A lineup for assistance outside St. Paul’s in the West End

A new outreach street worker to the growing number of homeless people in Vancouver's West End has been hired, thanks to the efforts of St. Paul's Advocacy Office.

The full-time outreach street worker will make contact with the homeless and marginalized in this densely populated neighbourhood of the city.

Ellen Silvergieter, director of St. Paul's Advocacy Office, learned in February that her office had secured a Homeless Partnering Strategy initiative grant from the federal government's Human Resources Ministry.

The person in this position will inform people what their rights are, and how to obtain various government services, Silvergieter says.

The Office, founded in 1995, helps dozens of people each week. Volunteers, from university graduates with law or social work degrees, to retirees, find housing or help people apply for various governmental supports. Many call to make appointments, while others walk in off the street.

Landlord-tenant disputes generate a lot of clients, says Silvergieter. Each case is considered. Often she tries to mediate the dispute.

"Housing is anything but one-dimensional," she says. Housing needs are as various as the number of people who visit her office, from eight to 30 a day. The Advocacy Office helps people find all types of housing from emergency to long-term.

People often find themselves homeless without any support system, and living in the cheapest area of the city. A marriage break-up can result in a person losing the support of a spouse or adult children. Depression often sets in. The last thing that keeps an individual going-his or her job-can disappear.

"You may try to escape it somehow through drugs or alcohol," says Silvergieter about this downward spiral of emotions.

"We've lots of homeless out there in the West End," says Silvergieter. St. Paul's Advocacy Office hopes to reduce these numbers with the new outreach worker.