Homelessness in Langley being tackled by new task force

The City of Langley's newly minted homelessness task force says its first course of action is to find a consultant on the issue, with the mayor acknowledging that city staff are no experts when it comes to tackling homelessness.

The chair and co-chair of the new task force met for the first time Tuesday to discuss their mandate. The committee is inviting members of the business community, the faith sector, Fraser Health, BC Housing, and the Langley RCMP to join its board.

Were not here to say that were going to end homelessness because I dont think thats going to happen, said chair Gayle Martin.

If we could get out of this what they call the ACT Teamthats called the Assertive Community Treatment Team and its made up of a psychiatrist, a clinical nurse and the RCMP. At the end of the day, if we can at least accomplish that, that is a step in the right direction.

The task force wants to find a consultant with a broad knowledge of issues related to homelessness. That person will likely be hired after the city budget is passed next month.

Were not experts at it, said Mayor TedSchaffer. Were hopefully going to hire a professional. We realize these changes arent going to made overnight. Maybe it will take a couple of years, but at least were being proactive.

Homelessness not just an issue in big cities

The majority of the Lower Mainlands homeless population lives in Vancouver and Surrey, but homelessness is prevalent in Langley as well. According to last years homeless count, thenumber of homeless living in the city of Langley and Langley Township was 92. However, at the the Gateway of Hope homeless shelter, which is the communitys only emergency shelter, the number seems to be much higher.

Our numbers show almost 800 people that have come through our emergency shelter and gone on to something, said director of community resources TroyGaglardi.

Thats quite a turnaround of a number of people who have gone forward. SoI guess what were seeing is almost a continuum, unfortunately, of people who are moving forward and those who are coming in that we didnt expect to see.

Youth homelessness causing concern in Langley

Youth outreach workers in Langley say youth homelessness continues to be a concern.Alison Cartier with theAldergroveNeighbourhood Services Society says at any given time, she is helping anywhere from a dozen to 20 youths find a safe place to stay. She would like to see an emergency shelter for youths in Langley so that people dont have to be transported to facilities inAbbotsfordand Surrey.

Sometimes they will make unsafe choices specifically for the purpose of staying in Langley, Cartier said.

Its awful to watch that happen, but those are choices that they feel are the only options for them because going to another city isnt an option that would work. It can lead to sexual exploitation, environments where drug use is prevalent. If theyre trying to make positive healthy choices, its difficult to do that when youre surrounded by unsafe scenarios. Survival takes over, and survival is not always pretty.