The BC Non-profit housing society is looking for volunteers to take part in homeless count in the North Shore.
Conducted every three years by the housing society, the homeless count is considered to be a 24-hour snapshot of homelessness in the Metro Vancouver region.
In the last count in 2017, as many as 100 people were recorded as homeless in North Shore.
Around 70 volunteers will be needed on the North Shore, according to Erika Sagert, the project manager of the 2020 Homeless Count in Metro Vancouver.
The count will take place in North Shore shelters on March 3. On March 4, volunteers will walk, bike, and drive street routes and survey homeless people outdoors and in public spaces.
Sagert said volunteers are asked to commit to one 2-hour training session before the count, and one 2-hour volunteering shift, either on March 3 or March 4.
All volunteers are required to attend a training session. Volunteers need to be available for either the evening of March 3 or at some point throughout the day on March 4.
A local training session will be held on the North Shore on February 12 from 6-8pm.
North Shore volunteers who are unable to attend that particular training session will be asked to attend a session in another community. The other training sessions take place from February 13 to March 2 across the region.
Homeless counts have taken place in Metro Vancouver every 3 years since 2002. The last count was held in 2017 and 100 individuals were identified as experiencing homelessness on the North Shore.
As many as 3,605 individuals were found throughout the region in total, with the largest number reported in Vancouver.
North Shore was the only region in Metro Vancouver where homelessness is on the decline. In the 2008 count, as many as 127 people were counted as homeless, which fell down to 119 in the 2011 count, and to 100 in 2017.
With the exception of North Shore, homelessness increased in all communities, between 19% (Burnaby) and 142% (Delta and White Rock).
The highest absolute increases occurred in Vancouver (335), Surrey (199) and Langley (114).
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