A narrow, muddy path through the bush leads to one of about a dozen Mission homeless camps.
This is where Sean has lived for more than a year.
“He’s tidy and nobody’s bothering us,” she explained.
Now 24, she says she started using drugs at 13.
When her addiction to methamphetamine got out of hand, she found herself on the street.
Proponents say the number of homeless people, both those who are hidden and those who are visible, is growing.
“The level of just despair and people out there is just out of the charts,” said Ward Draper of The 5 and 2 Ministries.
Draper said more than 500 homeless people live in Abbotsford alone.
“I think the average homeless person was 30 to 40 years old, and now the spectrum is 12 to 90,” he said.
Draper said that while mental illness and addiction are often linked to homelessness, he sees a growing number of people simply unable to pay their bills.
“Now we see people who are the average 60-year-old who can no longer afford to rent, so they are forced to leave,” Draper said.
“They are losing their homes. Some end up in their cars, and many are now landing in shelters. So people who would traditionally use shelters … they are being replaced by someone more stable or healthier. ”
The city of Abbotsford says it has 107 year-round shelters and 406 social housing units working or in the process of working.
Draper said he had never seen the homeless situation as dire as it is now, and it was time for people to work together to find solutions.
“We need to stop pointing the finger at someone else to solve these problems,” he said. “We have to take responsibility. We need to find a way to participate. “
The Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society is helping to facilitate a federally funded camp cleaning program in communities including Mission and Abbotsford.
“People in the camps don’t have access to garbage collection, they don’t have access to all the supplies they need,” said Brittany Maple, director of partnership programs for the community.
“We carry garbage collectors, garbage bags and gloves and all the things people have to clean,” she explained. “Mostly the people we work with are current members of the street community or have a history with the street community.”
Workers spend about two hours each day cleaning in the camps to which they were invited. They receive a $ 40 fee for their efforts.
On Thursday, Shona was one of the participants in the program.
She said that although she prefers not to live in a camp, her shelter in the forest remains her home for now.
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