Vancouver Board of Trade Talk – Philip Mangano

This afternoon the Vancouver Board of Trade presented a talk on the Business Case

for Homelessness by Philip Mangano – a man dubbed a “homelessness ‘czar’” by Vancouver’s Mayor, Gregor Robertson.  Mr. Mangano seems to be very well-connected in civic circles across North America.  Two of his mantras really jumped out at me.

The first lesson is that homelessness is not a crisis – it’s a disgrace.  If I personally expound on that for a moment – we’re talking about how we allow our most vulnerable citizens to live and how we brand our city to the rest of the province, the country and the world.  From 2003 to 2007, I lived near Kitsilano and watched more and more homeless move in.  They were primarily good people and I enjoyed my conversations with those I met, but to watch more and more people who “live outside” come into the neighbourhood in a booming economy left me wondering about the limits of our moral obligations and the simple desire of these people to find work.  Regardless of how these people are homeless, it reflected poorly on our ability to provide the right opportunities for these citizens to succeed.

The second lesson is that in order to abolish homelessness, you need a leader who wants it to occur.  In Canadian cities, this leader is the Mayor and Mangano did not rest until we were fully indoctrinated with the idea that @mayorgregor is our champion.  I wasn’t living in Vancouver when Gregor Robertson was elected, but there was a no shortage of optimism behind his campaign and I hope it has proven true by the end of his term.

Homelessness is a complex issue.  The title of “homeless” is an umbrella title for people who may have any one, or combination of: bad luck; laziness; addiction; mental illness or; challenging circumstances of some kind.  I’m certain the actual list is infinitely long.  Mangano reminded us that Vancouver probably has the most complex homelessness issue on the continent.

With regards to the talk, I had different expectations than Mangano in terms of what would be discussed.  I was hoping to learn about building a business case that tied for-profit organizations (The Vancouver Board of Trade’s primary membership base from what I understand) into the cause of abolishing homelessness.  What we actually received was a loose treatise on the financial implications on city and, in our case, provincial coffers.

I work in a for-profit organization and I wondered why we might care about homelessness (on paper).  If our moral obligation was absolutely minute (it’s not), we need to start looking at ROI and general branding.  In this context, what is the real “business” case for abolishing homelessness?

It would be great to abolish homelessness and it’s one of the most noble goals any citizen could ever undertake.  The city’s commitment seems legitimate and if the Vancouver Board of Trade doubted that commitment or the work of the Vancouver Foundation or Street to Home, two organizations with vested interest in this issue, today’s talk simply would not have occurred.  Is there a “business” case for regular businesses to be involved?  This is the stuff of real Corporate Social Responsibility and I would love to hear thoughts on an actual business case for this level of participation.

Thanks to the folks at my table, Toby Barazzuol from Eclipse Awards and Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega for their insights before, during and after the event.

Tagged as: board of trade, Corporate Social Responsibility, gregor robertson, homelessness, mangano, vancouver