Lisa Helps, mayor of Victoria, BC, opened herself up to a huge amount of scorn and derision this past month when she suggested on her blog that a billeting system might be a way for the city to address the mounting homelessness crisis caused by a an almost 30-year gap in purpose-built apartments, a lack of affordable housing programs and an influx of 6,000 new residents arriving in the last five years. She cited the 1940s’ example of private citizens opening their homes to pe