What I learned from the effort of seeking novel solutions

By: Arita Liu

First of all, this Social Innovation course opens up a door for me to see a different world, which otherwise could never come across my life. While I have been aware there are all kinds of social problems, it never occurred to me that I could have a chance to deal with some of them in depth and try to come up with solutions to help. The guest speakers, who are the experts dedicated to solving various social problems, brought me much insights into those issues. It is a valuable chance to be able to share their knowledge and experiences. They are admirable in their brilliance and persistent efforts in trying to making this world a better place.

Working on the issue of homelessness has been an especially valuable experience. I get to understand better the causes of homelessness and how groups of people have been working hard against difficulties to help the homeless persons. The more I know about this issue, the more problems as well as opportunities reveal themselves: lack of funding, federal and provincial policies on tax credit, economic incentives, social stigma, physical and psychological drawbacks all came to board at different levels of the process. The width and depth of the issues  that we need to research into and tackle with make the experience a bit frustrating and stressful, as we were trying to explore into the fields where we have little knowledge of. However, it was also a perfect learning process. I think my research ability is much better, and I learned to critically think about the issue by addressing its different facets and seeking information from various sources. What makes the experience more enjoyable is the fact that people do care about what we are doing and are more than willing to provide help.

I also learned from my teammates, who are intelligent, enthusiastic and supportive. The model is the result of our collective efforts and the combination of the skills from each of us. Our professor has always been there for us, which makes the entire process a lot more easier. Sincere thanks to everyone who have been involved and kindly offered help.

Coming up with a novel solution turned out to be hard, but not impossible. This course is precious in that it initiates us into a journey of seeking novel solutions and learning in the process, not only learning knowledge, but also the society and people.

Property Tax Exemption – City of Coquitlam

By: Arita Liu

Considering that our Giving Circle Model is dedicated to housing homeless individuals, we looked into municipal bylaws and property tax regulations to find if we are eligible for property tax exemption. Following is what we found about City of Coquitlam tax exemption procedure.

City of Coquitlam Council considers property tax exemptions on an annual basis for properties that provide some general public benefit or good. The general procedure is as follows:

• Applications for permissive property tax exemption should be submitted before the end of August to be considered for exemption in the next calendar year. Information supporting the application should include:

- What type of benefit the organization provides to the community;

- Whether the programs and services benefit primarily Coquitlam residents;

- Whether programs and services are accessible to Coquitlam residents;

- Any other information that the applicant feels may support their request;

• The City Clerk will acknowledge the receipt of applications for permissive exemption by mail and advise the applicant of the timeline for consideration.
• The application will be reviewed to ensure that:

- The exemption is allowed under the enabling legislation where applicable;

- The organization are considered as a non-profit or charitable organization;

- The organization is operating consistently with City policies and bylaws;

• All applicants will be provided with an opportunity to address Council at a formal meeting with respect to their request for an exemption.
• Vacant properties will not be considered for permissive property tax exemptions.
• Properties under construction will not be considered for a permissive property tax exemption until construction is complete and occupancy is issued.
• Residential buildings not used for public worship (i.e. manse or a rectory) located on church property shall be taxable including a portion of the property surrounding the residential building equal to the size of an average city lot.
• After the application deadline the City Clerk will prepare a Report to Council which provides information on all the applications received. Once direction is received from Council the City Clerk will prepare the annual tax exemption bylaw.
• After Council has adopted the annual tax exemption bylaw the City Clerk will advise applicants of the decision on their application.
• It is the applicants responsibility to ensure compliance with the Assessment Act and it is the British Columbia Assessment Authority’s responsibility to review the use of the properties in accordance with the Assessment Act.

(Bylaw No. 4013, 2009.  A Bylaw to adopt 2009 to 2013 Financial Plan)

Opportunity, People and Capital

By: Arita Liu

What Have We Learned

By: Arita Liu

Throughout the past three weeks, our team has been actively doing research and meeting with experts to discover issues of and search for solutions for homelessness. What we learned through our exploration process can fall into following four scopes.

Understand homeless situation in Tri-Cities

Homelessness is a complicated social problem. Each city differs in its homeless problems due to geographical, economical and cultural factors. Tri-Cities homelessness is distinguished with the fact that there is no permanent shelter in the area yet church plays an important role in providing temporary shelters and connecting homeless individuals with available services and resources. The reality that a permanent shelter is nowhere closer calls for alternative innovative housing opportunities.

Touched by community involvement

Last Wednesday we were in the food hamper provided by SHARE Family & Community Services Society in Trinity United Church. We had a chance to see how the church worked with community volunteers to organize and deliver the service and how the food hamper is a socializing event for the homeless families and individuals. It is a very special experience to witness the bond of the community in helping the homeless people. Through interviewing two volunteers, one of them used to be homeless and addictive to drugs, we get to hear homeless citizens’ voice on their needs and perspectives, which is valuable in helping us to adjust the solution to meet their needs.

Perceive from multiple perspectives

In the process of searching for an innovative solution to homelessness, we contacted experts from the real estate. They provided financial and economical advise on our solution and raised issues from their perspective for us to consider in developing the model. Hearing opinions from business professionals is inspiring because it makes us realize that people from different fields with different perspectives can share a same vision and collaborate with each other to solve a problem. Cross- sector collaboration and partnership may bring about some really innovative solutions by exchanging ideas and values and mobilizing social resources.

Apply knowledge to practice

It is amazing that we are given an opportunity to actually apply the knowledge we learned from the course Social Innovation to our practice of trying to come up with a novel solution to a social problem. We come to understand better that in order to bring about positive changes to the social problem, we need to think bold, actively contact informants, and persistently pursue opportunities.

A Novel Solution

By: Arita Liu

This model is using a community–NGO–business-municipality partnership approach to create housing opportunities for homeless individuals.

The novelty of the model lies in two aspects. First, it combines giving circles with real estate agents in creating housing solutions for the homeless. Real estate agents are involved to find potential investors and provide expertise advise on financial services and policies concerning property investment and management. Second, landowners/investors receive a moderate return on a social responsible investment.

By partnering with other NGOs, real estate, communities and municipalities, this model can achieve higher efficiency through the coordination among stakeholders in broader social sectors. By building on the established knowledge of NGOs and churches who are dedicated in helping the homeless and real estate agents who are from a vast business network, it creates a partnering network in which governmental support and communities are involved to help the homeless. Supportive services such as life and social skills development and employment placement through NGOs and communities are provided to ensure that homeless individuals integrate into the society smoothly. Involving supportive services and communities into the model ensures the efficiency and the effectiveness of the solution.

Economically this model is cost-effective. Instead of constructing new buildings, the model adapts to existing housing stock to serve the needs. It also holds an intrinsic value that extends beyond its cost effectiveness. Being housed in normalized accommodation in the community helps the homeless individuals to stabilize and be linked to community-based resources and services more effectively.

The sustainability of the model lies in the fact that there can be many potential funding opportunities. As long as there are well-designed partnering strategies, sustainability can be ensured.

As the British Columbia Housing Service Plan (2003/2004) states, “there has been a significant shift towards providing more community-based subsidized housing to assist those in need of housing and support in order to gain or maintain independence”. This model adds flexibility to homeless housing solutions as to how communities can conceptualize and implement housing solutions for homeless individuals.

Some Critical Issues

By: Arita Liu

There are several critical issues we need to consider in the process of the model.

It is critical to identify each partner’s focus, competencies and capabilities in order to facilitate collaboration in the network. In spite of the shared vision of reducing homelessness, each partner may have their specific value orientation due to religious, economic and social reasons. It is therefore important to evaluate the potential risk of value incompatibility and reduce the risk to the maximum extent.

Effective communication among investors and partners will be a high priority, which happens both before investors make the decision to purchase certain property, and during the time of jointly supporting the homeless individuals. A trust mechanism needs to be developed among investors to ensure the sustainability of the solution.

As we have a relatively complex funding environment which is populated with many potential funding opportunities, we need to find a way to manage and mobilize the funding effectively. Should we have a community foundation, or can we channel the funding to an existing NGO or a church, or are there any other options that serve our vision? We need to further explore into potential partners before we make the decision.

Incentives to benefit the investors or landlords need to be identified through various channels of municipal, financial and private sectors. More research into public policies and further discussion with experts and the investors or landlords themselves are needed to measure if the incentives will invite long-term investment.

Selecting clients is a complicated issue that we need to proceed carefully. We have worked out the criteria to select our clients, however, we will need to talk to outreach workers and homeless experts to further verify the applicability of the criteria. The selection criteria must be based on fairness and should not involve any degree of ambiguity or inadequacy; in other words, there must be well-grounded reasons for selecting certain clients. Again, this needs to be ensured by confirming with the experts.

Homelessness in Tri-Cities

by: Arita Liu

In our research into homelessness in Tri-Cities, several characteristics of the homelessness in this area came to our notice.

First, Tri-Cities have the fastest increase of homeless population from 2005 to 2008 in Metro Vancouver.

According to the 2008 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count, there are 94 homeless persons in Tri-Cities, making up 4% of the entire homeless population in Metro Vancouver. From 2005 to 2008, however, Tri-Cities have the biggest homeless increase rate of 140%. Outreach workers in this area even found that the real number of homeless people is four to five times higher than the count. In the big picture, Tri-Cities have relatively smaller homeless population, yet with the fast increase of homelessness in this area, there has to be something done to stop the homeless epidemic.

Second, Tri-Cities homeless longevity is relatively short with a highest percentage of people being homeless less than six months.

The 2008 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count reveals that 48% of people who provided information had been homeless for a year or more. Among those street/service homeless people, 56% had been homeless for a year or more. Debate has been focused on the long-term mentally ill and substance abusers, but the new homeless represent different phenomena and require different approaches to a solution.

Third, There is no permanent shelter in this area whereas Ridge Meadow area has 19 shelter beds where there is a smaller homeless population.

“Three Ways to Home”, the Regional Homelessness Plan for Greater Vancouver Area developed by The Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee, maps out the three key elements to end homelessness — affordable housing, support services, and adequate income. Factors such as lack of affordable housing, poverty and low income require permanent emergency shelter capacity throughout the region as a link between homelessness and permanent housing. What makes the situation more frustrating is, last week, Coquitlam city Mayor Richard Stewart and councillors were informed that the permanent shelter planned for 3030 Gordon Ave. and a 30-unit apartment block at 528 Como Lake Ave. for women and children are on hold because there is no provincial fund available for the project.

Tri-Cities homeless group is small yet the situation is complicated. It is more likely to develop an experimental intervention model in this area, which is scalable and cost effective and can be applied to a larger area.