Visions Journal

A sustainable, collaborative response in the West Kootenays

Jayme Jones, MA

Reprinted from the Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The unseen reality of hidden homelessness issue of Visions Journal, 2024, 20 (2), pp. 16-18

Homelessness is on the rise in the rural West Kootenay region of southeastern BC. While homelessness has always been an issue in the region, in the past, it was mostly hidden from public view, with very few visible tents or unhoused individuals on the street.

People may have gone unnoticed sleeping in their vehicles or staying temporarily with friends or family. In recent years, however, homelessness has become more visible and widespread. Several factors, including a lack of housing options and a toxic drug supply, have made the situation worse.

In rural areas like ours,¹ services to support unhoused individuals vary between communities. This lack of consistency forces the unhoused population to move around to access services they need. An individual may get emergency shelter for a night in one community but get healthcare or low-barrier employment services in another nearby community.

This is due to several factors, including lack of available services in a single community, limited service hours, limited resources and mandates specific to certain areas. Despite the great work being done, communication and coordination between communities and organizations are also limited. This situation shows a need for a regional approach to address rural homelessness.

With the goal of improving the well-being of people experiencing homelessness in Castlegar, Nelson and Trail, Selkirk College launched a three-year applied research project in 2022 called Bridging Rural Homelessness and Well-being: A Sustainable and Collaborative Regional Response.² The project has four objectives:

• conduct research for evidence-based decision-making
• build and strengthen relationships between the different groups involved
• use Selkirk College resources to strengthen regional capacity
• share lessons learned within the region and beyond

Homelessness is a complex issue with many contributing factors that are always changing, such as availability of affordable housing, opening or closing of services and circulation of toxic drugs. There is no single cause and no single solution. What works in one place at one time might not work somewhere else at a different time. Any action to address the issue can also have intended and unintended consequences elsewhere. For example, providing services downtown makes access easier for unhoused residents but also makes homelessness more visible, which can lead to community pushback or stigmatization.

To tackle this complexity, we need diverse perspectives and a willingness to experiment. No one expert can help us. Everyone needs to bring their experiences to the table because everyone is an expert in their own perspective. That way, we are more likely to find solutions that will work in our unique rural situation.

It’s also important to try different small actions and learn from them. Some actions may work, while others may not, and that's OK. The key is to learn from what happens and keep experimenting. Through this process, we can make positive shifts to improve the well-being of our most vulnerable residents.

The Bridging Rural Homelessness and Well-being project is innovative because it focuses on process rather than specific outcomes. This allows us to address the needs of working in complexity. That’s why our project involves nearly 30 partners, including:

• social service organizations
• local governments
• the regional health authority
• churches
• local businesses
• academic institutions
• people with lived and living experience of homelessness

More partners are joining as we continue to move forward. Interested residents are also getting involved. The project includes lived-experience co-researchers on the core team, which helps ground the project design in current needs and ensures it causes no harm to those we aim to support. These co-researchers also help us connect with individuals who are presently unhoused. This is an important part of the project, as we do our best to follow the practice of “nothing about us without us.”³

The project creates space to experiment with solutions for the region:

Gathering

First, we bring people together to share and learn from each other. This results in new or strengthened relationships. Then we work together to develop and try new actions that can make a positive shift in the well-being of those experiencing homelessness.

One way we do this is by hosting an annual event where stakeholders come together in person to focus on homelessness responses in the region. At the 2024 West Kootenay Homelessness Response Summit in Trail, BC, over 220 stakeholders shared ideas and built momentum towards community-driven solutions. After hearing stories from various perspectives, including a panel of people with lived and living experiences of homelessness, attendees worked through a participatory process to develop actions. They left with new and strengthened relationships and eight tangible actions to start before the end of 2024, including creating a regional anti-stigma program.

Learning

Continuous learning and feedback are also crucial in addressing complex challenges. In 2023, the project team conducted interviews with service providers and unhoused individuals to better understand current conditions and identify what is and isn’t working.

In summer 2024, the project completed a survey of residents to understand community perceptions of homelessness. We asked about current conditions, services, well-being of our unhoused residents, information sources and community engagement. Preliminary results show most respondents believe homelessness is an important issue and is having a big impact on the community. They also say they’ve noticed a substantial increase in the unhoused population over the past five years. Community perceptions about outdoor shelter sites and supervised consumption sites are more polarized. This research helps us better understand homelessness in our rural region and inform decisions that address the issue.

Collaborating

In the project’s final year, the Selkirk College team will continue supporting this collaborative effort. While there are limited visible outcomes to mark the end of the project, success will be seen in the less-visible, strengthened relationships and improved regional collaboration, such as municipalities working together to address homelessness. Our team aims to develop a future project to continue these collaborations.

While hidden homelessness does exist in our rural region, increasingly visible homelessness calls for greater collaboration to find local solutions. Hopefully, through the Bridging Rural Homelessness and Well-being project, we will help improve not only the well-being of our visibly unhoused residents, but those experiencing hidden homelessness as well.

Related Resources

Toll-free information and referral line for the Office of the Seniors Advocate British Columbia: 1-877-952-3181.