I can, absolutely.
It is staggering. This was done out of the University of British Columbia. They looked at a series of Canadian data on homelessness. That 53% is a staggering number, and 25% of those are moderate to severe brain injuries.
These people are living on the street. They don't have access to care. Most of them don't even have health cards. How are they supposed to get treatment and recover? We need to understand the path to homelessness. A brain injury can lead to homelessness, and homelessness can lead to brain injury. We need to understand how people with a brain injury get there and then develop supports and preventive strategies so they don't get to that point.
We also need to decrease the stigma around homelessness and support these people where they're at. We need housing programs geared towards people with brain injuries. They're often excluded because of behaviour impairments. We need to create programs specifically built for people with brain injury, rather than trying to house them in long-term care settings, where they're not getting the supports they need. Really, how can we expect someone to seek addiction services, or any kind of service, if they don't have a place to shower, clean clothes or a bed to sleep in?
We need to address it at its core. This needs to be a community effort, with many different stakeholders.