One person, one home

Finding a place to live in Squamish is challenging. Being homeless and trying to find a place to live is nearly impossible.

The camp area behind Under One Roof in the downtown area of Squamish.

As a Councillor I became increasingly frustrated with what I perceived was a lack of action to clear out the campers behind Under One Roof as complaints about the camp came into my email inbox while the camp grew in size. I wondered what needed to be done to get one or more of our unhoused residents into stable housing. 

I reached out to a new friend and asked if she thought I could do anything to help one, two or three people living in the camp to leave their tent behind if stable housing was available to them.

The new friend was Amanda Mead. During a ride-along I did with a member of the RCMP a few years ago Amanda was out with a group of volunteers providing homeless residents with warm drinks on a cold evening.

She took my business card and we started talking about issues in Squamish related to addiction, mental health and the unhoused.

Late in 2024 we met to talk about how we could work together to get one person out of their tent behind Under One Roof and into more comfortable housing.

One of my motivations was to eliminate the complaints from nearby residents. Beyond that I wanted to make a difference for someone looking to launch a major life change.

Amanda was motivated to help a friend improve their circumstances as the campers are friends of hers.

Amanda identified a camper she felt might be ready to leave the grind of living in a tent. She thought this person was ready to take serious steps toward finding stable housing. Amanda asked them, “Would you like to meet with a Squamish Council member who is willing to help you get stable housing?”

The answer was yes.

I had no idea how we would achieve this. It didn’t matter because all three of us were committed to the outcome.

We had an initial meeting at the library in one of the funky new little meeting pods. Over warm drinks we spent 90 minutes getting to know each other, building trust and brainstorming what we’d do next. We scheduled a second meeting a few weeks later.

The meeting focus was on creating a game plan, identifying people we knew who could help with career training and housing support then we all took action to get things rolling.

At this point, one tent dweller behind Under One Roof is now working with folks with access to provincial resources and expertise in finding housing for those in need. At the time of this writing that person is close to getting into a home.

With commitment as our driver Amanda showed me that meeting people where they’re at and asking them what they want is the first step to getting the unhoused into stable housing. An unlikely team full of commitment has produced an outcome based purely on a will to find stable housing for one person.

Homeless no more.

If you want to join the effort and help make a difference, call (604-848-9093) or email (jfrench @ squamish.ca) me.

Anyone struggling with addiction in silence or struggling with homelessness can reach out to Amanda (mead4006 @ gmail.com) for guidance on how to get connected to programs in the community or just a friend willing to listen.