Surrey Housing Crisis: Millions Invested, Thousands Turned Away

🏠 Surrey Housing Crisis: Millions Invested, Thousands Turned Away 🏠

Surrey's Homelessness and Housing Society (SHHS) has been in the community for 18 years, claiming to tackle homelessness and housing insecurity. 💰 Over that time, they’ve invested more than $11 million to build housing, support shelters, and fund programs for vulnerable people—including single mothers and at-risk families.

Founded in 2007 with a $9 million grant from the City of Surrey's Affordable Housing Reserve Fund, the society operates at arm's length from city hall (though its board is chaired by a city councillor). Its stated goals are:

• Create housing: Build and maintain affordable housing stock. 🏡
• Build capacity: Support organizations that help homeless citizens. 🤝
• Be responsive: Address urgent community needs. ⚡

But here’s the disturbing reality…

Despite these investments and hundreds of housing units being planned, last year alone there were 3,500 shelter turn-aways—women and children who had nowhere safe to go. ❌ Many of these turn-aways are victims of domestic violence or living in extreme poverty. Since 2020, lockdowns and rising domestic violence rates have made this crisis even worse. 😔

So, the big question is: How can millions be invested and hundreds of units planned, yet so many people remain without shelter? Something isn’t adding up—and those responsible need to be held accountable. ⚠️

Stay tuned for Post 2 in this series, where we dig into the human cost of this crisis—women and children who are turned away and left in danger. 💛

🌟 Sources: Peace Arch News