The Tyee just published an article Seven Solutions to Homelessness, subheaded "Each is working somewhere else, and will save money and lives here." They definitely give some good ideas, along with a bit of unworkable fluff. Their list of solutions is as follows:
Trade Fairs for the Homeless
Raise the Welfare Rates
Train Young Workers
Spread the Love Around (outside the DTES)
Buy a Few Hotels
Give Addicts Time to Heal (in longer support programs)
According to a recent poll (found at CTV), here are what Vancouver residents say the city's biggest problems are:
Homelessness: 24 per cent
Traffic and transit: 22 per cent
Health care: 14 per cent
Crime: 12 per cent
House prices: 10 per cent
Poverty: 7 per cent
Environment: 2 per cent
No surprise that homelessness came in at #1. It's an in-your-face issue all across the city. 72 percent of people also said the problem has been getting worse.
Traffic and transit comes in as a strong #2. Hopefully the BC government's back-asswards highway expansion plans will get scrapped before it makes the traffic here even worse.