Mylan Clairmont started victoriahousingcrowdfund.ca in hopes of helping others (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAccording to Statistics Canada in 2023, \u201cWhile financial and relationship issues are the most common causes of homelessness, health-related issues can also lead to homelessness episodes.\u201d Clairmont is hoping that by having a fully transparent conversation about the funding and how any amount counts, they can change people\u2019s outlooks and offer some more kindness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest thing for me is to demonstrate community support,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
No one is exempt from the possibility of displacement, and if students were to find themselves in these positions but a bed was unavailable for even just one night, it could leave them in an unsafe position. Victoria residents have resources available to address the housing problem for students, but change has come slow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere needs to be a multifaceted approach,\u201d says Clairmont. \u201cIf there\u2019s people who might take places that students would be in, that might free up some space.\u201d<\/p>\n
After talking with some local businesses, it was time for Clairmont to take action.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn having conversations like this… [business owners have said], \u2018Yeah, I would pay $10 extra a month if it meant it would fix the problem [of displacement],\u2019\u201d says Clairmont.<\/p>\n
The government has long failed to put adequate funding into supportive facilities. Waiting for beds to open, lack of social workers, and community support or interest contribute to the cycle of homelessness. Clairmont wants to fill this gap and he feels equipped with his background.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent eight or nine years working with at-risk youth living in poverty in Ottawa,\u201d he says, \u201cand it\u2019s hard for me not to see these individuals as grown-up versions of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
When people are brought back from BC-funded supportive facilities into a community where they\u2019ve had problems before, it\u2019s more likely to resurface and happen again. Clairmont says a necessary remedy to this issue is discussing it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cPeople that are helping the cause, talk to your parents, talk to your in-laws, friends… They may be looking to get involved in the community,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Clairmont says the issue is in the community\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all agree this exists,\u201d he says, \u201cand nobody wants it to be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Visit victoriahousingcrowdfund.ca<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conversation about housing in Victoria is often focused on complaints and concerns: \u201cWhy does rent have to be this high when other places are cheap?\u201d; \u201cWhy is rent so high for students?\u201d; and the increasingly ubiquitous \u201cWhy am I paying so much money to live downtown where I don\u2019t feel safe?\u201d\u2014what they speak of here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,238],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-life-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26776,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26774\/revisions\/26776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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