A Burnaby non-profit tested homelessness knowledge of election candidates

Homelessness Action Week this year coincided with election week in BC, and the Burnaby Society to End Homelessness decided to reach out to the candidates in Burnaby’s ridings to learn more about their knowledge and plans to address homelessness in Burnaby. 

A small team of workers and volunteers designed a five-question questionnaire to test the knowledge and understanding of the different candidates regarding homelessness. They emailed each candidate on Oct. 1 and gave them a deadline of Oct. 9 to send their answers. The Society to End Homelessness then sent reminder emails halfway through the week. 

The questionnaire’s inspiration came from a similar questionnaire sent by the Force of Nature Alliance, an environmental grassroots organization, to various politicians throughout the Metro Vancouver area to test their knowledge of environmental issues. 

“We give credit to Force of Nature. They did a report card for the civic election,” said Teresa Rossiello, chair of the city’s task force to end homelessness and board member of the Society to End Homelessness in Burnaby. “It really made understanding the issues of the environment easy, and the thought was we could do that same idea for people who are concerned about homelessness, making it a really easy way for people to understand, maybe, who’s going to tackle the problem in a kind and constructive way.” 

Here’s the list of questions the society asked the candidates. 

• With the housing crisis in Burnaby, what is your understanding of Burnaby’s critical gaps? What do you see as your role in addressing the housing needs to meet current needs and prevent people from falling into poverty and homelessness? 

• Burnaby has had 277 deaths from drug poisonings since the public health emergency was declared in 2016. What is missing in Burnaby towards preventing deaths? What role will you fill in creating the needed resources that save lives? 

• For people experiencing homelessness, there are almost no services after regular office hours and weekends in Burnaby. What do you intend to do to establish in a timely way, a 24/7 resource centre to help people connect with the services they need? 

• Youth are part of the hidden homeless. What is your understanding of the needs of local youth and what’s your role to get them addressed in Burnaby? 

• Homelessness affects all age groups and family groupings. What gaps exist in Burnaby? What actions will you take to establish needed emergency shelter services, and within what timeline?

The questions were graded according to specific criteria listed below, as mentioned in their report of the exercise. Each candidate was given a letter grade according to their knowledge of homelessness in Burnaby, willingness to learn, and ideas for compassionate ways of addressing the situation. 

• Demonstrated knowledge of homelessness issues in Burnaby 

• Demonstrated knowledge of existing and required homelessness policies 

• Presentation of relevant and feasible solutions to address homeless needs in the community 

• Sense of urgency to tackle homelessness issues 

• Willingness to learn and collaborate 

• Personal action/commitment 

• That responses were distinct personal perspectives, not boilerplate

Rossiello said the society members were looking for Burnaby-specific knowledge in the answers, and none of the candidates had sufficient knowledge to get an A grade. For example, Rossiello said none of the respondents knew that Burnaby does not have enough treatment centres, detox centres, or harm-reduction facilities for people struggling with addictions. 

“No one mentioned the fact that our current shelter is actually not permanent. It will lose its base in less than two years, and currently, there’s no plan to replace it. But it’s stuff like that that they’re missing, and that’s quite a big knowledge point for the task force,” Rossiello said. “I mean, a lot of them, I don’t think they realize how many seniors are actually homeless and going to be homeless. It’s a lot.”  

Only seven of the 16 candidates in Burnaby’s ridings responded to the questionnaire, and none of the Conservative Party candidates responded to the emails or the questions. 

Here’s a list of the candidates who responded and their overall grades:

Anne Kang (BC NDP, Burnaby Centre) Grade: B-

Reah Arora (BC NDP, Burnaby East) Grade: B-

Tara Shushtarian (BC Green Party, Burnaby East) Grade: B+

Martin Kendell, (Independent, Burnaby North) Grade: D

Janet Routledge (BC NDP, Burnaby North) Grade: B-

Paul Choi (BC NDP, Burnaby South-Metrotown) Grade: B-

Raj Chouhan (BC NDP, Burnaby-New Westminster) Grade: B-

“We really value that those candidates took the time and answered and that they cared enough to take the time and answer and value the work that we’re doing at the task force and with the society,” Rossiello said, adding that the Society to End Homelessness would have loved to hear from all candidates. 

“We didn’t hear anything from them,” Rossiello said of the candidates who did not respond. “You know, everyone was emailed twice to make sure they got it from two different emails. We did try our best to ensure that everyone did get it. One person, unfortunately, we couldn’t find an email for, but we did try our very best… I don’t want to make any conclusions around that other than we’re disappointed that we didn’t get a response.” 

Rossiello also said that while the main aim of the questionnaire was to test the politicians’ knowledge, the society also hoped to start conversations among regular people about homelessness issues. 

“We just wanted to make sure that also, when these questions go out, perhaps some Burnaby residents would learn something too when they read the questions and maybe get them thinking. So that was part of it, too,” she said.

This piece was made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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