Homelessness is bad for business so the federal government should reallocate funding to develop a national plan to end homelessness, according to the Burnaby Board of Trade (BBOT).
BBOT president and CEO Darlene Gering told Business in Vancouver August 4 that businesses in her community have been urging her organization to put that concept in a policy resolution and take it to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting in September.
Gering said, “If the resolution is voted on and gets two-thirds of the chambers and the boards of trade across Canada to approve to put [this] into the policy book, then the Canadian Chamber of Commerce will lobby on behalf of 175,000 businesses to the federal government for this particular resolution.”
She added, “It does carry significantly more weight than perhaps other approaches taken by the social service sector."
Gering believes homelessness in Burnaby has increased 105% since 2005.
Her policy resolution notes that, on average, each homeless person in B.C. costs the public system more than $55,000 per year, while the provision of adequate housing with supportive services is estimated to reduce that cost to $37,000 per year.
“Homelessness is an increasing problem,” she said. “Financial institutions are finding that homeless people are causing problems with automatic teller machines. Loitering in front of storefronts is causing consumers to walk away. This is a growing concern for business.”