2018

OCTOBER 2018

Prepared for the Metro Community Entity, Partnering Strategy

By BC Non-Profit Housing Association

Page 1 FOREWORD BY METRO VANCOUVER COMMUNITY ENTITY

The Metro Vancouver Community Entity thanks all who contributed to the 2018 Youth Homeless Count, especially the youth who participated in the survey and the youth with lived experience of homelessness who participated in the planning and design of the project and survey questions. Thank you also to the members of the Project Team who gave their time, experience and expertise to the design and implementation of the project, and to all the staff of the youth-serving organizations and schools across the region that participated – all together your contributions have produced an unprecedented quality and quantity of reliable data.

Thank you to the BCNPHA consultants for the excellent community development and research skills brought to this research project that involved a large and complex regional scope, which aimed to reach a largely hidden population while applying new methodologies – well done!

Page 2 2018 Youth Homeless Count Project Team

Alison Stewart Fraser Valley Regional District Annie Smith McCreary Society Averill Hanson Community Poverty Reduction Initiative Chelsea Grier Fraser Region Aboriginal Friendship Centre Association Crystal Williamson Service , Homelessness Partnering Strategy David Baspaly Infocus Consulting David Wells Aboriginal Homelessness Steering Committee Dena Kae Beno City of Abbotsford Heather Lynch Options Community Services Jennifer Hales City of Vancouver Jonquil Hallgate Council of Community Homeless Tables Linda Lavallee Aboriginal Homelessness Partnering Strategy, Community Entity Lorraine Copas Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia Louise Sallai Fraser Region Aboriginal Friendship Centre Association Niki Cooke School District 43 Zach Batalden Pacific Community Resources Society

Metro Vancouver Community Entity

Theresa Harding Manager Jessica Hayes Regional Planner

BC Non-Profit Housing Association

Peer-Daniel Krause Project Manager Erika Sagert Coordinator Manager Brian Clifford Data Manager

Count Coordinators

Evan Hammer Burnaby/New Westminster Julie Hemily Vancouver Liam Schober Langley/Ridge Meadows Paul Butler North Shore Polly Krier Tri-Cities Tracy Lau Delta/Richmond Veronica Reiss Surrey/White Rock

Report Design By

Elana Siu

Photograph By

Tallulah Photography

Partners

This project was funded by the Metro Vancouver Community Entity, Page 3 Homelessness Partnering Strategy, Government of Canada. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The methodology for the 2018 Youth Homeless Count differed from a traditional Point-in-Time (PiT) homeless count approach by carrying out data collection over the course of nine days, rather than 24 hours. This new method was designed to provide more opportunities to make contact with youth experiencing homelessness across the region. The focus of data analysis for the 2018 count was to explore the different circumstances of youth experiencing homelessness who identified as Aboriginal/Indigenous and those who did not, specifically to assist with funding allocation and service provision in the region.

There were two primary methods for data collection used in the 2018 Youth Homeless Count: (1) a paper-based survey and (2) an Excel-based service use spreadsheet. The survey instrument was intended to capture both the number of youth experiencing homelessness in the region and to provide a demographic profile of those youth. The service use spreadsheet was designed to supplement the enumeration process by recording youth who met the definition of , but who may not have wanted to answer a full survey.

When combined, these two me