Vancouver’s mayor credits the opening of five low-barrier emergency homeless shelters with a 30 per cent drop in street disorder calls last month.
Mental health calls also dropped by 10 per cent.
“Providing the hardest-to-house with a warm meal and a place to sleep at night is reducing street disorder and mental health calls,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson in a press release yesterday. “It’s helping people get the services and stability they need.”
Street disorder calls declined to 1,216 from 1,720 in February 2008, according to data from the Vancouver Police Department. Mental health calls dropped to 150, down from 167 in February 2008.
