If you’ve noticed less litter in the streets around the old Canadian Tire store, thank Mike. He lives at Muncey Place, the nearby supportive housing facility that used to be the Comfort Inn, and gets $15 a shift from the housing provider to keep the area tidy. “The pay sucks but there’s lots of work,” jokes Mike. “It gets me out and about, better than sitting in my room all day doing nothing.” Mike’s army pension will be kicking in soon, and his goal is to get back into market housing where he can have more of a life than is allowed at Muncey. “I like to make my own rules for living. I’m a full-grown man. But better to be living here than on the street.” Restrictive or not, almost 10,000 people in BC are waiting to get into supportive housing – and far more than that in reality, as many people forget or don’t know that they have to renew their application every six months or be struck off the list.