Episode 2: Housing & Homelessness
Hello. I'm Jessica Samuels, and welcome to episode 2 of a way forward presented by Beam Credit Union. Today, we're talking housing and homelessness, not only the individual, but also the societal factors that can lead an individual to experiencing this. I sit down with CMHA Clona CEO, Mike Golik. Mike, glad to have you here today as part of this discussion.
Jessica Samuels:It's huge. It's complex. Let's just say we're not going to get to all of it. We're going to get to some of it, some key points and factors. And so we'll dive right in housing, homelessness, mental health.
Jessica Samuels:I think that we all can understand if you don't know where you're gonna sleep at night, if you don't have a place to call home, or you're worried about losing that, that's gonna have a negative impact on your mental health. And in fact, it's like a core need of individuals having housing.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. Ultimately, I mean, housing is a basic human need. It goes along with food and water and Mhmm. Those things that we ultimately, need to survive. It's been shown that it's a basic social determinant of health.
Mike Gawliuk:Without it, people are certainly more at risk of struggling with health care concerns, mental illness, substance use. It's it's super significant and important, important enough that the federal government in 2019 enshrined housing as a human right. Now there's a lot of work to be done, with that as we're seeing in communities across the country, but there is no doubt whatsoever that it is essential. And what I would say ultimately is that that housing is health care. Without it, you don't have as good of a chance of being well and being able to take care of yourself.
Jessica Samuels:We'll talk a little bit more about that because you made two statements. You said without housing, you're more susceptible to mental health issues, possibly substance use, some other things. And then you just said housing is health care. Like draw that, make a more direct line for for those of us who that like, that's an interesting phrase to me.
Mike Gawliuk:Well, I mean, again, I think it comes to the basics. When you have a a roof over your head, when you have some form of shelter, and you look at how how say in Kelowna, the weather from summer to winter, like there's an actual physical risk. And every winter we run into this, what are we going to do? Because that risk becomes, so significant that someone, could ultimately pass away from that. I think for a number of people who have both mental health and are struggling with homelessness, there are health care concerns that they have, whether that's primary health care, that ultimately in the absence of a place to be, they're not going to recover from.
Mike Gawliuk:And so at the end of the day, it's essential. Like it's basic. Without that, we're
Jessica Samuels:nowhere. Well, and I just think about so you're speaking from the healthcare piece, but without an address, you can't get a job. You can't get like there's also some foundational elements of of thriving and surviving and and getting ahead, in our community that are associated with having a home. Yeah. So what is a home then?
Jessica Samuels:Let's define that to that housing idea.
Mike Gawliuk:Well, and I'm gonna I'm gonna Okay. At one point put this back to you, but I would say first of all, a home is something everybody might define differently.
Jessica Samuels:Okay.
Mike Gawliuk:I can say for me what home is, it's about, safety. It's about stability. It's about family. It's about connection. It's it's stability.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. I know it's here today, here tomorrow. So for me, that's what home, when I think of it is. For you, it might be a different response. What does home look like for you?
Jessica Samuels:Yeah. That really resonates with me. I mean, home is trying not to sound like I'm a slogan or anything like that, but home is where the the family is. And I but I think when when I think of what family represents to me, it is security. And family is my husband, my dog, a place where I can entertain.
Jessica Samuels:But also, like, there's something about that act of, like, locking the door and going and getting in my bed and having the peace of mind that I am gonna be okay, and I'm gonna wake up in the morning. And and I I think that is what home is to me. I don't have to own it. I actually only became a homeowner, like 5 years ago. But it's that sense of a place to call my own.
Mike Gawliuk:Well, and I think the other part of it, I think when we talk about, like, shelter or housing, we talk about built structures. Home looks very different than 4 walls and a roof. And I think that's important to consider when we talk about this topic of of of housing and homelessness because it's not just houselessness. Right? And home means different things to different people.
Jessica Samuels:Okay. And and then just to throw one more at you then. So are you saying that something that might be categorized as shelter could in fact be to that individual their home?
Mike Gawliuk:I think it could be.
Jessica Samuels:Mhmm.
Mike Gawliuk:I mean, I think when we look at shelter, in particular the emergency shelter, what it was designed for, was an emergency response. Okay. It was a place for people to go when they had nowhere else to go and to move, move forward and find stability in a short period of time. Mhmm. I mean, I think we've seen, over the past number of years that, the intended purpose of short stay in an emergency shelter has shifted dramatically.
Mike Gawliuk:And so when you see people that are there for extended periods of time, it can become home to them, whether that's connection to staff or or other residents. It's possible. But I would say it's also part of the challenge because that's not what it's not what it was designed for. And it's something that we have to continue to work towards to ensure that we get to that place where shelter is just that, an emergency response and not a place that somebody lives or, is there for an extended period of time.
Jessica Samuels:Right. And I'm not trying to belabor this point too much, but I think, just in their first part of your response when you're saying the definition means different things to different people. And one of the things I know, that I've learned, you know, might some people might not know, but, not a surprise to many of the listeners is I worked for CMHA Kelowna for quite some time and really seeing the human factor of homelessness. And and, you don't always have opportunity to do that. You see it as an entity, tents on rail trails and and what that may mean for you, but there's humans in there.
Jessica Samuels:So just taking a moment to to recognize that there's humans, and perhaps this is not their ideal situation. They didn't wake up today and say, you know what I wanna be? I wanna be homeless, but they might be making the best of the current situation.
Mike Gawliuk:Today or any day. I mean, over the course of my career, I have never met anybody that said to me, their goal when they they grew up was was to be homeless. Mhmm. That's simply not a reality. And I think your point is is well taken.
Mike Gawliuk:And as we really grapple with these issues, and and there's significant challenges where there's a number of things that are bumping up against each other. You know, certainly the the drug the drug crisis, public safety, all those pieces. I think it's harder to see the humanity in that when it gets to a level of frustration, and we don't believe that things are getting better or they're working. But I can tell you that for every person who's out there, everybody has a story and everybody has a reason why they're there. And I can think of things as, you know, from, somebody who we worked with who was a very successful business owner and then, lost his wife and and, and children in a car accident.
Mike Gawliuk:And that was the factor that flipped the switch for him. And he he dove deeply into substance use to to to sort of try to numb himself. And ultimately, it led to the to him ending up homeless. So behind each one of those, tents, behind each one of those shopping carts, there are real people with real stories. And your point is absolutely right.
Mike Gawliuk:It's easy to see a group and make assumptions, but I think, we can never lose the human side of this issue.
Jessica Samuels:Yeah. So important. You touched upon something there, about that individual story. We talk about there are many different pathways to homelessness, and maybe in a little bit, we'll we'll get to that. What I've been calling we've been calling the chicken egg scenario.
Jessica Samuels:So what role does mental health and or substance use play in either, in in an individual's homelessness? So before or after. But before we do that, so then we had a discussion about housing and shelter. So how are we defining homeless? An individual who's experiencing homeless for the and and I think that from a service provider, perspective, I think is important, to to note here.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. I mean, when I look at sort of the Canadian definition of homelessness, and this comes from the Canadian Observatory on homelessness, it is a situation of an individual or family without stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect means and ability of acquiring it.
Jessica Samuels:Sable, stable, safe, permanent. Mhmm. That's another thing that I forgot in my definition.
Mike Gawliuk:Sounds like home.
Jessica Samuels:Yeah. Driving to the place that I know is going to be there and will be there tomorrow and the day after and the day day after. Okay. So that's the definition of homeless, and that resonates well with what we've been talking about so far. Let's talk about the pathways to homelessness and let's get back to that chicken and egg scenario of so I have a belief that some of the some people as they're looking at, the rail trail or tents in any I mean, in Kelowna, we say the rail trail, but it's it's really any community, in North America and well beyond and across Canada, and see it as a homogeneous group.
Jessica Samuels:Tense. They're in our way. This isn't right. Let's get them out of here. Recognizing as well that it is the municipality's responsibility to provide access to shelter as you defined, in the if there's not an opportunity for housing.
Jessica Samuels:So if they can't put them in market housing, then I mean, municipality's responsibility is to provide like, an encampment. That's that's kind of an idea. Not an idea. It is the responsibility of a municipality. So knowing that that's not there necessarily because of punch people decided to wake up in the morning and go tent on the rail trail.
Jessica Samuels:What is the chicken and egg? What came first? And what are the pathways when you consider mental health and substance use for people who are experiencing homelessness?
Mike Gawliuk:Well, I think I mean, there's really two sides to that coin. The first the first side to that coin, and I think there can be assumptions that are made that when you see someone who's on the rail trail and maybe they're significantly impacted by substances, the assumption that goes there on the rail trail because of substances. But when it comes to mental health, when it comes to substance use, the reality is that someone who lives with a mental illness has a greater chance of ending up homeless. There's really three factors for that. One of the driving factors that you can't avoid in this whole issue is poverty.
Mike Gawliuk:People with mental illness diagnosed tend to experience poverty at higher rates. Secondly, social disconnection. Then thirdly, increased vulnerability. So there are circumstances whereby, people that have a mental illness, may end up experiencing homelessness. On the other side of the coin, and I was involved in a in a youth study a number of years ago across Canada, where they talk to young people who were experiencing homelessness.
Mike Gawliuk:And one of the key themes that came out of this and it's not that hard to understand is that some people develop a mental illness. Some people, become, more involved with substances due to the reality of the day to day. Right? Being able to being able to cope in some ways again, like I talked about that individual being able to sort of just try and numb yourself out from the fact that it isn't always, a great situation. And certainly, there's trauma that can happen.
Mike Gawliuk:There's lots of issues that can take place while you're out there. So for some people, that might be what leads them to the experience of homelessness. For other people, that might mean that when they first end up homeless, they develop issues and concerns as a means of trying to cope with, the challenges of being outside.
Jessica Samuels:Right. And I would presume that there are some folks who are homeless who have neither.
Mike Gawliuk:Well and I think this is this is the reality. I think if you say, not everybody with a mental illness is homeless and not everybody who's homeless has a mental illness. Mhmm. I I think I think it's it's sort of easy to put people into a certain basket, but even we talked about earlier when it comes to the drug poisoning crisis, like what you see becomes reality. Yet we know, in in British Columbia, some of the stats are very clear in terms of who's been most impacted by the drug poisoning crisis.
Mike Gawliuk:And that's 30 to 50 year old males who end up overdosing and dying in their own home.
Jessica Samuels:Mhmm.
Mike Gawliuk:So it's not a it's not a scenario where Right. Like, it's it's just one one person and this is the path and this is what it looks like. Again, we're talking about human beings, human condition, and everybody is different.
Jessica Samuels:Mhmm. And sometimes folks who are you who are using substances in their own home as opposed to perhaps someone who is using substances in a shelter and encampment, are looked upon differently. And let's be honest, are addressed differently not only as a societal aspect but within our our health care system and across the the various organizations that serve that population.
Mike Gawliuk:Oh, for sure. 100%. There's a certain, level of inequity that exists when we look at access to health care, substance use services. There's no doubt about that.
Jessica Samuels:Okay. So we talked about some of the individual factors that can lead to an in person being without housing housing or being homeless. There's also some pretty heavy duty societal factors that are at play here.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. I mean, again, to reiterate reiterate, like, poverty is a huge driver of homelessness. And as we've seen, ultimately, and it's been exacerbated after the pandemic, is is rents gone up. Right? It it costs more to live.
Mike Gawliuk:Those that don't have, access to necessary income are at significant risk of, falling into homelessness. The availability of affordable housing, You know, it's taken a long time to get to this place. Mhmm. And there are certainly lots of efforts being made at this point in time to catch up and in terms of building, more affordable housing for people. But that's ultimately going to take time.
Mike Gawliuk:It doesn't just happen overnight. There are some bright, brighter signs as we talked about earlier today, you know, Kelowna in terms of developments and the number of rentals that are coming online is going to have a direct impact on the vacancy rate, which will put some pressure on, rentals going down.
Jessica Samuels:Mhmm.
Mike Gawliuk:I think other, you know, factors that, are societal, certainly employment and unemployment play into that. There's no doubt, transitions from specific, institutions. So for example, transitions from hospital transitions from, criminal justice, system transitions of youth from the child welfare system. Those are all points of like vulnerability that are systemic fact factors actually that place people more at risk of ending up, homeless. So, there's a number of factors that are outside of the individual control of any one person.
Mike Gawliuk:I think there's a mindset that has existed over the course of time too that, you know, one of the approaches to addressing this issue is just, you know, pull up your bootstraps, which may be easy to do, but how do you do that when you don't have a pair of boots? Mhmm. Right? So, that doesn't that doesn't wash, anymore. And, and I think it's important to to understand all of those realities and the interplay that goes on between them.
Mike Gawliuk:It certainly can feel a little discouraging because, like, what can we do about that? Like, what possibly can we could we do to change this? Right?
Jessica Samuels:I actually have that for a question for you later on. So just, you know, prepare your answer if you can. But, you know, and and a little bit of levity for a serious situation, but because it's like it feels impossible. So, before we get to that, you were talking about that transitional housing. And to me, that really plays into that affordable housing piece because, you know, I'm sure your favorite line and my favorite line for years is affordable for whom?
Jessica Samuels:Because when we talk about, the average cost of, of living in Kelowna or anywhere right now versus wages versus all of those things, I mean, in terms of the average median household that, folks have to have in order to be able to afford a home and afford all the other things and and, you know, cost of living is is is another episode for us too. But affordable is is quite a broad range. And so in this instance, when I hear you say affordable, but then when you're also talking about transitional housing, that, you know, I guess I guess to put it directly, that's lower down on the affordability scale. I don't mean lower priority. I mean, it has to be really affordable.
Jessica Samuels:So the rents and everything are really affordable in order to really impact the community.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. You mean absolutely. And there's there's market forces that are at play and then there's ultimately, you know, issues related to, public policy and and decisions that government can make. I I will say there are some things that are happening in British Columbia are pretty unique and somewhat innovative. There's the rental protection fund that was launched.
Mike Gawliuk:Yep. And the idea there was for non profits to acquire buildings that, are vulnerable to renovation, in the sense that there may be buildings that are built in the sixties, seventies. Rents are at a lower rate, and and nonprofits can pick them up as resources as a way to sustain that affordability. And then, ultimately, down the road, redevelop to ensure that you could potentially have higher density and keep it at an affordable rate as well. So that's that's a major piece of the work that's been done.
Mike Gawliuk:There's been investments in the community housing fund, which is designed to build affordable housing, for various groups and and is certainly rolling out across across the community and it's and it's initiatives like that. I think the reality is at his heart, like I say, where it's a financial issue, I think there are some people that we work with that simply need an economic intervention. And that looks like affordable housing. That might look like a rent supplement, in order for them to, either prevent or end their experience of homelessness. And then there's others who certainly have poverty as an issue.
Mike Gawliuk:And then on top of that are experiencing other other considerations. So that's where mental illness comes in. That's where substance misuse comes in. And I think the thing that we're seeing currently at this moment, that's really showing up, is the issue of how, you know, now sort of 8 years down the road with this drug poisoning crisis, the other, outcome that we're seeing is the increase of acquired brain injury in people and what ultimately, what impact that that has. And that speaks to, what kind of responses we need to address that.
Mike Gawliuk:And that goes far beyond simply an economic intervention. That goes to significant, wraparound supports and different types of care for, people that are struggling with those issues.
Jessica Samuels:So what's the correlation between the drug poisoning crisis and the acquired brain injury?
Mike Gawliuk:So again, this has been going on for a period of time, and there are people who have overdosed and been brought back. There are some who have overdosed multiple times and been brought back. In some cases, when they're overdosing, ultimately, the oxygen is cut off to the brain and they can be down for an extended period of time. They may experience multiple overdoses. But the reality is that without oxygen to your brain, there's gonna be some damage that happens.
Jessica Samuels:Right.
Mike Gawliuk:And I think I think that's now, as we've kinda gone down field a little bit is one of the things that we're seeing show up more, than it may have ultimately, you know, 5 or 6 years ago.
Jessica Samuels:Okay. Right. Once again, many pathways to homelessness and it's it's not a a set group where economic intervention, medical intervention, plus all of other things that we didn't we didn't delve too much into. There's also all kinds of groups. There's youth and and perhaps, vulnerable groups that are fleeing difficult situations, in existing homes, whether it's their their parents or caregivers, whether it's their, spouses or partners and all of that.
Jessica Samuels:And so this is a population of hidden homeless that perhaps are sleeping on a friend's couch and just trying to navigate other crises in their life, as they've had to give up their homes.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. I mean, ultimately, there are groups that are more more vulnerable to experiencing homelessness. One of those groups is indigenous people. One of those groups is LGBTQ2SI, individuals. And then, youth, as well are population that's at significant risk.
Mike Gawliuk:In fact, 40% of people that end up experiencing homelessness experience that before the age of 16. Then we look at racialized communities and those are also higher risk for homelessness, across this country.
Jessica Samuels:We have established that there is a housing, a homelessness crisis in our community. We've talked about the drug overdose crisis and then the other impacting factors and the many paths to homelessness. You talked about some interventions. And, we know in in the mental health and health community, early intervention when addressing those factors are key. What would be some ways to some additional ways to address housing precarity?
Jessica Samuels:Let's talk about that.
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah.
Jessica Samuels:Because there are some things a little further upstream that if you're an an individual who is nervous and you're making these choices between groceries, gas, car payment, or not even bus fare and rent, What are some ways that these can be addressed?
Mike Gawliuk:Yeah. I think there's multiple ways. And before I jump into those those elements, I also want to say that we have to be careful in addressing these issues that we're not just looking for a silver bullet. Mhmm. Because the reality is, there is no silver bullet.
Mike Gawliuk:And so it it takes a an approach that's gonna it's gonna involve housing. It's going to involve health care. It's going to involve multiple sectors. So I just I just want to say that because I think, sort of where we are currently, everybody is looking for a silver bullet. We're looking for the thing that is going to fix things.
Mike Gawliuk:There is no one thing. Now to tie it into to your question, we can intervene after the fact when somebody has experienced, homelessness, or we can try to prevent them from ending up there in the first place. That has significant economic impact as well as, major social impact. So certainly one example of that is a program that we run, through CMHA, which is called the Central Okanagan Rent Bank. And that program, has been established for those people that are really one paycheck away from losing their home.
Mike Gawliuk:Last year, we had 511 people apply to Rent Bank for a loan, loan grant combo or a grant. We were able to approve 259 people to to be approved for that. That includes, 80 children. And so the number of families that have come forward looking for assistance is important. The reality is, this is a needed investment.
Mike Gawliuk:And for $1500 one time, if someone's having a struggle with employment or health, or maybe they're going through a relationship, breakup. And that's the thing that can make the difference between them keeping the roof that they have over their head or ending up homeless. That is that is a wise investment. I think, you know, across the community, we're seeing different initiatives that are focused around prevention and diversion. One of the organizations, to do that is certainly in the youth world is BGCO.
Mike Gawliuk:So Boys and Girls Club, they started a shelter diversion program years ago. The goal was to do whatever they could to prevent someone from ending up in shelter, because we know for young people that if they're in shelter, their risk level goes up. So diverting them from shelter or from the streets, and oftentimes that can then look like trying to engage them with family or another option to to, try to ensure some stability and prevent them from, going where they could go. And then I think one that's recent, and, you know, give full credit to Metro as the host is a shelter hub, which is kind of the adult version of what, BGCO has done so that people can come in before accessing shelter or experiencing homelessness and with the support of organizations, and it's led by Turning Points. We're a partner in it as well as others.
Mike Gawliuk:Again, trying to divert people from ending up in shelter or on the streets. And that might mean, assisting with returning to a home community and getting reconnected with family. It can look like different things, but the goal ultimately is kind of to try to turn the tap down a little bit, so that there's less people ending up out there, and more people with a roof over their head.
Jessica Samuels:Great organizations that you mentioned. Some of them are specific here local to Kelowna. Some of these, like BGC, you'll find in other communities across BC as well. And so folks can check out the programs that they provide, in their specific to their community. The one I do wanna mention though is Rent Bank is a provincial entity, and so it is run by, various organizations in the community.
Jessica Samuels:So here, like as you mentioned for the central Okanagan is CMHA. So if there's folks who are listening, who are outside of Kelowna or the central Okanagan, then really BC Rent Bank and and and find the one that's closest to you. And the great thing about Rent Bank as well is that the process to pay back, it's a micro loan, and there is some financial literacy, embedded within the services.
Mike Gawliuk:Absolutely. Yeah. You know, Rent Bank sort of started in the the lower mainland, with the support of the Vancity Foundation and then expanded. And, now there's 18, Rent Banks across British Columbia. And, certainly, as time has gone on, there's become more financial support from, the provincial government while as well with the recognition and acknowledgment that a little bit of investment now is way is significant compared to how much you'd have to spend down the road, trying to address the issue of homelessness.
Jessica Samuels:Mike, thank you so much for having this conversation with me today. It's it's huge as complex as we set off the top, but I so appreciate your time. I appreciate our sponsor, Being Credit Union, for allowing these conversations to be possible. And one of the key factors is that you talked about a lot of the resources, and we will be including those in the show notes so people can refer back to them. But really, thank you so much for being here.
Mike Gawliuk:Thank you. And thanks to Beam. I mean, ultimately, there are resources out there that people can get access to. And certainly, hopefully, one of the things we can do by having these conversations is increase the level of awareness about where to turn when you're facing, some challenges.
Jessica Samuels:Beam Credit Union is proud to be a part of communities all across BC with over 50 branches and insurance offices dedicated to supporting your financial journey. Beam understands financial wellness means something different to everyone, and they're here to help you achieve your unique goals. Whether you're saving for the future, planning your next big step, or just looking for peace of mind, Beam Credit Union is by your side. GFCU Savings, Gulf and Fraser, Interior Savings and North Peace Savings are trade names of Beam Credit Union.
