Identify the need to build resources and build community engagement;
5. Set measurable goals to track progress.

At St. James we believe the work that Streetohome is undertaking is extremely important and has the potential to make a huge and lasting impact on our city and community. We support their work and look forward to working with their staff and Board to further the goal of finally ending homelessness in Vancouver.

The big question now is how the various community groups, levels of government and other stakeholders come together around a plan like this to actually implement it. We need to build at least another 2,000 units of social housing (as well as take policy and other action to help prevent homelessness). That's a huge challenge, but one we need to recommit ourselves to achieving.

More than ever, now is the time to end homelessness, not just "manage" it. As the eyes of the world are upon our city, it's a wonderful time to look to a comprehensive plan like this for renewed energy and passion.