Despite the burgeoning growth that’s typified the West Shore for the past 10 years, the lack of housing for transitional youth continues to be the elephant without a room. While the availability of subsidized or supportive housing for seniors, First Nations, low income families and people with disabilities has seen increases, with more projects planned or in the works, there is very limited available space for youth in transition. Frankly, this problem is not going to go away, and will undoubtedly increase at a pace that matches the explosion in population.
The MO so far has been to send teenagers without a fixed address into Victoria to try and find suitable accommodation. That is far from ideal on several levels because it removes the youth in question from any friends, family or support they may have on the West Shore, and increases the risk that they will succumb to the dangers posed by the pitfalls that await within a life on the street.
There is a crying need not only for youth housing, but the support services as well that can make a long-term difference in the life ahead for a troubled teen. A recent effort by Threshold Housing to partner with the Greater Victoria Housing Society on a meagre 10 spaces for transitional youth appears to be derailed due to a lack of funding. That’s disheartening because all of the agencies involved would agree that there is an urgent need, and the costs of addressing the damage done in the interim to youth in need of care and supervision will only increase further down the road.
What is required to address this crisis is a collaborative effort by municipal and provincial governments, working in tandem with the social agencies that are there to assist youth in need. By pooling resources and involving municipalities in making suitable land available, we can create the snowball that picks up size and momentum as it rolls along.
With a new government historically more tuned to social issues set to take over the controls and the provincial purse strings, the timing couldn’t be better for such an initiative. It’s often pretty amazing what can be accomplished when people are on the same page with the same goals in mind.
We are a society that supposedly prides itself on how we care for our elderly, our young, the frail and the infirm, yet the in-between teens seem to consistently fall through the cracks. It’s time we started addressing that in earnest before the cost and the damage caused increases dramatically.