Eight years ago, service providers were shocked to learn that there were homeless people living in the Tri-Cities. At the time, a count of homeless people found 45 people living on the streets, in shelters and couch surfing with friends and family.

Today, the number of homeless people is closer to 200 but finally there may be a solution on the horizon.

The Homes for Good Society, which will be running by the end of the month, plans to put its money where its mouth is and find homes for people who are now on the streets or camping in bushes by the river. It will do this by finding them suites, matching them with landlords and even roommates, and buying suites outright or subsidizing rents through donations and investments.

With its housing-first policy, the society is not requiring people to get off drugs and alcohol or get back on their medication before they can get a permanent home. This policy recognizes housing as a basic need for human beings and has been proven to be both cost-efficient and effective at improving the lives of individuals.

The society, which grew out of Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore’s committee on homelessness, is following examples set elsewhere, though not duplicating the work of any other committee or organization. Its approach is both complementary and radically independent in its recommendations, which offer a clear-eyed approach to the problems of homelessness.

Still, for this program to work, the Homes for Good Society needs community support. People who have complained about homeless people in their neighbourhoods or who have helped with local shelters — and even those who have stood by feeling helpless about the problem — now have somewhere to put their money and their energies.

As we have learned over the last few years, homeless people aren’t strangers but neighbours, sons and daughters, moms and dads, most of whom would prefer a permanent home to life under a tarp.