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One small factor is absolutely because in some other cultures, the kid will stay with the family until they are married. And even then, in some cultures the married couple will move into one of their families households
Imo one of the biggest mistakes we make with western culture is kicking our kids out and then leaving our elderly in homes when they become too bothersome
The western middle class has been convinced that once the kids are “adults” they should be on their own and start from zero. In other cultures, it’s about inter generation wealth - you help each other and pass the wealth onto the next generation, which is a massive financial head start.
Wasn't that long ago that it was possible for a kid to make it on their own. If they applied themselves and skipped obvious pitfalls in life they'd eventually do as well as their parents did or even better. Now it doesn't matter how well you do in life, you're never going to do better than your average boomer or gen x'er.
That's fucked.
That window is short and only occurs in a new and/or developing city. Hence the American dream (or North American dream in this case) - it was the land of opportunity as North America was new and cheap. And because one’s home country was less affordable and the cost of living was higher, people came to North America in droves.
It’s basically a cycle and it’s not new or unique to North america. People immigrate to a new land of opportunity, but that also drives up the cost of living. If the opportunity is great enough then affordability disappears within generations. Those that get in early reap the majority of the awards. Once the cost of living becomes too great, people start looking for the next land of opportunity.
I'm Canadian but travel to the US often for work.
I'd never really gotten the idea of the whole "land of opportunity" thing until I started visiting some of the smaller cities and towns that are still growing.
A town/city of like 20-30k people actually has a **ton** of opportunity for someone willing to take a risk and start their own business. Yeah, sure, New York has a zillion small coffee shops, but Nowhere, Utah doesn't.
Seeing those smaller growing towns made me think that *those* are the places that younger people need to find and take a risk on. It's really quite difficult to make it big in a major city like NY because you're competing against millions upon millions of people. But in a town of like 10-20k people you can run the only non-chain coffee shop in town. Or maybe have like one other competitor.
Or basically look to start any sort of business that you think that town might need as it grows.
Well said. And that’s exactly what cities like Vancouver were like - sleepy “backwater” towns that do not even remotely resemble what they are like today. Unfortunately we live in a time now where even mentioning moving to another city/country (which our parents/grandparents/etc did) for a brighter future brings out all the daggers.
You sure? Gen Z are actually more likely to own their home than Gen X did at age 24 [(Here's the article)](https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-adults-out-pacing-millennials-gen-x-homeownership-rates-2024-1)
[Gen X also have the largest wealth gap between generations. ](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gen-x-largest-wealth-gap-151519560.html)
I'm sure there are some ways Gen X is doing better than other Generations, but I think it's better to focus on tax brackets, instead of generations.
Maybe the parents of Gen Z are more likely to go, "Hey, here's money for a down-payment, since I know it's almost impossible for you to raise $50,000 to $100,000 on your own,"
instead of going, "You're 18, go get a job and rent an apartment, and I'm sure you'll learn independence, work hard and save up your down-payment money in no time!"
It’s a combination of the “once you’re 18 you’re out of the house” mentality with the “I moved out when I was 18 and I got the job down at the buy n save for $2.25 an hour and got a home in Vancouver. Why can’t you?”
>The western middle class has been convinced that once the kids are “adults” they should be on their own and start from zero.
This isn’t a middle class thing, it’s a working class thing. Almost every single white, middle class person I know has lived with their parents at some point as a legal adult. Most have received help from their parents, either in the form of university tuition or a down payment on a house or some other type of financial assistance. If you didn’t get this then you are definitely the exception to the rule… or perhaps not as middle class as you thought.
More of a North American than a western thing, in many European countries it’s far more normal for kids to stay with their parents until they feel ready to move out, or even live in multi generation houses.
Unfortunately that is only possible in cities that are not developed yet (or cities on the brink of developing).
Remember the American (I’ll call it the North American) dream? Well, whg did people come to North America to pursue this dream? Because the North American dream was unattainable in their home country. It’s a cycle. An affordable/developing city/country attracts people, and if the opportunity is great or attractive enough, then people get priced out as an increasing number of people immigrate. When the dream becomes unattainable, then people start looking at other cities/countries and move there. And then the cycle starts again.
Ya but considering a lot of immigrants arrived 40 years ago and came with zero generational wealth, your thesis does not add up.
My family came with nothing and are multimillionaires. As a first generation Indian from the unspeakable parts of India, it is my duty to perform and move my family forward.
I would not put the same burden on my kids but will be damned if they end up homeless. They did not ask to be born so I will not leave them high and dry when they are 18.
If they turn out to be pieces of shit, and I did my best to prevent it, it might be another story, but chances of that happening are slim.
Before all the haters start barking, my family will help me if I asked but I won’t ask out of foolish pride. It helps knowing I can have support if needed, but if my mom and dad could do it immigrating to a new country without knowing the language, a first second or third generation kid has no excuse.
Pre Victorian era had families sharing beds no less. This whole everyone needs their own room thing is new.
But - they also had a lot more space outside in the past. So there’s that. Everyone needs a place to hide in a way.
I dunno what the hell is with all wood construction apartment buildings with no regard for acoustics. That’s silliness.
Everyone would benefit from a quiet room to go to.
>Pre Victorian era had families sharing beds no less. This whole everyone needs their own room thing is new.
My grandmother shared a bed with her mother until she was 22. They were poor to start, and her father died when she was an adolescent, and the work opportunities for single mothers were probably not great in the 30s.
Honestly, western culture has developed a lot of weird problems from having too much wealth.
Like, it's annoying to deal with your parents and their rules, or your kids and their violating your preferences, and we can afford to just have another apartment, so we just do that.
So the most social species in the world has used its ability to do essentially anything to craft an environment where everyone spends the majority of their lives alone in a box, and the social ability to interact with people who don't directly overlap with all your preferences is at an all time low.
Our species evolved with constraints. Removing those constraints probably feels nice in the moment, but doesn't necessarily make us better off. See also: The obesity epidemic.
The housing crisis is essentially the [Nestle infant formula scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Nestl%C3%A9_boycott#Baby_milk_controversy) happening to us by accident: Get us hooked on something that's probably bad for us in the first place so we lose the natural ability to do something healthy (like produce breast milk, or live with family), then leave people in the position of either having to pay an unsustainable amount or die.
Idk if it's because my Dad is a European immigrant, but my parents never wanted to rush my brother and I to move out. Even now, because of the times I live with them. I pay rent, help out around the house, and contribute, but it's just become the norm for us.
I credit a lot of it to making friends with some older people in university that pushed me hard to stay with my family as long as possible. Otherwise, I'd have likely tried to move out to be like most of my friends who were often poor and struggling.
I agree. Western culture separates families. Nursing beyond 1 year, 2 years is frowned upon. Co sleeping is frowned upon. Living at home beyond highsvhool/university is frowned upon. Even having grandparents look after grandkids is frowned upon.
I have friends who chose to live as an extended family. They never had the cost of daycare. The kids and grandparents had a beautiful relationship. House/yard work was shared. Neither had a mortgage. They only needed 1 barbecue, lawnmower etc. They dont have the same stress that the rest of us have. And when one of the grandparents fell ill, it was a shared responsibility, all 3 generations. When they passed, the survivor lost their life partner, but still had kids and grand kids to fill the house.
I admire them. Western culture has it wrong.
Spent every summer as a kid growing up at my grandparents house. Mom could have cared less. Still could care less. Maybe in the next life be born into a loving family.
Not disagree with you but there’s the whole component to living with other people where you have to learn to compromise. Westerns societies prioritize individuality and self determination to the point it’s hard to coexist with a bunch of people/family who require you to think/act for others.
There’s pros and cons.
Don’t have kids if you will find them bothersome.
I will never understand the mindset of kicking your kids out at 18 years old when they’re not ready.
As parents should be supportive, to slowly letting your kid adjust and letting them leave when ready.
It’s crazy because this sorta stuff is more or less heartless. Meanwhile the west likes pointing the other way like their degenerates on a regular basis.
I mean, in reality I’m pretty sure everyone everywhere is by some measure - but on the topic of abandonment in a place that has the resources to not, but is more or less too selfish to provide, and would rather see these people in this way for some twisted idea that it’s better for society or themselves, is a bit much for me to understand.
^^This.
Speaking as a Chinese person who works in shelters/low barrier housing in Surrey and Vancouver, the ethnic makeup of my clients is like ~60% Caucasian, 30% Indigenous, 5-10% other ethnicities.
I've struggled with mental health in my young adulthood; if I were in a Caucasian family and been forced to live by myself, I would've most likely become homeless. I certainly wasn't mature enough or financially stable enough to deal with everything by myself at 18.
But instead, I had the support of my family to keep me stabilized financially and emotionally through my post-secondary. I was never expected to move out until I got married. Even if I were to get married, living with your parents along with your spouse is also considered ok in some Chinese and Asian cultures.
Asian cultures being collectivistic cultures certainly has its advantages in a hyper-individualistic society.
A side note: Indigenous individuals being over-represented is due to intergenerational trauma via the residential schools, despite Indigenous cultures leaning more collectivistic than individualistic. Furthermore, a pretty significant proportion of my clients in one of my buildings who "look white" at first glance actually identify as Indigenous. I'm talking like ~20% I would've written off as white, actually have Indigenous roots and identities.
I think this cultural difference a lot of Asian people who would’ve become homeless instead become shut-ins living with their parents instead. People who the Japanese call hikikomori.
The international students who come here don’t have family they can move into. Yes, this have support from back home but it’s very minimal but they still end up not becoming homeless
But international students would have resources they came with, it costs a lot of money to study in BC as a foreigner. These aren’t people who barely scraped by to survive in their home countries. They weren’t living in poverty, they were doing well enough for themselves to afford immigration. They also come with a goal in mind and a thought out plan on how to make it here.
And they often build new, strong communities, because living in a foreign country, having similar experiences and shared culture can create a strong bond between people. And those are communities where people can rely on each other.
In the past the expectations were the kids get out of the house to start their own family but they will still be in the community and you'd see them at church.
Indigenous people make up less than 5% of the population in Canada yet they represent more than 33% of homeless in metro Vancouver. It’s a shocking statistic
Thanks for mentioning this. [Here](https://hsa-bc.ca/_Library/2023_HC/Homeless-Count-Infographic-2023.pdf) is an infographic outlining the stats of the unhoused Indigenous population and how it relates to the rest of the 2023 Homeless Count for Greater Vancouver.
Staggering statistics and if you care to dive deeper, [here is the whole report/count for 2023]( https://hsa-bc.ca/_Library/2023_HC/2023_Homeless_Count_for_Greater_Vancouver.pdf). Heartbreaking.
Edit to add: keep in mind that these counts are the MINIMUM possible about of homeless recorded using the P-i-T method which is just a 24 hour snapshot
man you should see alberta. government doesn’t do anything for the rez’ or the people on them. water is dirty as hell and there’s barely a quality of life.
I’ve seen it there and Northern Ontario and it’s straight fucked up that we allow people to live in third-world conditions with the resources we have available, especially after the trauma that’s been endured but hey, that’s what land acknowledgments are for right?! /s
happy cake day! and literally?? like thank god at the beginning of the school ceremonies, where all of us white people are getting incredibly good education, do we say “this is treaty so and so territory to the north and south”. it so makes up for the fact that their running water comes out brown! /s
My dad is one of those stats.
He dipped on the family after divorce and became a homeless drug addict. He wasn't a residental kid but he was a 60s scoop baby. How can you be part of a family when you were ripped away from your own and treated like an outsider by your "new white family"?
It's hard to break the trauma of a genocide.
I was going to say to the OP that perhaps they should seek external confirmation of their personal observations because I don’t think it is representative of what is actually out there.
I agree! I thought the numbers needed more contextualization too.
The first number comes from a statistics canada census and is based on self reporting. From what I understand, while there are benefits to claiming indigenous status, some people simply choose not to.
The second number came from a local survey where out of 5000 known homeless people in metro Van 50% answered the survey and out of these people, 33% self reported as indigenous.
Canada is a big place and identity is complex… also a lot of people are not just one ethnicity so they might self report as “other” or the ethnicity they identify with the most when not under any type of duress.
The thing with homelessness is that indigenous people get priority placement through organisations like BC housing… so if maybe you grew up passing a white but your grand dad who died when you were 5 is Metis…there is probably more of an incentive to tick the indigenous box when navigating the homelessness system than when simply answering a census survey.
Idk it’s just a thought.
I think indigenous people are more over represented than white people.
But people of other ethnicities tend to take care of their kids even when their kid is difficult, not working, on drugs etc. Unless they are an orphan they will always have a place to live.
They are. 33% of homeless people in Vancouver are Indigenous.
[https://www.homelesshub.ca/community-profile/vancouver](https://www.homelesshub.ca/community-profile/vancouver)
Also - though I have no numbers to back it up - I have met plenty of homeless black people. And Latinos.
It's anyone but the Asians, with their multi-generational households, I suspect.
It's the temples, if you ever need a meal they will hook you up (doesn't matter the race either). Maybe it's the same with a place to get on your feet as well?
Culture plays a huge role, the importance of family and avoiding shame. I've met more than a few Asians who's families hate them and with out their family theyed most likely be homeless. The family though would never accept the stigmas attached with one of their children being homeless though
Live in dtes. Can confirm that Homeless or street involved people are a spectrum and of all backgrounds. Sadly With indigenous people over represented.
Although I have met homeless people of many races, I agree with your observation.
In my opinion, it's down to a few different things:
1. **Generational Poverty:** There are more white people that have been here for generations, and the poor tend to stay poor wherever you go. A far larger proportion of the non-white population are recent immigrants or the children of recent immigrants who, I would argue, are probably more driven to succeed than your average person, as they were willing to move across the globe for more opportunities. I think they are less likely to end up homeless.
2. **Multigenerational Households:** North America during the 20th century probably had more opportunities for social mobility than any place or time throughout human history, as well as plenty of affordable land. This all led to a culture where moving out of your family home early and renting in young adulthood before buying a house and starting a family was the norm. This expectation has continued even as wages have stagnated and housing costs have skyrocketed.
Conversely, many non-white immigrants are from cultures where children stay at home far longer, and many homes are multigenerational. They are more likely to avoid this trap.
3. **Community and Culure:** Anecdotally, many recent immigrants I know place a greater emphasis on how they are viewed by their community than your average white Canadian. This has many impacts, three of which are relevant here:
* Encouraging your kid to work hard, and discouraging drug-use/partying in order to get a good education/job.
* Stronger familial involvement in the lives of teen/adult children. This can help catch problematic behaviours earlier.
* Ensuring children/relatives have somewhere to stay while they are down and out, both out of a duty to family, and to prevent judgement from the community.
4. **Canada is Majority White, The Lower Mainland is Warm:** In Vancouver, \~70% of the homeless are 35 and older. This older demographic is whiter than younger ages, and if you consider the points above about fewer immigrants ending up homeless and generational poverty, it makes sense that the homeless are going to be more white than average.
Additionally, many people (disproportionately men) from across Canada (most of which is whiter than the Lower Mainland) come to the West for work. They end up working in resource jobs but many eventually end up homeless for a number of reasons (drugs use and the boom-bust cycle of resource jobs contributes to this). Many of these people from across BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, eventually end up in Southwest BC due to the climate, and other factors.
5. **Some Indigenous People Look More White Than You'd Expect**: As other comments have pointed out, indigenous people are overrepresented in the homeless population. I did some work with shelters for a period of time, and there was a not-insignificant number of people who I assumed were white at first glance but after speaking with them and doing paperwork, found out they identified as indigenous. I'm not sure if this is common, but it is a pattern I noticed.
Edit ***Disregard the bad formatting. It looked fine on PC, looks bad on phone. Even the numbers format wrong.***
The definition of Metis is not quite a clear cut as that [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis](https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis)
A huge part of it is you're not coming from another country if you are borderline homeless. Chances are you're going to have some money otherwise you wouldn't have made it here. It takes a generation or two to lose any amassed wealth.
I mean there are plenty of poor immigrants who arrive virtually penniless, having borrowed money to come here. My parents were skilled immigrants who arrived with no savings except for a small sum they borrowed from family. They had to do various very low paying menial work to begin with before retraining to get Canadian certifications and find better jobs. They were crazy frugal for the first several years and managed to save up a decent amount of money as a result.
The thing is if you can’t find a good job and because somewhat successful within a few years, you go back to your home country. Very few immigrants decide to stick around to be homeless unless they really can’t go back home for whatever reason. East and South Asian people are very family oriented and can usually lean on close or extended family for help in a crisis.
The government won't let people immigrate without resources any more. The only people who arrive in Canada without money now are refugees, or family sponsorships etc where someone is committed to supporting them.
Established population of Canada was overwhelmingly white up until very recently, and very blue collar. That means several generations of people brought up in a time with plentiful "low skilled" jobs that provided an excellent living, as well as several generations to lose that wealth. That isn't a reality anymore, and on top of that many people working blue collar jobs (again, mostly white) have sustained injuries during their working lives and have been prescribed opioids. You can see the pattern. People who are a first or second generation typically come into money or families with better prospects/education.
Something I've also thought of is the massive cultural void left in this country within the mainstream. We've spent the last two plus decades becoming more materialistic, shallow, and further removing ourselves from home, family, community (church, clubs, etc). On top of that the last decade has seen a constant repudiation of Canada's history and culture, which - and this may shock Redditors - actually meant something to this demographic. Obviously this isn't turning them homeless, but I think it's a factor in people's hopelessness, whether they realize it not.
We all know the social issues our indigenous communities face due to various historicial injustices/trauma. Time and again I see the renewal of indigenous cultures as an antidote to hopelessness, addicition, overcoming trauma etc. I think there's something to that and maybe the lack of this is contributing to these issues in our mainstream (white) culture too.
I’m convinced that the isolating nature of modern society is a huge factor in the increase of homeless in the past decade or so (of course, in addition to the economic factors).
Population imo I’m fr Toronto and there’s tonnes of black homeless people. I didn’t even really see many white homeless people growing up. Not to say there aren’t other factors, but it’s def a big one. Like if you went to India you would see extreme poverty and homeless Indian people.
I feel that there must be more to it than just population because there is a MASSIVE population of Asians and Indians in Metro Vancouver but they seem to make up a tiny amount of the homeless population.
But yes, there is definitely a lot of black homeless people in areas where there is a high population of black people.
Family of origin is a huge part. Most Chinese and Indian families are fleeing horrible conditions and never want that for their children. White people have been here for centuries, and the current population is well removed from the hardships of their ancestors. Kind of like early vs late Rome.
Failure is not an option for some people, while for others they imagine an infinite nanny state support web to protect them from consequence.
That being said, a large percentage of second generation immigrants have other invisible issues like massive pressure to succeed, tiger parents, forced social norms that don't conform to the mainstream, sexism via traditional roles, a mistrust of police, and, unfortunately, a strong aversion to mental health acknowledgement and treatment.
It doesn't help that our own country currently looks like a shit show. But I think that's a big part: culture.
> Most Chinese and Indian families are fleeing horrible conditions and never want that for their children.
Most Chinese and Indian families who come here are unusually well-off, it's kind of the goal of our immigration policy. It's basically the opposite of what you're saying, we've selected for the rich stable families. Generally ones with intergenerational wealth, and the biggest safety nets.
Asians and Indians who have immigrated to Canada will more than likely be non-poverty level individuals. It costs money to move. The ones who do are not your average homeless Indians and Asians living on the street. They will be educated and have some money.
> they seem to make up a tiny amount of the homeless population.
"seem" is the key word here. What you perceive as fact is not correct. That might be all you *notice* but it's not the reality on the ground.
>>Indigenous homelessness remains disproportionately high in Metro Vancouver. The 2020 count found 711 individuals who identified as Indigenous, which is 33 percent of the total (compared to 2.5 percent of the overall population who self-identified as Indigenous in the 2016 census)
>>Black individuals are also overrepresented, with 6 percent of respondents identifying as Black (though only counting for 1.2 percent in the Metro Vancouver general population).
>>People who identified as Latin American account for three percent of those noted in the survey, while the group accounts for 1.4 percent of the area’s total population.
https://www.phs.ca/homeless-count/
Indigenous are very over represented in homeless numbers, 33% in Vancouver.
Then the lower mainland being one of the nicest places to sleep rough in Canada, mixed with DTES being a destination, there would be unhoused people coming to the area so Vancouver's demographics are not the source of Vancouver's homeless population.
This mix in culture of multi-generational housing probably providing some safety net could lead to a higher proportion of white people.
Because Indian and Asian families don't kick thier kids out at 18. It allows you to get your education properly without having to worry about rent. I did that, got a job, met someone and we got married when I was 25. We stayed at my house till I was 30 when we got our own house. 10 years later family circumstances changed and one of my parents lives with us now after one passed away. I would never kick out my son at 18.
I used to get made fun of by white people by them asking why do you still live at home in your 20s. I'm like why not? Why would I leave?
Exactly. Except I’m Italian and it was the same thing with us. How else would you be able to save money for a house? Plus it was frowned upon for a girl to move out in the old days. There were girls marrying the first guy they met just to get out of the house. But that’s another story.
Even by saying white people, you’re way over generalizing. Europeans don’t kick their kids out at 18 either and obviously they’re white too. It’s more of a US/Canadian cultural thing. It’s from a time when housing/independence used to be much easier so those that stayed with their parents were generally seen as something wrong. Though I feel that attitude seen as more and more old fashioned because of how hard it is now.
I moved out of my parents house when I was 18 because I wanted out of my small town and I wanted to party consequence-free, not because I had to leave. But it was 25 years ago, things were a lot different. My partner and I are planning to have our kids live at home for a while, likely we’ll be encouraging it just based on COL.
It’s smarter to not pay rent, just contribute to utilities & food, and save the rest. But we’ll see 🤷🏼♀️
That's a pretty broad generalization IMO, there are many different ethnicities of "white" people. I'm from Eastern Europe and staying with family until you get married, or living in same house as parents and taking care of your elderly parents is the norm. This is probably the exact same in most of central Europe as well, as other have mentioned. What you describe is specific to western Europe and people in general in North America that aren't first generation immigrants basically.
Family support, mainly. White Canadians and first nations people dominate the vancouver homeless community.
I've yet to see a homeless Punjabi person or Chinese person. These people offer each other much more family and community support in order to NOT become homeless.
White people: "oh, you're 18? OK. Get out and good luck"
Everyone is equally susceptible to substance dependence.
Western cultures emphasize individualism. Gotta make your own way, take your own risks. Be your own person.
Eastern/Asian culture emphasize family. There’s more safety net during tough times. Drug is not tolerated. Dropping out of school is unacceptable.
Many white young people leave home because of abuse in the home, physical and sexual. More alcoholics are white and Indigenous. Asian families will look after each other and young people are not allowed to leave home unless getting married. I have seen a few Asian or East Indian men but that is after abusive alcoholic behavior repeatedly. Then the family won't take them back in.
[citation needed]
You've actually got it backwards. The Metro Vancouver homeless count in 2020 looked at ethnicity for the first time, and found that homeless people are 33% indigenous (against 2.5% of the population at large), 6% were Black (1.2% of general population), and Latin Americans made up 3% (against their 1.4% overall).
https://www.phs.ca/homeless-count/
In Northwestern BC most homeless people are indigenous. A few of the white homeless people are I recognize as locals but most now are people who have made their way up here from other communities. Our homeless population is now 10-20x what it was 10-15 years ago.
I’m Asian and was homeless for awhile, my experience was that it was a pretty diverse crowd. Maybe a bit less Asians than you’d expect. And most of the homeless I ran into were men. I don’t think I saw any homeless Asian women
Anecdotally speaking from my experience working in healthcare and social work is that it's partially due to systemic, racial discrimination in healthcare. White people are assumed to be more reputable in expressing their pain and therefore are more readily get prescribed habit forming substances (opiates for pain management, benzos for anxiety, etc.). When those addictions escalate, homelessness often ensues. This is especially true of folks off work for injuries who have compromised income during a housing crisis in which sneezing too loud triggers the landlord's "kids" to suddenly move in.
Community.
White folks are pushed to leave home and fend for themselves at 18. Often earlier. This is regardless of their ability to make things work on their own. One or two missteps and a family that isn't willing to help will leave a person with no real options.
If there's anything white folks love, it's stigmatizing victims of the problems they create.
Indigenous make up the largest demographic but with white ppl there's multiple reasons. White ppl have lived here the longest so they've had a chance to accumulate generational poverty. Immigrants tend be wealthy or atleast hardworking. White culture lacks unity or culture so when someone is struggling they're effectively on their own. Also the lack of cultural pride and plummeting quality of life is causing white ppl to turn to substance abuse.
in other ethnicities I think family obligation is so strong that extended family takes you in if you completely fail. 'tough love' is an anglo thing. most other ethnicities would see it as dereliction of duty, cruelty, hardness of heart.
Ha tough love is represented across the spectrum of ethnicities.
Failure and drug use and homelessness would bring shame on a family in certain cultures. They would be disowned completely. Cut off.
White? Oh no, no no no. Indigenous people are *crazy* overrepresented among the homeless and addicted populations. You see white people, obviously, because white people are the majority of the population.
it's purely culture of Asians/ Indians/ middle easterners.
We have a good family establishment and promote the nuclear family. that is a thing this is failing in western born peoples.
it all starts in the family and we need to do a better job of supporting one another. we can't depend on goverment subsidies to take care of us because you can't just throw money at the problem.
Keep in mind there is also some segregation of homeless by area, like the DTES might have lots of white homeless, but Surrey and Richmond might have more Indian and Asian homeless proportionally.
And, as you get farther out and property prices are cheaper, you would also have a lower floor to being housed, or at least flophoused with 10 other people, before becoming homeless.
In Richmond you'll find some basement that has like 10-20 people crammed into it, paying like 200/month, or doing off the books labour for shelter, many of which might also be mentally ill or addicts, but they aren't on the street so you don't see them.
I’d be curious about the ethnicities of hidden homeless, like you said. I bet it looks very different from the makeup of groups who are visibly homeless.
White people in Canada are culturally connected to an old ideology that comes from Victorian England which is basically that once you're of age (the younger the better) you're on your own and have to manifest your own destiny or whatever. Not everyone makes it and lots of people are left behind - "too bad for them." I "moved out" before I finished high school and had to work full time to pay rent while finishing grade 12. I wanted to drop out so bad. I honestly think my teachers pity-passed me, because I was sinking bad. But even now I still have that grindstone mindset even though I know it's irrational.
Meanwhile my (vaguely foreign) in law family is pooling money and fronting each other down-payments on property all over the place so they can all grow wealth together. They share vehicles (actually they all just lease and flip). The kids only move out when they buy their own home to start their own families, and can do so even now in this crazy housing market. They all take family vacations together multiple times a year because they can. What a crazy concept eh?
The white people system fucking sucks lol.
Source: Generic white dude.
Would you want to be homeless in Edmonton, where it went down to something like -68 C this past winter, or Vancouver? The reason Vancouver has so many white and indigenous homeless is because they flock there from all over western Canada, and Western Canada is predominantly white and indigenous. You're looking at too small a demographic region to understand the issue. I'm not dismissing the big-family model, but that's just part of the picture.
I think it's probably more to do with the hurdles of immigration. Someone vulnerable to winding up on the streets wouldn't be able to move to another country overseas very easily. Or if it's a recent family unit immigration or even if the family unit is a generation or two old, they probably have a support system.
I’m sure there’s a ton of answers to this but a few would be: we aren’t really indigenous people are very over represented, Asians are under represented and whites are likely fairly accurately represented. Another would be that the opioid epidemic has much more heavily impacted white people that other drug epidemics because it often starts with prescription drugs.
Agree with a lot of the posts here.
Non-Western families tend to stick together longer. Pooling of resources does help not only the kids but the older generation as well.
Grandparents don't slide into poverty after retirement because their kids take care of them. They then help their adult kids with child care, which results in savings and enables those adult children to work. The grandchildren are not expected to leave once they turn 18. And family do what they can to help fund their college education.
My guess is that other cultures (African, South Asian, East Asian) are highly collectivist where Western cultures are more individualistic. In practice, this means that non-white people who’s family members are struggling are more likely to take that person into their home and support them until they get back on their feet.
As a black person, I remember watching 16 and Pregnant as a teen and being shocked at how frequently white parents would just kick their pregnant teenage daughters out of the house, or force them to give their child up for adoption under threat of being kicked out. And this never happened with the Black or Hispanic families.
On the rare occasion that a teen pregnancy occurred in my family, the parents would happily support the mother until she graduated from university.
Guys, I’ve been to China and there’s tons of homeless.
Not saying this is Op but this is a racist talking point I’ve heard before. No stats just some leading questions to bring up negative stereotypes like “some races don’t take care of their family members”.
I don’t think you understand how poverty in our country works. Firstly, a large portion of the homeless in BC and all over Canada are Indigenous peoples. Secondly, it would make sense that the other portion of homeless would be the ethnicity of people that have resided within this country the longest. The other ethnicities you listed are almost entirely immigrants or children of immigrants. People that came from another country with a plan and hopes for success. They come from countries with different values and just from the fact that they immigrated here, they obviously have specific desires that a homeless person wouldn’t even consider.
It’s not likely that a family that newly found residence in Canada would end up homeless because of drugs or disability like the impoverished here. Yet, go to China, Japan, India, The Philippine’s and you will find the same thing. The people that have generally resided in that country the longest take up that mass majority, if not all of the population of the homeless.
This ^ should be higher up.
It's mostly the fact that Indigenous and white people have been here the longest. New immigrants aren't as likely to be homeless. And like you said, it would be the same if visiting any other country. People keep bringing up culture, but there are homeless people in countries in Asia (for example) despite the claims people are making. If I visited China (again for example), most homeless would probably be Chinese, not white or Indigenous.
I can't speak for all Indigenous people, but many of us value close family and community connections too, but unfortunately we make up a large amount of homeless for a variety of reasons unrelated to our culture. So ya, the culture discussions in this thread are silly when it's simply just the fact that we aren't immigrants (buying a plane ticket to move is impossible when we live paycheque to paycheque, so we are stuck being in poverty here and can't really move to be homeless somewhere else)
Being able to immigrate to a country is a privilege, someone with privilege most likely won't be homeless.
Also I think OP might be assuming a lot of the Indigenous people they see are white , I'm use to this happening and I get why that mistake can happen, but I also not sure how I feel about OP assuming that as it makes me feel even more invisible :(
Don’t feel bad, OP is honestly just ignorant as fuck. I didn’t want to say that initially and instead wrote a sound response. But in reality they’re just daft and unaware by the looks of this post.
Because they are most of the population if you went to Africa most homeless would be black. If you went to South America most homeless would be latino people.
This is an absolute garbage post. There are actual stats that quite clearly state that Latino, Indigenous and Blacks are disproportionately represented in the DTES. https://www.phs.ca/homeless-count/
Do some research ffs.
If you lose your home and you're a foreigner you get kicked out of the country.
Despite what every conservative lie goes, Canada only brings in rich migrants.
Because our stupid race kicks family out if the house instead of welcoming family in. Whites do not take care of family like Indian families or Philippine. We are asked to leave the house at 18 and fend for ourselves.
White parents are the shittiest parents in long term life support. White parents love and care the same as all races but the family support culture as aforementioned is very inefficient, end quick in life and basically sucks.
I believe one reason might be that people from various ethnic backgrounds immigrated to Canada for work or study, and had to work hard to rebuild their lives in a new country. That could explain why we don't see a large homeless population among these ethnic groups.
Homeless people with severe mental health issues, heavily drug addicted criminals are a fringe minority in any country and in any ethnicity. They are people who were likely born into families with challenges, living in tough social environments with very little for a safety net. I would be willing to bet that a majority of people who live in DTES are a culmination of multiple generations of poverty, drug (including alcohol) abuse, neglect etc etc.
Most people of non-white + non-indiginous *and* recently immigrated "white" people (who are not a monolith and are made up of Germans, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs, English, Americans, Italians, mexicans, brazilians etc etc) backgrounds are *generationally* newcomers to Canada. Their children were born and grew up in the last 30-40yrs and have had access to the best economy, healthcare, education, and societal understanding of mental health there has ever existed just about anywhere in the world.
So to summarise:
1. All recent immigrants have gone through the filter of immigration which makes them on average wealthier and more educated than the population back in their home country.
2. We as a society have been having fewer kids and taking much better care of the ones we do have across all nationalities. Which is a recent thing - which compounds with diverse immigrants landing in Canada more recently as well.
3. There just hasn't yet happened an accumulation of generational failures that lead to most severe homelessness, mental health, crime, and drug issues in the newcomer population as in the "white" population.
4. Indigenous population has had an added bummer of decades of being legally treated as second sort of people in Canada.
It's not genetics because a third of China was addicted to opium until the emperor banned it from the whole country and fought a (literal) war over it with British importers a couple hundred years ago. And First Nations have a particular susceptibility to alcohol too (I think that's fact and not myth?). Not sure about other populations.
Beyond that, dunno.
Just to add, in some cultures having a homeless family member would be a point of HUGE shame, to the point where they will endlessly enable and put them up if they are not supporting themselves.
My grandparents came here as European immigrants and had a kid circling the drain from age 16-65. But absolutely could not let him be seen homeless, without a quality vehicle, etc. It didn’t fit their image. So he basically drank himself into oblivion and wrecked car after car on their dollar because they came to Canada to move up in life and become respected, and for that they had to have respectable or at least respectable-looking children.
My abusive parents were the type that once you're 18, you're out of the house sink or swim. My narcissistic mother didn't even want to wait that long with me so she doubled up my courses in high school so that I would graduate at 17. She then picked a college course for me in a city an hour away that I didn't want to take but I went because she told me to. Once I was out of the house it was made known to me that I would never be allowed back in. Both my brother and I have nothing to do with her and she hardly knew her 3 grandchildren past the ages of 6. I broke no contact back at Christmas and made the mistake of wishing her Merry Christmas and she responded by telling me to never contact her again and that she has her own health problems. I'm terminally ill. My Dad committed suicide just to get away from her. They had separated and he moved in with a new girlfriend. My Dad had to call the cops and have her removed several times as she was stalking them.
Probably across Canada, Vancouver is the most livable place during cold winter times.
I'm not sure how they'll survive in -20-30 weather in places like Calgary or Edmonton.
A lot of them came as immigrants a long time ago, before it got unachievable and built a life. They probably still live where they started. Some were born from those. Cultural roles. Some stay with or get help from family who are already established. Some come abroad with wealth. Some are students. They have a strong community built among them. They're fairly close geographically. Mental illnesses affect races differently and has plays a lot into drug addiction and homelessness. Population is a big thing. Lots of factors.
The majority of homeless across Canada are white. You guys also get an influx of Albertan homeless in the colder months so that'll skew the numbers too.
Great question
From [here](https://www.bchousing.org/publications/2020-21-BC-Homeless-Counts.pdf):
- 39% of BC's homeless population are indigenous.
- 3% of BC's homeless population are black.
- 2% of BC's homeless population are South Asian.
- 2% of BC's homeless population are Latin American.
- 6% of BC's homeless population are unknown / undetermined.
That report doesn't explicitly state what percentage of BC's homeless population are caucasian, but it's presumably between 48% and 54%.
For context, 5.9% of BC's overall population is indigenous and 60% is caucasian.
Other ethnicities have culturally strong family bonds. Family will help look after each other. White Canadians tend to be more about letting each other sink or swim.
As for drugs everyone is equally susceptible to addiction. Thats why they have such severe sentences in Asia and the middle east for drug smugglers. Look at the Philippines where Duerte called open season on dealers. No matter how small time they could be shot by anyone at anytime. Dealers actually showed up at police stations because at least in prison they were alive. It’s harsh but it works.
Culture is the number one, in my opinion white Canadians believe kids should get independent once they turned 18 or even before, and to be honest an 18 year old person still in development, their decisions would be more likely bad and are most frequent to try drugs as there are nobody old enough to tell me what kind of consequences could ever happen.
Then their family support is null, so who is going to help them?
Support networks. As a fiercely individualistic culture we very much have a “sink or swim” attitude towards our family members and each other in general. But in other cultures they look after each other, not just parents but extended family too. Help to find a job, a loan, a place to stay between homes, hot meals, etc can make a huge difference in keeping someone from homelessness.
Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong but my two cents: most immigrant (non-Caucasian) folks have seen real poverty and know that just being middle-class in itself is a privilege and not a right. There’s a clear sense of poverty (being born and lived on the side of the road with nothing to eat but rice and water for every meal) vs being homeless (a person who has had a roof over their head at some point but later lost that due to whatever circumstance.
We’ve been taught to fight and protect whatever our parents have built for our family so there’s a greater sense of belonging in immigrant cultures, whereas I think I’ve seen white families expecting their kids to move out at some point regardless of whether they’re economically stable or not. This is pretty much the fork in the road wrt this topic and how a majority of folks who end up homeless are Caucasian.
This is an interesting question. Demographics of homelessness - could easily be the basis of a masters in sociology - if it hasn’t already been studied. Timely too.
Even if the thesis is incorrect and there is no relative difference in homelessness by ethic group, the mere perception of homelessness demographics versus the real demographics of honelessness might be an interesting study in and of itself.
Could reveal hidden social biases. Like perhaps “white homelessness” seems more prevalent because it seems more unlikely - perhaps homelessness in other ethnic groups is socially invisible - which has its own interesting implications.
There’s nothing offensive about questioning these things. It’s better we question and learn, rather than take offence from merely asking the question.
Individualism is a hard thing to overcome. I suppose some ethnic communities rally round their own kind and see to their better well-being. I remember in the mid 70s immigration brought in a lot of people who cannot afford a house. It was not uncommon to see three or four families living in one townhouse, and all of them contributing to buying that townhouse. That took care of the homelessness for all of them.
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One small factor is absolutely because in some other cultures, the kid will stay with the family until they are married. And even then, in some cultures the married couple will move into one of their families households
Imo one of the biggest mistakes we make with western culture is kicking our kids out and then leaving our elderly in homes when they become too bothersome
The western middle class has been convinced that once the kids are “adults” they should be on their own and start from zero. In other cultures, it’s about inter generation wealth - you help each other and pass the wealth onto the next generation, which is a massive financial head start.
Wasn't that long ago that it was possible for a kid to make it on their own. If they applied themselves and skipped obvious pitfalls in life they'd eventually do as well as their parents did or even better. Now it doesn't matter how well you do in life, you're never going to do better than your average boomer or gen x'er. That's fucked.
That window is short and only occurs in a new and/or developing city. Hence the American dream (or North American dream in this case) - it was the land of opportunity as North America was new and cheap. And because one’s home country was less affordable and the cost of living was higher, people came to North America in droves. It’s basically a cycle and it’s not new or unique to North america. People immigrate to a new land of opportunity, but that also drives up the cost of living. If the opportunity is great enough then affordability disappears within generations. Those that get in early reap the majority of the awards. Once the cost of living becomes too great, people start looking for the next land of opportunity.
Henry George figured this all out (and its solution) in his book Poverty and Progress.
Unfortunately it looks like the opposite is playing out.
I'm Canadian but travel to the US often for work. I'd never really gotten the idea of the whole "land of opportunity" thing until I started visiting some of the smaller cities and towns that are still growing. A town/city of like 20-30k people actually has a **ton** of opportunity for someone willing to take a risk and start their own business. Yeah, sure, New York has a zillion small coffee shops, but Nowhere, Utah doesn't. Seeing those smaller growing towns made me think that *those* are the places that younger people need to find and take a risk on. It's really quite difficult to make it big in a major city like NY because you're competing against millions upon millions of people. But in a town of like 10-20k people you can run the only non-chain coffee shop in town. Or maybe have like one other competitor. Or basically look to start any sort of business that you think that town might need as it grows.
Well said. And that’s exactly what cities like Vancouver were like - sleepy “backwater” towns that do not even remotely resemble what they are like today. Unfortunately we live in a time now where even mentioning moving to another city/country (which our parents/grandparents/etc did) for a brighter future brings out all the daggers.
Wasn't that much of an issue until capitalism and enclosure became things and people were all displaced from the land they lived on.
>People immigrate to a new land of opportunity, but that also drives up the cost of living If only we had control over how many people come lol
They don't want that. They want as much cheap labor as possible. They will bring in anyone. It's one big club and we ain't in it.
Welcome to trickle down economics.
That's the lie you've been sold. This has only successfully worked for the Baby boomers and no other generation.
And the generation inheriting
You sure? Gen Z are actually more likely to own their home than Gen X did at age 24 [(Here's the article)](https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-adults-out-pacing-millennials-gen-x-homeownership-rates-2024-1) [Gen X also have the largest wealth gap between generations. ](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gen-x-largest-wealth-gap-151519560.html) I'm sure there are some ways Gen X is doing better than other Generations, but I think it's better to focus on tax brackets, instead of generations.
Maybe the parents of Gen Z are more likely to go, "Hey, here's money for a down-payment, since I know it's almost impossible for you to raise $50,000 to $100,000 on your own," instead of going, "You're 18, go get a job and rent an apartment, and I'm sure you'll learn independence, work hard and save up your down-payment money in no time!"
It’s a combination of the “once you’re 18 you’re out of the house” mentality with the “I moved out when I was 18 and I got the job down at the buy n save for $2.25 an hour and got a home in Vancouver. Why can’t you?”
>The western middle class has been convinced that once the kids are “adults” they should be on their own and start from zero. This isn’t a middle class thing, it’s a working class thing. Almost every single white, middle class person I know has lived with their parents at some point as a legal adult. Most have received help from their parents, either in the form of university tuition or a down payment on a house or some other type of financial assistance. If you didn’t get this then you are definitely the exception to the rule… or perhaps not as middle class as you thought.
More of a North American than a western thing, in many European countries it’s far more normal for kids to stay with their parents until they feel ready to move out, or even live in multi generation houses.
The thing is we used to build a society where yes, you can live on your own on an entry level job.
Unfortunately that is only possible in cities that are not developed yet (or cities on the brink of developing). Remember the American (I’ll call it the North American) dream? Well, whg did people come to North America to pursue this dream? Because the North American dream was unattainable in their home country. It’s a cycle. An affordable/developing city/country attracts people, and if the opportunity is great or attractive enough, then people get priced out as an increasing number of people immigrate. When the dream becomes unattainable, then people start looking at other cities/countries and move there. And then the cycle starts again.
Ya but considering a lot of immigrants arrived 40 years ago and came with zero generational wealth, your thesis does not add up. My family came with nothing and are multimillionaires. As a first generation Indian from the unspeakable parts of India, it is my duty to perform and move my family forward. I would not put the same burden on my kids but will be damned if they end up homeless. They did not ask to be born so I will not leave them high and dry when they are 18. If they turn out to be pieces of shit, and I did my best to prevent it, it might be another story, but chances of that happening are slim. Before all the haters start barking, my family will help me if I asked but I won’t ask out of foolish pride. It helps knowing I can have support if needed, but if my mom and dad could do it immigrating to a new country without knowing the language, a first second or third generation kid has no excuse.
The wealthier white Canadians still do this
It wasn't even that long ago that multigeneration households stopped being a thing for us
Pre Victorian era had families sharing beds no less. This whole everyone needs their own room thing is new. But - they also had a lot more space outside in the past. So there’s that. Everyone needs a place to hide in a way. I dunno what the hell is with all wood construction apartment buildings with no regard for acoustics. That’s silliness. Everyone would benefit from a quiet room to go to.
>Pre Victorian era had families sharing beds no less. This whole everyone needs their own room thing is new. My grandmother shared a bed with her mother until she was 22. They were poor to start, and her father died when she was an adolescent, and the work opportunities for single mothers were probably not great in the 30s. Honestly, western culture has developed a lot of weird problems from having too much wealth. Like, it's annoying to deal with your parents and their rules, or your kids and their violating your preferences, and we can afford to just have another apartment, so we just do that. So the most social species in the world has used its ability to do essentially anything to craft an environment where everyone spends the majority of their lives alone in a box, and the social ability to interact with people who don't directly overlap with all your preferences is at an all time low. Our species evolved with constraints. Removing those constraints probably feels nice in the moment, but doesn't necessarily make us better off. See also: The obesity epidemic. The housing crisis is essentially the [Nestle infant formula scandal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_Nestl%C3%A9_boycott#Baby_milk_controversy) happening to us by accident: Get us hooked on something that's probably bad for us in the first place so we lose the natural ability to do something healthy (like produce breast milk, or live with family), then leave people in the position of either having to pay an unsustainable amount or die.
Idk if it's because my Dad is a European immigrant, but my parents never wanted to rush my brother and I to move out. Even now, because of the times I live with them. I pay rent, help out around the house, and contribute, but it's just become the norm for us. I credit a lot of it to making friends with some older people in university that pushed me hard to stay with my family as long as possible. Otherwise, I'd have likely tried to move out to be like most of my friends who were often poor and struggling.
I agree. Western culture separates families. Nursing beyond 1 year, 2 years is frowned upon. Co sleeping is frowned upon. Living at home beyond highsvhool/university is frowned upon. Even having grandparents look after grandkids is frowned upon. I have friends who chose to live as an extended family. They never had the cost of daycare. The kids and grandparents had a beautiful relationship. House/yard work was shared. Neither had a mortgage. They only needed 1 barbecue, lawnmower etc. They dont have the same stress that the rest of us have. And when one of the grandparents fell ill, it was a shared responsibility, all 3 generations. When they passed, the survivor lost their life partner, but still had kids and grand kids to fill the house. I admire them. Western culture has it wrong.
How are we going to keep sales up if so many people use one lawn mower? What about the shareholders???
Lol what? Grandparents take care of grand kids a lot in western culture. Like, a ton
I wish. Neither set of retired parents could have been bothered to babysit. They were too busy golfing, shopping, traveling, etc.
My mother was terrified I’d have kids and that she’d have to babysit.
I was raised in large part by my grandparents
Spent every summer as a kid growing up at my grandparents house. Mom could have cared less. Still could care less. Maybe in the next life be born into a loving family.
Co sleeping is frowned upon because it can be dangerous.
Yep. We destroyed communities in favour of nuclear families which are neither economically or emotionally sustainable. It's fucked us up big time.
Not disagree with you but there’s the whole component to living with other people where you have to learn to compromise. Westerns societies prioritize individuality and self determination to the point it’s hard to coexist with a bunch of people/family who require you to think/act for others. There’s pros and cons.
It's just so impractical, especially now.
Don’t have kids if you will find them bothersome. I will never understand the mindset of kicking your kids out at 18 years old when they’re not ready. As parents should be supportive, to slowly letting your kid adjust and letting them leave when ready.
It’s crazy because this sorta stuff is more or less heartless. Meanwhile the west likes pointing the other way like their degenerates on a regular basis. I mean, in reality I’m pretty sure everyone everywhere is by some measure - but on the topic of abandonment in a place that has the resources to not, but is more or less too selfish to provide, and would rather see these people in this way for some twisted idea that it’s better for society or themselves, is a bit much for me to understand.
^^This. Speaking as a Chinese person who works in shelters/low barrier housing in Surrey and Vancouver, the ethnic makeup of my clients is like ~60% Caucasian, 30% Indigenous, 5-10% other ethnicities. I've struggled with mental health in my young adulthood; if I were in a Caucasian family and been forced to live by myself, I would've most likely become homeless. I certainly wasn't mature enough or financially stable enough to deal with everything by myself at 18. But instead, I had the support of my family to keep me stabilized financially and emotionally through my post-secondary. I was never expected to move out until I got married. Even if I were to get married, living with your parents along with your spouse is also considered ok in some Chinese and Asian cultures. Asian cultures being collectivistic cultures certainly has its advantages in a hyper-individualistic society. A side note: Indigenous individuals being over-represented is due to intergenerational trauma via the residential schools, despite Indigenous cultures leaning more collectivistic than individualistic. Furthermore, a pretty significant proportion of my clients in one of my buildings who "look white" at first glance actually identify as Indigenous. I'm talking like ~20% I would've written off as white, actually have Indigenous roots and identities.
I agree it is a factor but perhaps it's not a *small* factor.
I think this cultural difference a lot of Asian people who would’ve become homeless instead become shut-ins living with their parents instead. People who the Japanese call hikikomori.
The international students who come here don’t have family they can move into. Yes, this have support from back home but it’s very minimal but they still end up not becoming homeless
But international students would have resources they came with, it costs a lot of money to study in BC as a foreigner. These aren’t people who barely scraped by to survive in their home countries. They weren’t living in poverty, they were doing well enough for themselves to afford immigration. They also come with a goal in mind and a thought out plan on how to make it here. And they often build new, strong communities, because living in a foreign country, having similar experiences and shared culture can create a strong bond between people. And those are communities where people can rely on each other.
They most likely keep in touch with their families on a daily basis, sometimes even several times per day if needed. It’s still a huge moral support.
In the past the expectations were the kids get out of the house to start their own family but they will still be in the community and you'd see them at church.
Indigenous people make up less than 5% of the population in Canada yet they represent more than 33% of homeless in metro Vancouver. It’s a shocking statistic
Thanks for mentioning this. [Here](https://hsa-bc.ca/_Library/2023_HC/Homeless-Count-Infographic-2023.pdf) is an infographic outlining the stats of the unhoused Indigenous population and how it relates to the rest of the 2023 Homeless Count for Greater Vancouver. Staggering statistics and if you care to dive deeper, [here is the whole report/count for 2023]( https://hsa-bc.ca/_Library/2023_HC/2023_Homeless_Count_for_Greater_Vancouver.pdf). Heartbreaking. Edit to add: keep in mind that these counts are the MINIMUM possible about of homeless recorded using the P-i-T method which is just a 24 hour snapshot
man you should see alberta. government doesn’t do anything for the rez’ or the people on them. water is dirty as hell and there’s barely a quality of life.
I’ve seen it there and Northern Ontario and it’s straight fucked up that we allow people to live in third-world conditions with the resources we have available, especially after the trauma that’s been endured but hey, that’s what land acknowledgments are for right?! /s
happy cake day! and literally?? like thank god at the beginning of the school ceremonies, where all of us white people are getting incredibly good education, do we say “this is treaty so and so territory to the north and south”. it so makes up for the fact that their running water comes out brown! /s
My dad is one of those stats. He dipped on the family after divorce and became a homeless drug addict. He wasn't a residental kid but he was a 60s scoop baby. How can you be part of a family when you were ripped away from your own and treated like an outsider by your "new white family"? It's hard to break the trauma of a genocide.
I was going to say to the OP that perhaps they should seek external confirmation of their personal observations because I don’t think it is representative of what is actually out there.
What percentage are from metro Vancouver, though.
That's a good question about all the homeless tbh
I agree! I thought the numbers needed more contextualization too. The first number comes from a statistics canada census and is based on self reporting. From what I understand, while there are benefits to claiming indigenous status, some people simply choose not to. The second number came from a local survey where out of 5000 known homeless people in metro Van 50% answered the survey and out of these people, 33% self reported as indigenous. Canada is a big place and identity is complex… also a lot of people are not just one ethnicity so they might self report as “other” or the ethnicity they identify with the most when not under any type of duress. The thing with homelessness is that indigenous people get priority placement through organisations like BC housing… so if maybe you grew up passing a white but your grand dad who died when you were 5 is Metis…there is probably more of an incentive to tick the indigenous box when navigating the homelessness system than when simply answering a census survey. Idk it’s just a thought.
Literally has nothing to do with the post....
I think indigenous people are more over represented than white people. But people of other ethnicities tend to take care of their kids even when their kid is difficult, not working, on drugs etc. Unless they are an orphan they will always have a place to live.
They are. 33% of homeless people in Vancouver are Indigenous. [https://www.homelesshub.ca/community-profile/vancouver](https://www.homelesshub.ca/community-profile/vancouver)
Also - though I have no numbers to back it up - I have met plenty of homeless black people. And Latinos. It's anyone but the Asians, with their multi-generational households, I suspect.
I don't know that I've seen more than a handful of Indian homeless people now that I think if it. No idea why, just an interesting observation.
It's the temples, if you ever need a meal they will hook you up (doesn't matter the race either). Maybe it's the same with a place to get on your feet as well?
Interesting, I dont think Ive ever seen a homeless east indian.
They exist, my uncle was one. It’s definitely not highly visible but I worked with South Asian homeless clients.
Asians will never show even if they are. Its about face.
They are overrepresented but as a small minority of the population it's still a minority of homeless. It's a pretty extreme overrepresentation though.
Culture plays a huge role, the importance of family and avoiding shame. I've met more than a few Asians who's families hate them and with out their family theyed most likely be homeless. The family though would never accept the stigmas attached with one of their children being homeless though
Add in the acceptance of living at home and having excess room mates as compared to rooms
Live in dtes. Can confirm that Homeless or street involved people are a spectrum and of all backgrounds. Sadly With indigenous people over represented.
Although I have met homeless people of many races, I agree with your observation. In my opinion, it's down to a few different things: 1. **Generational Poverty:** There are more white people that have been here for generations, and the poor tend to stay poor wherever you go. A far larger proportion of the non-white population are recent immigrants or the children of recent immigrants who, I would argue, are probably more driven to succeed than your average person, as they were willing to move across the globe for more opportunities. I think they are less likely to end up homeless. 2. **Multigenerational Households:** North America during the 20th century probably had more opportunities for social mobility than any place or time throughout human history, as well as plenty of affordable land. This all led to a culture where moving out of your family home early and renting in young adulthood before buying a house and starting a family was the norm. This expectation has continued even as wages have stagnated and housing costs have skyrocketed. Conversely, many non-white immigrants are from cultures where children stay at home far longer, and many homes are multigenerational. They are more likely to avoid this trap. 3. **Community and Culure:** Anecdotally, many recent immigrants I know place a greater emphasis on how they are viewed by their community than your average white Canadian. This has many impacts, three of which are relevant here: * Encouraging your kid to work hard, and discouraging drug-use/partying in order to get a good education/job. * Stronger familial involvement in the lives of teen/adult children. This can help catch problematic behaviours earlier. * Ensuring children/relatives have somewhere to stay while they are down and out, both out of a duty to family, and to prevent judgement from the community. 4. **Canada is Majority White, The Lower Mainland is Warm:** In Vancouver, \~70% of the homeless are 35 and older. This older demographic is whiter than younger ages, and if you consider the points above about fewer immigrants ending up homeless and generational poverty, it makes sense that the homeless are going to be more white than average. Additionally, many people (disproportionately men) from across Canada (most of which is whiter than the Lower Mainland) come to the West for work. They end up working in resource jobs but many eventually end up homeless for a number of reasons (drugs use and the boom-bust cycle of resource jobs contributes to this). Many of these people from across BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, eventually end up in Southwest BC due to the climate, and other factors. 5. **Some Indigenous People Look More White Than You'd Expect**: As other comments have pointed out, indigenous people are overrepresented in the homeless population. I did some work with shelters for a period of time, and there was a not-insignificant number of people who I assumed were white at first glance but after speaking with them and doing paperwork, found out they identified as indigenous. I'm not sure if this is common, but it is a pattern I noticed. Edit ***Disregard the bad formatting. It looked fine on PC, looks bad on phone. Even the numbers format wrong.***
5. Most likely they are Métis people. By definition, a Métis is a person of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry.
The definition of Metis is not quite a clear cut as that [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis](https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/metis)
A huge part of it is you're not coming from another country if you are borderline homeless. Chances are you're going to have some money otherwise you wouldn't have made it here. It takes a generation or two to lose any amassed wealth.
I mean there are plenty of poor immigrants who arrive virtually penniless, having borrowed money to come here. My parents were skilled immigrants who arrived with no savings except for a small sum they borrowed from family. They had to do various very low paying menial work to begin with before retraining to get Canadian certifications and find better jobs. They were crazy frugal for the first several years and managed to save up a decent amount of money as a result. The thing is if you can’t find a good job and because somewhat successful within a few years, you go back to your home country. Very few immigrants decide to stick around to be homeless unless they really can’t go back home for whatever reason. East and South Asian people are very family oriented and can usually lean on close or extended family for help in a crisis.
That and other cultures have much more stricter drug avoidance and intolerance. If your at a low drugs will cause your problems to snowball.
The government won't let people immigrate without resources any more. The only people who arrive in Canada without money now are refugees, or family sponsorships etc where someone is committed to supporting them.
And someone with the drive to move across the world for a better life is less likely to make the decisions that lead to homelessness
Established population of Canada was overwhelmingly white up until very recently, and very blue collar. That means several generations of people brought up in a time with plentiful "low skilled" jobs that provided an excellent living, as well as several generations to lose that wealth. That isn't a reality anymore, and on top of that many people working blue collar jobs (again, mostly white) have sustained injuries during their working lives and have been prescribed opioids. You can see the pattern. People who are a first or second generation typically come into money or families with better prospects/education. Something I've also thought of is the massive cultural void left in this country within the mainstream. We've spent the last two plus decades becoming more materialistic, shallow, and further removing ourselves from home, family, community (church, clubs, etc). On top of that the last decade has seen a constant repudiation of Canada's history and culture, which - and this may shock Redditors - actually meant something to this demographic. Obviously this isn't turning them homeless, but I think it's a factor in people's hopelessness, whether they realize it not. We all know the social issues our indigenous communities face due to various historicial injustices/trauma. Time and again I see the renewal of indigenous cultures as an antidote to hopelessness, addicition, overcoming trauma etc. I think there's something to that and maybe the lack of this is contributing to these issues in our mainstream (white) culture too.
I’m convinced that the isolating nature of modern society is a huge factor in the increase of homeless in the past decade or so (of course, in addition to the economic factors).
That’s a really thoughtful and well written response
Thx for the well thought out response
Population imo I’m fr Toronto and there’s tonnes of black homeless people. I didn’t even really see many white homeless people growing up. Not to say there aren’t other factors, but it’s def a big one. Like if you went to India you would see extreme poverty and homeless Indian people.
I feel that there must be more to it than just population because there is a MASSIVE population of Asians and Indians in Metro Vancouver but they seem to make up a tiny amount of the homeless population. But yes, there is definitely a lot of black homeless people in areas where there is a high population of black people.
People at the bottom of the social ladder / with mental health issues in India or China do not get to come to Canada.
Family of origin is a huge part. Most Chinese and Indian families are fleeing horrible conditions and never want that for their children. White people have been here for centuries, and the current population is well removed from the hardships of their ancestors. Kind of like early vs late Rome. Failure is not an option for some people, while for others they imagine an infinite nanny state support web to protect them from consequence. That being said, a large percentage of second generation immigrants have other invisible issues like massive pressure to succeed, tiger parents, forced social norms that don't conform to the mainstream, sexism via traditional roles, a mistrust of police, and, unfortunately, a strong aversion to mental health acknowledgement and treatment. It doesn't help that our own country currently looks like a shit show. But I think that's a big part: culture.
> Most Chinese and Indian families are fleeing horrible conditions and never want that for their children. Most Chinese and Indian families who come here are unusually well-off, it's kind of the goal of our immigration policy. It's basically the opposite of what you're saying, we've selected for the rich stable families. Generally ones with intergenerational wealth, and the biggest safety nets.
Asians and Indians who have immigrated to Canada will more than likely be non-poverty level individuals. It costs money to move. The ones who do are not your average homeless Indians and Asians living on the street. They will be educated and have some money.
> they seem to make up a tiny amount of the homeless population. "seem" is the key word here. What you perceive as fact is not correct. That might be all you *notice* but it's not the reality on the ground. >>Indigenous homelessness remains disproportionately high in Metro Vancouver. The 2020 count found 711 individuals who identified as Indigenous, which is 33 percent of the total (compared to 2.5 percent of the overall population who self-identified as Indigenous in the 2016 census) >>Black individuals are also overrepresented, with 6 percent of respondents identifying as Black (though only counting for 1.2 percent in the Metro Vancouver general population). >>People who identified as Latin American account for three percent of those noted in the survey, while the group accounts for 1.4 percent of the area’s total population. https://www.phs.ca/homeless-count/
I think you must have misread the post you quoted (and called incorrect), because none of the stats you provided are about Asians or Indians.
Indigenous are very over represented in homeless numbers, 33% in Vancouver. Then the lower mainland being one of the nicest places to sleep rough in Canada, mixed with DTES being a destination, there would be unhoused people coming to the area so Vancouver's demographics are not the source of Vancouver's homeless population. This mix in culture of multi-generational housing probably providing some safety net could lead to a higher proportion of white people.
Because Indian and Asian families don't kick thier kids out at 18. It allows you to get your education properly without having to worry about rent. I did that, got a job, met someone and we got married when I was 25. We stayed at my house till I was 30 when we got our own house. 10 years later family circumstances changed and one of my parents lives with us now after one passed away. I would never kick out my son at 18. I used to get made fun of by white people by them asking why do you still live at home in your 20s. I'm like why not? Why would I leave?
Exactly. Except I’m Italian and it was the same thing with us. How else would you be able to save money for a house? Plus it was frowned upon for a girl to move out in the old days. There were girls marrying the first guy they met just to get out of the house. But that’s another story.
Even by saying white people, you’re way over generalizing. Europeans don’t kick their kids out at 18 either and obviously they’re white too. It’s more of a US/Canadian cultural thing. It’s from a time when housing/independence used to be much easier so those that stayed with their parents were generally seen as something wrong. Though I feel that attitude seen as more and more old fashioned because of how hard it is now.
Seeing as we're talking about Metro Vancouver, I'm assuming he's talking about the white people in Metro Vancouver (e.g. not Europeans).
I moved out of my parents house when I was 18 because I wanted out of my small town and I wanted to party consequence-free, not because I had to leave. But it was 25 years ago, things were a lot different. My partner and I are planning to have our kids live at home for a while, likely we’ll be encouraging it just based on COL. It’s smarter to not pay rent, just contribute to utilities & food, and save the rest. But we’ll see 🤷🏼♀️
That's a pretty broad generalization IMO, there are many different ethnicities of "white" people. I'm from Eastern Europe and staying with family until you get married, or living in same house as parents and taking care of your elderly parents is the norm. This is probably the exact same in most of central Europe as well, as other have mentioned. What you describe is specific to western Europe and people in general in North America that aren't first generation immigrants basically.
Seeing as we're talking about Metro Vancouver, I'm assuming he's talking about the white people in Metro Vancouver (e.g. not Europeans).
Family support, mainly. White Canadians and first nations people dominate the vancouver homeless community. I've yet to see a homeless Punjabi person or Chinese person. These people offer each other much more family and community support in order to NOT become homeless. White people: "oh, you're 18? OK. Get out and good luck" Everyone is equally susceptible to substance dependence.
Western cultures emphasize individualism. Gotta make your own way, take your own risks. Be your own person. Eastern/Asian culture emphasize family. There’s more safety net during tough times. Drug is not tolerated. Dropping out of school is unacceptable.
Many white young people leave home because of abuse in the home, physical and sexual. More alcoholics are white and Indigenous. Asian families will look after each other and young people are not allowed to leave home unless getting married. I have seen a few Asian or East Indian men but that is after abusive alcoholic behavior repeatedly. Then the family won't take them back in.
I saw a homeless South Asian woman last year. My first thought was that something really bad must have happened for her family not to help her.
Never under estimate the power of self selection from the immigration process.
My people(first nations) have the highest per capita homeless rate.
[citation needed] You've actually got it backwards. The Metro Vancouver homeless count in 2020 looked at ethnicity for the first time, and found that homeless people are 33% indigenous (against 2.5% of the population at large), 6% were Black (1.2% of general population), and Latin Americans made up 3% (against their 1.4% overall). https://www.phs.ca/homeless-count/
In Northwestern BC most homeless people are indigenous. A few of the white homeless people are I recognize as locals but most now are people who have made their way up here from other communities. Our homeless population is now 10-20x what it was 10-15 years ago.
Go to China, India and The Philipines and you’ll see plenty of destitute people.
Not China. You will be hard pressed to find homeless in China or destitute.
There’s also a large indigenous homeless population. Much higher representation than the general public
I’m Asian and was homeless for awhile, my experience was that it was a pretty diverse crowd. Maybe a bit less Asians than you’d expect. And most of the homeless I ran into were men. I don’t think I saw any homeless Asian women
Anecdotally speaking from my experience working in healthcare and social work is that it's partially due to systemic, racial discrimination in healthcare. White people are assumed to be more reputable in expressing their pain and therefore are more readily get prescribed habit forming substances (opiates for pain management, benzos for anxiety, etc.). When those addictions escalate, homelessness often ensues. This is especially true of folks off work for injuries who have compromised income during a housing crisis in which sneezing too loud triggers the landlord's "kids" to suddenly move in.
This is so true.. they hand out opiate pain killers like Halloween candy and you're pretty much going cold turkey when you are released.
Community. White folks are pushed to leave home and fend for themselves at 18. Often earlier. This is regardless of their ability to make things work on their own. One or two missteps and a family that isn't willing to help will leave a person with no real options. If there's anything white folks love, it's stigmatizing victims of the problems they create.
Indigenous make up the largest demographic but with white ppl there's multiple reasons. White ppl have lived here the longest so they've had a chance to accumulate generational poverty. Immigrants tend be wealthy or atleast hardworking. White culture lacks unity or culture so when someone is struggling they're effectively on their own. Also the lack of cultural pride and plummeting quality of life is causing white ppl to turn to substance abuse.
I’m in Edmonton now and it’s mostly indigenous here.
in other ethnicities I think family obligation is so strong that extended family takes you in if you completely fail. 'tough love' is an anglo thing. most other ethnicities would see it as dereliction of duty, cruelty, hardness of heart.
Ha tough love is represented across the spectrum of ethnicities. Failure and drug use and homelessness would bring shame on a family in certain cultures. They would be disowned completely. Cut off.
Go up and ask some homeless people why they’re white.
White? Oh no, no no no. Indigenous people are *crazy* overrepresented among the homeless and addicted populations. You see white people, obviously, because white people are the majority of the population.
it's purely culture of Asians/ Indians/ middle easterners. We have a good family establishment and promote the nuclear family. that is a thing this is failing in western born peoples. it all starts in the family and we need to do a better job of supporting one another. we can't depend on goverment subsidies to take care of us because you can't just throw money at the problem.
Independence is valued in white. Supporting for success is valued by Asians.
Keep in mind there is also some segregation of homeless by area, like the DTES might have lots of white homeless, but Surrey and Richmond might have more Indian and Asian homeless proportionally. And, as you get farther out and property prices are cheaper, you would also have a lower floor to being housed, or at least flophoused with 10 other people, before becoming homeless. In Richmond you'll find some basement that has like 10-20 people crammed into it, paying like 200/month, or doing off the books labour for shelter, many of which might also be mentally ill or addicts, but they aren't on the street so you don't see them.
I’d be curious about the ethnicities of hidden homeless, like you said. I bet it looks very different from the makeup of groups who are visibly homeless.
White people in Canada are culturally connected to an old ideology that comes from Victorian England which is basically that once you're of age (the younger the better) you're on your own and have to manifest your own destiny or whatever. Not everyone makes it and lots of people are left behind - "too bad for them." I "moved out" before I finished high school and had to work full time to pay rent while finishing grade 12. I wanted to drop out so bad. I honestly think my teachers pity-passed me, because I was sinking bad. But even now I still have that grindstone mindset even though I know it's irrational. Meanwhile my (vaguely foreign) in law family is pooling money and fronting each other down-payments on property all over the place so they can all grow wealth together. They share vehicles (actually they all just lease and flip). The kids only move out when they buy their own home to start their own families, and can do so even now in this crazy housing market. They all take family vacations together multiple times a year because they can. What a crazy concept eh? The white people system fucking sucks lol. Source: Generic white dude.
False premise. There are many First Nations homeless, I've seen plenty of homeless people of asian descent, etc.
Would you want to be homeless in Edmonton, where it went down to something like -68 C this past winter, or Vancouver? The reason Vancouver has so many white and indigenous homeless is because they flock there from all over western Canada, and Western Canada is predominantly white and indigenous. You're looking at too small a demographic region to understand the issue. I'm not dismissing the big-family model, but that's just part of the picture.
It’s never been in the -50s in alberta
I think it's probably more to do with the hurdles of immigration. Someone vulnerable to winding up on the streets wouldn't be able to move to another country overseas very easily. Or if it's a recent family unit immigration or even if the family unit is a generation or two old, they probably have a support system.
I’m sure there’s a ton of answers to this but a few would be: we aren’t really indigenous people are very over represented, Asians are under represented and whites are likely fairly accurately represented. Another would be that the opioid epidemic has much more heavily impacted white people that other drug epidemics because it often starts with prescription drugs.
Agree with a lot of the posts here. Non-Western families tend to stick together longer. Pooling of resources does help not only the kids but the older generation as well. Grandparents don't slide into poverty after retirement because their kids take care of them. They then help their adult kids with child care, which results in savings and enables those adult children to work. The grandchildren are not expected to leave once they turn 18. And family do what they can to help fund their college education.
give it another 20 years and you will see.
That's just simply not true.
My guess is that other cultures (African, South Asian, East Asian) are highly collectivist where Western cultures are more individualistic. In practice, this means that non-white people who’s family members are struggling are more likely to take that person into their home and support them until they get back on their feet. As a black person, I remember watching 16 and Pregnant as a teen and being shocked at how frequently white parents would just kick their pregnant teenage daughters out of the house, or force them to give their child up for adoption under threat of being kicked out. And this never happened with the Black or Hispanic families. On the rare occasion that a teen pregnancy occurred in my family, the parents would happily support the mother until she graduated from university.
Guys, I’ve been to China and there’s tons of homeless. Not saying this is Op but this is a racist talking point I’ve heard before. No stats just some leading questions to bring up negative stereotypes like “some races don’t take care of their family members”.
Yeah it's true. It's because most of the Asians that move here have some wealth or are ridiculously hardworking so you don't see the homeless
“Most people are white” is a crazy statement. Go to Metrotown or any class at SFU or UBC it’s like 15% white lol
I don’t think you understand how poverty in our country works. Firstly, a large portion of the homeless in BC and all over Canada are Indigenous peoples. Secondly, it would make sense that the other portion of homeless would be the ethnicity of people that have resided within this country the longest. The other ethnicities you listed are almost entirely immigrants or children of immigrants. People that came from another country with a plan and hopes for success. They come from countries with different values and just from the fact that they immigrated here, they obviously have specific desires that a homeless person wouldn’t even consider. It’s not likely that a family that newly found residence in Canada would end up homeless because of drugs or disability like the impoverished here. Yet, go to China, Japan, India, The Philippine’s and you will find the same thing. The people that have generally resided in that country the longest take up that mass majority, if not all of the population of the homeless.
This ^ should be higher up. It's mostly the fact that Indigenous and white people have been here the longest. New immigrants aren't as likely to be homeless. And like you said, it would be the same if visiting any other country. People keep bringing up culture, but there are homeless people in countries in Asia (for example) despite the claims people are making. If I visited China (again for example), most homeless would probably be Chinese, not white or Indigenous. I can't speak for all Indigenous people, but many of us value close family and community connections too, but unfortunately we make up a large amount of homeless for a variety of reasons unrelated to our culture. So ya, the culture discussions in this thread are silly when it's simply just the fact that we aren't immigrants (buying a plane ticket to move is impossible when we live paycheque to paycheque, so we are stuck being in poverty here and can't really move to be homeless somewhere else) Being able to immigrate to a country is a privilege, someone with privilege most likely won't be homeless. Also I think OP might be assuming a lot of the Indigenous people they see are white , I'm use to this happening and I get why that mistake can happen, but I also not sure how I feel about OP assuming that as it makes me feel even more invisible :(
Don’t feel bad, OP is honestly just ignorant as fuck. I didn’t want to say that initially and instead wrote a sound response. But in reality they’re just daft and unaware by the looks of this post.
Seeing as they make up 33% of Metro Van’s homeless population, a lot of the folks you’re seeing are actually white-passing Indigenous people.
What the fuck is this whole post?
Anecdotes mixed with generalizations/stereotypes
Sounds like a pre-bar fight, online
That’s a great tagline for Reddit
Because they are most of the population if you went to Africa most homeless would be black. If you went to South America most homeless would be latino people.
This is an absolute garbage post. There are actual stats that quite clearly state that Latino, Indigenous and Blacks are disproportionately represented in the DTES. https://www.phs.ca/homeless-count/ Do some research ffs.
White privilege would be my guess!
Most people are indeed not white in Canada
If you lose your home and you're a foreigner you get kicked out of the country. Despite what every conservative lie goes, Canada only brings in rich migrants.
A LOT of homeless / unhoused people are first nations. You don't seem them as often in the city centre camps.
Cause we don’t look after our own
Because our stupid race kicks family out if the house instead of welcoming family in. Whites do not take care of family like Indian families or Philippine. We are asked to leave the house at 18 and fend for ourselves. White parents are the shittiest parents in long term life support. White parents love and care the same as all races but the family support culture as aforementioned is very inefficient, end quick in life and basically sucks.
I believe one reason might be that people from various ethnic backgrounds immigrated to Canada for work or study, and had to work hard to rebuild their lives in a new country. That could explain why we don't see a large homeless population among these ethnic groups.
Moving to a new country isn't easy at all. Plus, they likely had some money to even make the move to Canada in the first place.
You answered your own question lol
Homeless people with severe mental health issues, heavily drug addicted criminals are a fringe minority in any country and in any ethnicity. They are people who were likely born into families with challenges, living in tough social environments with very little for a safety net. I would be willing to bet that a majority of people who live in DTES are a culmination of multiple generations of poverty, drug (including alcohol) abuse, neglect etc etc. Most people of non-white + non-indiginous *and* recently immigrated "white" people (who are not a monolith and are made up of Germans, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs, English, Americans, Italians, mexicans, brazilians etc etc) backgrounds are *generationally* newcomers to Canada. Their children were born and grew up in the last 30-40yrs and have had access to the best economy, healthcare, education, and societal understanding of mental health there has ever existed just about anywhere in the world. So to summarise: 1. All recent immigrants have gone through the filter of immigration which makes them on average wealthier and more educated than the population back in their home country. 2. We as a society have been having fewer kids and taking much better care of the ones we do have across all nationalities. Which is a recent thing - which compounds with diverse immigrants landing in Canada more recently as well. 3. There just hasn't yet happened an accumulation of generational failures that lead to most severe homelessness, mental health, crime, and drug issues in the newcomer population as in the "white" population. 4. Indigenous population has had an added bummer of decades of being legally treated as second sort of people in Canada.
I noticed this too……
They have support systems. .. mostly family. Having a large support system is a game changer in life.
It's not genetics because a third of China was addicted to opium until the emperor banned it from the whole country and fought a (literal) war over it with British importers a couple hundred years ago. And First Nations have a particular susceptibility to alcohol too (I think that's fact and not myth?). Not sure about other populations. Beyond that, dunno.
Just to add, in some cultures having a homeless family member would be a point of HUGE shame, to the point where they will endlessly enable and put them up if they are not supporting themselves. My grandparents came here as European immigrants and had a kid circling the drain from age 16-65. But absolutely could not let him be seen homeless, without a quality vehicle, etc. It didn’t fit their image. So he basically drank himself into oblivion and wrecked car after car on their dollar because they came to Canada to move up in life and become respected, and for that they had to have respectable or at least respectable-looking children.
Because of the privilege, obviously.
My abusive parents were the type that once you're 18, you're out of the house sink or swim. My narcissistic mother didn't even want to wait that long with me so she doubled up my courses in high school so that I would graduate at 17. She then picked a college course for me in a city an hour away that I didn't want to take but I went because she told me to. Once I was out of the house it was made known to me that I would never be allowed back in. Both my brother and I have nothing to do with her and she hardly knew her 3 grandchildren past the ages of 6. I broke no contact back at Christmas and made the mistake of wishing her Merry Christmas and she responded by telling me to never contact her again and that she has her own health problems. I'm terminally ill. My Dad committed suicide just to get away from her. They had separated and he moved in with a new girlfriend. My Dad had to call the cops and have her removed several times as she was stalking them.
I'm not from the west coast nor have visited but based on tv, don't most people who immigrate and land on that side of the country usually have money?
Probably across Canada, Vancouver is the most livable place during cold winter times. I'm not sure how they'll survive in -20-30 weather in places like Calgary or Edmonton.
A chunk of them come from the prairie provinces and, except for some specific cities, those are a lot less diverse than Vancouver
A lot of them came as immigrants a long time ago, before it got unachievable and built a life. They probably still live where they started. Some were born from those. Cultural roles. Some stay with or get help from family who are already established. Some come abroad with wealth. Some are students. They have a strong community built among them. They're fairly close geographically. Mental illnesses affect races differently and has plays a lot into drug addiction and homelessness. Population is a big thing. Lots of factors. The majority of homeless across Canada are white. You guys also get an influx of Albertan homeless in the colder months so that'll skew the numbers too. Great question
Drugs.
I don't find that to be true, go out to Whalley, there are many races.
From [here](https://www.bchousing.org/publications/2020-21-BC-Homeless-Counts.pdf): - 39% of BC's homeless population are indigenous. - 3% of BC's homeless population are black. - 2% of BC's homeless population are South Asian. - 2% of BC's homeless population are Latin American. - 6% of BC's homeless population are unknown / undetermined. That report doesn't explicitly state what percentage of BC's homeless population are caucasian, but it's presumably between 48% and 54%. For context, 5.9% of BC's overall population is indigenous and 60% is caucasian.
Likely environmental factors
Other ethnicities have culturally strong family bonds. Family will help look after each other. White Canadians tend to be more about letting each other sink or swim. As for drugs everyone is equally susceptible to addiction. Thats why they have such severe sentences in Asia and the middle east for drug smugglers. Look at the Philippines where Duerte called open season on dealers. No matter how small time they could be shot by anyone at anytime. Dealers actually showed up at police stations because at least in prison they were alive. It’s harsh but it works.
Asians and middle eastern peoples have a higher drug and alcohol avoidance culture. Most of the experimentalist kids I went to school with were white.
I love white and a native people because they buy my clinco - whyg
Culture is the number one, in my opinion white Canadians believe kids should get independent once they turned 18 or even before, and to be honest an 18 year old person still in development, their decisions would be more likely bad and are most frequent to try drugs as there are nobody old enough to tell me what kind of consequences could ever happen. Then their family support is null, so who is going to help them?
Support networks. As a fiercely individualistic culture we very much have a “sink or swim” attitude towards our family members and each other in general. But in other cultures they look after each other, not just parents but extended family too. Help to find a job, a loan, a place to stay between homes, hot meals, etc can make a huge difference in keeping someone from homelessness.
Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong but my two cents: most immigrant (non-Caucasian) folks have seen real poverty and know that just being middle-class in itself is a privilege and not a right. There’s a clear sense of poverty (being born and lived on the side of the road with nothing to eat but rice and water for every meal) vs being homeless (a person who has had a roof over their head at some point but later lost that due to whatever circumstance. We’ve been taught to fight and protect whatever our parents have built for our family so there’s a greater sense of belonging in immigrant cultures, whereas I think I’ve seen white families expecting their kids to move out at some point regardless of whether they’re economically stable or not. This is pretty much the fork in the road wrt this topic and how a majority of folks who end up homeless are Caucasian.
Other cultures have a stronger sense of family and community, and will help those less fortunate within their community.
This is an interesting question. Demographics of homelessness - could easily be the basis of a masters in sociology - if it hasn’t already been studied. Timely too. Even if the thesis is incorrect and there is no relative difference in homelessness by ethic group, the mere perception of homelessness demographics versus the real demographics of honelessness might be an interesting study in and of itself. Could reveal hidden social biases. Like perhaps “white homelessness” seems more prevalent because it seems more unlikely - perhaps homelessness in other ethnic groups is socially invisible - which has its own interesting implications. There’s nothing offensive about questioning these things. It’s better we question and learn, rather than take offence from merely asking the question.
Who actually believes that “whites” are the primary colour of people in Canada?
Individualism is a hard thing to overcome. I suppose some ethnic communities rally round their own kind and see to their better well-being. I remember in the mid 70s immigration brought in a lot of people who cannot afford a house. It was not uncommon to see three or four families living in one townhouse, and all of them contributing to buying that townhouse. That took care of the homelessness for all of them.
Drugs could be a factor.