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As hope fades that Metro Vancouver’s housing crisis will end anytime soon, counsellors say they are helping more clients tackle the shame and misery that comes from sleeping in rodent-infested basement suites or staying with abusive partners while struggling to find a better home.

Clients are identifying housing as having a major impact on their relationships, mental health and well-being, said Michelle Crowley, a counsellor with Family Services of Greater Vancouver.

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“We’re seeing more and more of it in recent years,” Crowley said. “It’s just been such a growing concern.”

Crowley said about 90 per cent of her clients now bring up housing as one of their struggles, whether they’re in a government-subsidized apartment or house with two working parents.

For many families, the cost of rent — now more than $1,550 for the average two-bedroom apartment in Vancouver, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation — eats up so much of their income that they must cut back on groceries and can’t enrol their children in after-school activities or replace their worn-out clothing.