Homes: Regional housing prices continue to climb. 19
Sportts: Burrards chasing playyoff spot. 26
Municipal: New digital sign goes up, up . 4 Fr i d ay, J u l y 1 0 , 2 0 1 5 · mapleridgenews.com · est. 1978 · (office) 604-467-1122 · (del iver y) 6 04 - 46 6- 6 39 7
‘Pitt sends homeless to Maple Ridge’ Homelessness is a provincial issue: Becker By Neil Corbett ncorbett@mapleridgenews.com
As Maple Ridge grapples with its homeless problem, trying to find accommodations for approx i m at e l y 65 people in the Cliff Avenue camp and more throughout the Becker city, neighbour Pitt Meadows deals with a much smaller number of street people. Generally, they are referred to Maple Ridge or Coquitlam. “I hear about it, and I see it,” Pitt Meadows Mayor John Becker said of the homeless issue. “Our numbers are proportionate to our population.” Pitt Meadows has a population of just 18,000, while Maple Ridge has 76,000, according to the 2011 census. Becker points out that Pitt Meadows has no local supports for homeless people, and they are referred to Maple Ridge, where there are more services to assist them, including the Salvation Army Caring Place. “We don’t have the facilities or services that draw the disadvantaged. It’s a different environment,” said Becker. Unlike larger Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows City Hall has no “social planning bureaucracy,” and there are no provincial supports, said Becker. See Services, 9
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Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Maple Ridge Mayor Nicole Read, flanked by NDP MLA David Eby, addresses media at the Cliff Avenue homeless camp on Wednesday.
NDP wants housing action Province has to solve homelessness problem B y P h i l M e l nychuk pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
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utside one tent on the Cliff Avenue camp, a Star Wars figurine stood guard, deterring any possible intruders, while a few metres down shopping carts and bike parts lined the curb. In a shady spot beneath the trees, someone was passed out in a tent, oblivious to Vancouver NDP MLA David Eby’s visit on a
Tim Fitzgerald/THE NEWS
Lisa Sullivan is worried about safety for children in the area.
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sweltering Wednesday afternoon. Eby said it’s now been two months since the camp behind the Salvation Army Caring Place in Maple Ridge reached its present size and pointed out that other tent cities have been removed. “Yet, here there seems to be total inaction.” With the heat, angry bystanders, lack of water and sanitation, “I think from any perspective, there is a tragedy waiting to happen. “We cannot leave this the way it is. The province has to step up and solve this problem.” About 60 people remain at the
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camp, despite the city having hired four outreach workers to try to connect people with services. And work goes on to try find people homes, Mayor Nicole Read said at the camp. But it takes time to find landlords and rental units for people even though B.C. Housing is now offering about 50 rental supplements in Maple Ridge. “Right now, it’s a matter of finding those spaces,” she said. “We know there are levers the city can pull to get more housing stock in the city.” See Housing, 13
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