Jan. 6, 1999 Vancouver City Council Calls for Federal Assistance with Homelessness. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vancouver Sun, Jan 7, 1999. Vancouver city councillors say other municipalities in the Lower Mainland are not doing their fair share to tackle the problem of homelessness. But the provincial official who co-ordinates shelter programs says other communities have been doing what they can, within the limits of their resources. The issue was debated at Vancouver city hall this week as council backed a Toronto initiative declaring homelessness a national disaster and calling on the federal government to do more to prevent and reduce the problem across Canada. Vancouver city council adopted the homelessness resolution at the request of Toronto, which asked last fall that all the country's major cities do so as a first step toward implementing a national strategy. Over the next three months, the nation's largest cities will draft an action plan on homelessness. The municipalities will then seek a meeting with the federal cabinet committee dealing with housing and homelessness to implement solutions nationwide. Vancouver councillors will raise the Toronto resolution with the Greater Vancouver Regional District and at next week's meeting of the Union of B.C. Municipalities. In Vancouver, the 300 permanent shelter beds are nearly always filled, and between 300 and 600 sleep in the streets, parks and under bridges, city staff said. A further 84 temporary beds have been added to accommodate the homeless during the cold and wet months from November to March.