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Life Beyond Shelter
LIFE BEYOND SHELTER: Toward Coordinated Public Policies for Women's Safety and Violence Prevention
YWCA Canada
(October 2009)


Life Beyond Shelter identi-
fies five broad issue areas impacting women as they seek to move beyond shelter to safe lives in the community:
• Poverty
• Housing and
Homelessness
• The Legal Environment
• Life in the North
• Lack of Inclusion for
Marginalized Women




Intraspec.ca

HOMELESS IN CANADA
Selected News, Media Releases and Special Reports


SOCIO > HOMELESS IN CANADA — SELECTED MEDIA RELEASES AND SPECIAL REPORTS


Sections
Homeless in Canada:
Resources

Homeless in Canada:
News & Reports
Homelessness:
Definitions, Strategies & Solutions - Ideas and Approaches
Poverty in Canada:
Resources
Poverty in Canada:
News and Selected Reports
Selected Homelessness &
Poverty Resources: Global
Social Research &
Policy Links

This second section of our pages on Homelessness and Poverty in Canada presents selected media releases and special reports regarding housing and homelessness, human rights and legislation, call for action, plans and strategies; welfare issues, average rents, cost of living and related issues may be included, but are presented chiefly in the Poverty sections. Homeless counts, statistics, local initiatives and community services are presented at Homeless in Canada: Resources.
For selected coverage prior to 2006, click here.

On this page...
The frequent updates and burgeoning number of items on this page
make difficult the full indexing of content. The news and reports below
are roughly organized by date, most recent first. Click the above link
for a drop-down menu overview.


[...]
Who loses? Workers, pensioners, families, the homeless, and the environment.

The budget has no strategy for job creation for the 1.5 million Canadians looking for work. There are training dollars, but no new quality jobs to go to when the training is completed, and no extensions for EI to help people through the recession. Moreover, all workers and employers are going to be hit with a payroll tax on EI, to help pay for those corporate tax breaks.

Seniors lose with nothing to enhance pensions, which the NDP has been calling for. As little as $700 million to increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement would end poverty among seniors, but this budget has chosen profits for banks over meeting social needs.

Changes to the Universal Child Care Benefit will give single parents only $3.35 more per week, without creating a single daycare space. $10 million for action on missing and murdered women has been a long-time coming, but as Grand Chief Stewart Phillip noted, that money should be going to Native women’s groups who have been at the front line of this issue for years.

What stood out most for me is that for two budgets in a row, there is no new investment in housing and homelessness. The Homelessness Partnering Strategy won’t be renewed after 2011 and, as Michael Shapcott pointed out, although there are still stimulus dollars left, those who need it the most will see nothing.

Almost two million Canadians live in housing insecurity, with 200,000 homeless. The cost of housing in Vancouver has pushed housing affordability to crisis levels. I’m worried about the consequences of ignoring this issue and am pushing for my bill for a national housing strategy (Bill C-304) to pass through Parliament this spring. [...]

 
 

Activists in Vancouver are threatening to hand out red tents to street people in the hope of attracting international attention to the problem of homelessness in the city during the Olympics and forcing the federal government to come up with a housing strategy. The Pivot Legal Society said Monday it was ready to distribute 500 of the bright red tents emblazoned with slogans like "Housing is a Right" and "End Homelessness Now!" The goal is to convince federal authorities to establish a national housing strategy [...]

Pivot Legal Society, the Citywide Housing Coalition and other partners announced the launch of their Olympic red tent campaign today, calling on the federal government to fund a national housing strategy to end homelessness and ensure secure, adequate, accessible and affordable housing for all persons living in Canada.

Why this? why now?...

 
 

905 affluence masks a sub-culture of life on the streets

[...] In York, one of the most prosperous regions in the province, there's nowhere to live if you are poor. When couch surfing isn't available and shelters seem too dangerous, the homeless are sleeping in ravines, in houses under construction, in used clothing boxes and on top of strip malls, says Tanya Shute, executive director of the Krasman Centre, the region's only adult drop-in for those struggling with homelessness or mental health issues.

"It's not as visible here as it is in Toronto but I hazard to guess that what you see is only the tip of the iceberg," she says.

But many of those living in the 905 refuse to open their eyes. "We have much more of a bubble mentality, with SUVs and ideas of privilege, in the suburbs," Shute contends.

York region has the lowest proportion of rental housing in the GTA and some of the highest rents. There are 6,000 households on their list for affordable housing -- up 1,000 from last year -- and the wait for singles is more than 20 years long.

For those who become homeless, York has four emergency hostels which housed 2,055 people in 2007. But the region's nine municipalities have no shelter for single homeless women. "That's how blind we are," marvels Shute.

In Durham, 1,407 people sought emergency shelter in 2008, including 181 children. More than 4,000 households are on their affordable housing list with singles waiting the longest for the few available units, says Mary Menzies, the region's director of housing services.

"Single people are using a lot of our shelters," she says, "because we don't have a housing supply to meet their needs. Most of the rental one-bedrooms are not affordable, especially for anybody on EI (unemployment) or working minimum-wage jobs."

The good news, she says, is that fewer families are becoming homeless because they're using provincial programs such as Rent Bank and Emergency Energy Fund assistance to help pay off rent or utilities arrears.

In downtown Oshawa, though, the need has never been greater. Marten Van Harmelen's Gate 3:16 outreach centre on Simcoe St. has been serving the homeless for 20 years and now helps up to 100 people a day. "We started off small and over the years we have grown tremendously," says Van Harmelen, also a member of Durham's advisory committee on the homeless. [...]

 
 

Half of Street Youth Driven Into Homelessness
Prevention, early intervention critical


TORONTO – Almost half of Toronto's street youth don't want to be homeless – getting help for them early would make a big difference, says a groundbreaking study of Toronto street-involved youth.

Changing Patterns for Street Involved Youth, released jointly by Yonge Street Mission, World Vision Canada and Public Interest, reflects interviews with 208 youth who came from all over Canada and found themselves homeless in Toronto.

"Many youth tell us they just want a home – they're highly motivated but they need help getting there," says Karen Bach of the Yonge Street Mission. "The more we can intervene to help youth back into housing the less likely they will be to stay on the streets for years at a time."

Among the study's most striking findings:

Changing Patterns for Street Involved Youth
  • Almost one in five youth have been on the street for less than three months and this period is the most effective time to help them return to housing.
  • Youth who stay on the street for two years are less likely to leave – making an intervention within the first two years key to resolving the problem.
  • Most youth who stay on the streets for as long as eight years end up trapped because it's all they know and it becomes part of their identity.
  • Immigrant street youth transition back into housing more rapidly.
  • Sweet 16 isn't so sweet for some: More youth (21%) end up on the street at 16 than at any other age, possibly because that's the age it becomes legal.
  • One in four youth leave home before the legal age.
    The younger they are, the more likely their stay on the street will last longer – seven years or more.
  • Almost a third of the street youth interviewed came from other provinces; 14.6% came from other part[s] of Ontario; only 22.7% were from the GTA.
  • Over 40% of street youth experience mental health issues but few are able to access mental health services.
 
 

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Itinérance: agissons ensemble

MONTREAL – The Quebec government Monday announced $14 million of what Lise Thériault, minister delegated to social services, called "fresh money" over the next three years to assist the estimated 30,000 or more street people across the province.

It was the government's first response to a sweeping series of recommendations unveiled Nov. 4 by a multi-party Quebec parliamentary commission on homelessness.

Thériault said the Société d'habitation du Québec will also reserve 300 housing units for the homeless – or those at risk of losing the existing roofs over their heads – as part of a new social-housing plan which remains under development.

The allocation of that number of such small units carries a price tag of $60.5 million, she said.

She said another 150 similar units are also planned, for construction over the same timespan.

However, when asked for details, Thériault responded that their location across the province and various other elements have yet to be finalized.

A comprehensive and detailed survey to pin down the number of street people in Quebec will take two years to complete, and should be ready by the fall of 2011, department officials said.

The last such survey covered only Montreal and Quebec City – and dates back to 1998.

"Nobody can remain insensitive to the phenomenon of homelessness," Thériault told reporters at a news conference. [...]

 
 
HART Tool
Risks and Assets for Homelessness Prevention: A Literature Review for The Calgary Homeless Foundation

What causes homelessness? Can we predict who will be vulnerable?

A team of experts from the University of Calgary's Faculty of Social Work has developed a unique screening tool to determine the likelihood of homelessness for vulnerable populations. The research was funded by the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

As the first-ever screening tool to examine pre-homelessness, the Homeless Asset and Risk Tool (HART) will be unveiled today at a public symposium.

Currently awaiting funding confirmation from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, HART will be piloted in this city in 2010. Researchers from the Faculty of Social Work will follow 750 individuals in Calgary over the course of the year to predict which of them are most
at-risk of homelessness. [...]

 
 

The City of Victoria has lost its appeal of a 2008 court ruling that struck down the city's anti-camping bylaws while the number of people who are homeless exceeds the number of available shelter beds.

"The court has made it clear they are going to take the rights of homeless people, the most marginalized people in the city, seriously," said Catherine Boies Parker, a lawyer who along with Irene Faulkner represented a group of people who were forced out of a tent city set up in a city park in 2005.

"We hope now the city will sit down with everyone and try to come up with a reasonable accommodation," she said, noting that it's rare for cases involving the rights of people who are homeless or living in poverty to be heard in court.

A message to a city spokesperson was not returned by publication time.

Madam Justice Risa Levine, Madam Justice Kathryn Neilson and Justice Harvey Groberman ruled that Madam Justice Carol Ross who heard the original case in the Supreme Court of B.C. was correct in her ruling and did not intrude improperly on the policy decisions of elected officials.

"We agree with the trial judge that prohibiting the homeless from taking simple measures to protect themselves through the creation or utilization of rudimentary forms of overhead protection, in circumstances where there is no practicable shelter alternative, is a significant interference with their dignity and independence," the appeal court justices wrote.

Boies Parker said the ruling will make it harder for governments to pass similar laws in the future without taking the dignity of the people they affect into consideration.

The appeal judges also ruled that the city would have to pay the costs Boies Parker and Faulkner incurred to fight the appeal. This is on top of the $200,000 the court required the city to pay for them to fight the original case, plus the city's own costs.

Since the original ruling the city has adjusted its bylaws to allow overnight camping but requires tents to be removed during the daytime. The appeal is silent on the constitutionality of the new bylaws, but Boies Parker said she expects they will also be struck down if and when they are tested in court.

 
 

[...]
Housing and homelessness
The Committee's study of housing and homelessness focussed on these as separate policy areas, as many federal programs in particular separate the two. During our research, hearings and site visits, the Committee learned of important and exciting initiatives at the local and provincial levels, and how local and provincial governments, as well as private-sector and voluntary-sector developers, are sometimes constrained by regulations, time-frames, and declining operating support from the federal government.

As well, it has become clear to the Committee that a more integrated consideration of both housing and homelessness offers a better chance of implementing a "housing first" approach. With this approach, individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness are stabilized with affordable housing, offering a base from which any other complicating factors in their lives can be addressed.

Further, the Committee is aware that unaffordable and inadequate housing, even for those who are currently able to meet their needs and aspirations, can contribute to poverty, and to a spiral that can include losing jobs, dropping out of school, and being unable to sustain families.

Not all solutions address both the needs of those who are currently homeless and the importance of a housing "system" that supplies affordable and adequate housing to those who are currently housed.

With respect to housing, the Committee recommends that the federal government:

In From the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness
  • provide sustained and adequate funding through the Affordable Housing Initiative to increase the supply of affordable housing [Recommendation 37];
  • issue a White paper on tax measures to support construction of rental housing in general and affordable rental housing in particular, including for the donation of funds, lands or buildings for low-income housing provision [Recommendation 38];
  • clarify the mandate of Canada Lands Corporation to favour use of surplus federal lands for development of affordable housing and to expedite planning processes to facilitate this use [Recommendation 39];
  • support the work of local and provincial non-profit housing developers by making housing programs longer term to accommodate five-year development cycles and ten-year planning cycles, and to permit more effective planning at the local and provincial levels [Recommendation 40];
  • identify civil legal aid as an element to be supported by the Canada Social Transfer to assist tenants facing discrimination in housing [Recommendation 41];
  • extend the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program as a permanent program, increase the budget allocations for this program, and amend eligibility requirements to take into account differential costs for repairs in different communities across Canada, and projects converting housing units for affordable rental accommodation [Recommendation 42]; and
  • work with provincial housing authorities, private landlords' associations and non-profit housing providers, to assess impact of housing subsidies provided to individuals rather than landlords on rents [Recommendation 43].

With respect to homelessness, the Committee has heard of the effectiveness of the Homelessness Partnering Strategies and its predecessor programs in supporting communities to reduce homelessness and to move people from the streets into housing. The Committee recommends that the federal government:

  • expand the Homelessness Partnering Strategy to play a greater coordinating role within the federal government, engaging all departments and agencies with a mandate that includes housing and homelessness, especially for those groups over-represented among those in need [Recommendation 47];
  • provide financial incentives to encourage communities already supported through the Homelessness Partnering Strategy to use a 10-year time horizon in adjusting and renewing their community plans [Recommendation 48]; and
  • continue to provide direct funding for and continued support of related research and knowledge dissemination about a "housing first" approach to eliminating homelessness [Recommendation 49].

With respect to an integrated approach to housing and homelessness, the Committee recommends that the federal government:

  • in collaboration with provincial governments, representatives of municipal governments, First Nation organizations, and other housing providers, develop a national housing and homelessness strategy to include:
    • priorities established by and for each provincial and territory with respect to meeting existing needs for affordable and secure housing;
    • a 10-year commitment of funds from the federal government, to include similar commitments from provincial and territorial governments that will receive these funds;
    • annual reporting on how the money is being spent, with particular attention to the number of people housed who could not afford to secure housing in the private market;
    • a specific focus, with targets and funding commitments, with respect to meeting the needs for affordable housing for urban Aboriginal peoples; o a simpler, more integrated application process for funds, cutting across programs related to housing funded at the federal level;
    • the integration of the Homelessness Partnering Initiative, with an expanded mandate and budget to support combined local housing and homelessness plans and the initiatives identified in them;
    • a thorough evaluation at the end of the 10-year period to assess achievements and continuing gaps [Recommendation 44]; and
    • sustain federal funding focussed on homelessness until a combined strategy on housing and homelessness is developed to guide federal investment [Recommendation 45].

[...]

 
 

Rehousing Triage and Assessment Survey:
A Step in Ending Homelessness

This housing action toolkit received funding from the Homelessness Partnering Secretariat, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). It was developed by the Calgary Homeless Foundation to help agencies and community groups take action in ending homelessness in their communities.

Rehousing Triage and Assessment Survey
29 October 2009

This toolkit will show you how to use the Rehousing Triage and Assessment Survey (RTAS). The RTAS is a survey that can be used to assess the health and vulnerability of homeless people in your community. It will help you to prioritize and match resources with client needs, by making sure that the supports and housing available in your communities are being accessed by those who need them the most.

Ending homelessness in your community has many benefits, and community initiatives to end homelessness can be very successful when innovative and research based tools are used to help you.

This toolkit is user friendly, adaptable to many settings and contexts and has been developed using research and best practices to ensure its value as an action tool for ending homelessness. The information in this toolkit can be used by community based service providers, government departments, funders, researchers or any organization interested in ending homelessness.

 
 

Homelessness can happen to anyone. The biggest trigger is people losing jobs leaving them unable to buy food and pay rent. 300,000 of Canada's working poor live pay cheque to pay cheque.

Ci's Homeless in Canada report shows that quick response to homelessness with safe housing reduces the costs we all bear.

Did you know?

  • 157,000 are estimated to be homeless in Canada in 2008.
  • Of the 32,000 chronically homeless who have lived on the streets for more than one year, the average life expectancy is 39 years.
  • Canadian tax payers spend at least $1.3 billion providing services to the homeless.
  • Solutions exist that are more effective and cheaper; a new innovative "housing first" approach has an 88% success rate in housing the chronically homeless and costs 17% less than current programs.

Donors can make a difference by supporting charities working with the homeless:

  • Food banks are the first-line of defence stopping those in crisis from becoming homeless.
  • Shelters for the homeless which provide access to basic necessities, medical services and crisis intervention.
  • Charities that provide housing, emphasizing dignity, community and recovery opportunities, have top results in intervening with our chronically homeless.
 
 

"The study will produce evidence on whether providing a place, plus services, will better support reintegration into functional, meaningful living," said Dr. Jayne Barker, Director, At Home/Chez Soi Project. "Another research question is cost. Will it cost less to house and provide services than it would if these marginalized individuals were in hospitals, prisons and shelters?" said Dr. Paula Goering, Research Lead, At Home/Chez Soi Project.

The At Home/ Chez Soi project is the largest of its kind in Canada. The research will help make Canada a world leader in providing better services to people living with homelessness and mental illness. Each test site will focus on a specific target population within the overall study group. [...]

 
 
November 10, 2009 - In an opinion published on November 10, 2009, the Commission urges the city of Montreal to repeal two by-laws that target the homeless. It also calls on the Montreal police (Service de police de la Ville de Montréal) to change its institutional standards and policies that have a discriminatory impact on street people.

Providing examples and statistics, the Commission's opinion concludes that the social profiling of Montréal's homeless is discriminatory and contravenes the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. Moreover, in the view of the Commission, the excessive use of the courts to deal with the homeless is the result of targeted police practices aimed at removing them from the public space, rather than a neutral and impartial enforcement of the law.

The Commission makes 14 recommendations to different levels of government and to the Montréal police, and outlines detailed proposals for a policy on homelessness.
 
 

p.9
[...] The recommendations below are discussed and supported throughout this paper. They focus on three key aspects of an effective response to youth homelessness: prevention, emergency response, and transitions out of homelessness. They are based on the premise that youth-serving agencies and their communitybased partners in government, private and non-profit sectors know what works best in their communities across the country; and that stability and long-term employment are proven positive factors in helping young people move away from the street.

Recommendations

Youth Homelessness in Canada : The Road to Solutions
  1. Existing funding: Secure, long-term and flexible funding to enable successful programs for streetinvolved youth to continue to develop and grow;
  2. Access to services: 'One-stop' barrier-free access to services for street-involved youth within their home community;
  3. Education: More educational opportunities/grant programs for street-involved youth and increased programs that target early school leavers;
  4. Employment: Increased job training and employment opportunities for street-involved youth, in particular graduates of agency programs;
  5. Housing: A national housing strategy that includes a continuum of housing specifically for streetinvolved youth, e.g., youth shelters, transitional housing, co-op housing, safe and affordable housing, as well as supportive housing for youth leaving child protection, foster care and group homes;
  6. Mentorship: Increased mentorship support aimed at street-involved youth to build self-esteem and develop life skills;
  7. Government leadership: Leadership and collaboration among federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments in developing a Canada-wide plan to address youth homelessness;
  8. Private sector engagement: Development of a supportive framework to encourage the private sector to participate in creative solutions to youth homelessness e.g., skills training, employment opportunities, development of supportive work environment;
  9. Government policy: Development of distinct policies around youth homelessness to address the unique needs of this population.

This document further outlines many of the elements that would comprise a plan to address youth homelessness, with a suggested Community Checklist tool (page 30) that will help communities to assess local needs and priorities within a national framework.

 
 

BC's Homeless Action Week ends this weekend. Unfortunately, homelessness itself will not. Here's a quick review of the facts that British Columbians live with every day.

10,000-15,000 homeless in BC
No province-wide homeless count has ever been conducted. So researchers have cobbled together province-wide estimates. In late 2007, a researcher working for the New Democratic Party solicited numbers from every homeless shelter in the province, then compiled those figures to reach a province-wide total of 10,000 homeless. In early 2008, team of independent academic researchers working with the Centre For Applied Research in Mental Health and Addiction (CARMHA) at Simon Fraser University released a study pegging the province-wide total at 15,000 homeless. Anecdotal interviews with shelter operators and outreach workers suggest that B.C.'s homeless population grew larger between 2007 and 2009.

To put those figures in context, consider this: If there are 10,000 homeless in B.C., that's more homeless than the total population of Whistler. Or, put another way, that's two homeless British Columbians for every athlete participating in the 2010 Winter Games.

$1 billion a year in taxes
Homeless individuals tend to be heavy users of police, ambulance, hospital and other emergency services. The Vancouver Police Department estimated that as many as a third of all its emergency calls are related to untreated mental illness and/or addiction, much of which is rooted within that city's large homeless and under-housed population.

The aforementioned SFU study found that it costs at least $55,000 a year to service a homeless person on the streets. A more comprehensive estimate conducted for the Calgary Homeless Foundation concluded that the total cost was $135,000 per person, per year.

(The cost of a unit of supportive housing, by comparison, is about $37,000 a year.)

To put those figures in context, consider this: If there are 10,000 homeless people in British Columbia, and if each costs taxpayers a median of $100,000 a year, then British Columbia taxpayers are spending a billion dollars a year to maintain street homelessness. Put another way, for the past few years, B.C. taxpayers have probably spent more money servicing the homeless than they spent preparing for the Olympics -- even after the Sea-to-Sky Highway, the Canada Line and the new Vancouver Convention Centre are considered.

Death every 12 days
A homeless person dies every 12 days in B.C., according to the BC Coroners Service.

The coroners service counted an average of 32 homeless deaths a year from 2006 through 2008. The average age at death was 45 year. The five leading causes of death among the homeless were: Natural disease, drug poisoning, blunt injuries, hanging, and drowning.

For the purpose of these statistics, an individual was considered homeless if they were known to be living 'rough' or on the street, staying at an emergency shelter, or being provided temporary (30 days or less) shelter by friends or family. Individuals in long-term shelters, residential drug or alcohol treatment facilities, or those staying with friends or family on a long-term or indefinite basis, were excluded.

 
 

The Mental Health Commission of Canada is now implementing research demonstration projects in mental health and homelessness across the country.

The projects are being implemented in five different cities. They will look at the Housing First model of intervention. A total of 2225 homeless people living with a mental illness will participate. 1,325 Canadians from that group will be given a place to live, and will be offered services to assist them over the course of the initiative. The remaining participants will receive the regular services that are available in the test sites.

Participants will have to pay a portion of their rent, and be visited at least once a week by program staff. Participants will be able to choose housing within a number of different sites in a given city, including apartments and group homes.

Why Housing First?

The Housing First model is one approach to ending homelessness and helping people with lived experience get back into community life. This approach has produced positive results in other cities where it has been implemented. A comparison between different Housing First approaches and "care as usual" is being studied in all cities.

The overall goal is to provide evidence about what services and systems could best help people across Canada who are living with a mental illness and are also homeless. At the same time, the project will provide meaningful and practical support for hundreds of vulnerable Canadians.

Data from this kind of extensive research does not currently exist in Canada. The MHCC project is unique and the largest of its kind underway in the world right now.

What is the focus?

Although the primary focus of the projects is mentally ill people who are homeless, each of the sites will also have specific targets. [...]

(Please click on a city name to learn more about each site)

  1. Moncton: one of Canada's fastest growing cities, with a shortage of services for Anglophones and Francophones.
  2. Montreal: different mental health services provided to homeless people in Quebec.
  3. Toronto: ethno-cultural diversity including new immigrants who are non-English speaking.
  4. Vancouver: people who struggle with substance abuse and addictions.
  5. Winnipeg: urban Aboriginal population.

The research projects will end in 2013, and will collectively develop a body of evidence to help Canada become a world leader in providing services to homeless people living with a mental illness.

Who is involved?

The project is being overseen by Dr. Jayne Barker, MHCC Director of Policy and Research. The research lead is Dr. Paula Goering, head of the Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

The Commission is working closely with provincial and municipal levels of government, researchers, many local service providers (people who will provide counselling, check-ups, etc.) and individuals who have experienced homelessness and mental illness. [...] [Read More]

 
 

A panel will review the child welfare system after recent homeless counts showed a growing number of young people among those with no roof over their head, Children's Services Minister Janis Tarchuk said on Wednesday.

Homeless counts last fall in communities across Alberta uncovered the trend, said Tarchuk, who stressed that the bottom line is not to give up on any children.

"They are living on the streets, or couch surfing with friends, or accessing our youth shelters ... that trend is very very concerning," Tarchuk said.

The committee will determine how many spots are available for children who are wards of the province, and how many more are needed, she said.

The minister of housing will also be involved in helping to collaborate a response to this issue, Tarchuk said.

There is a gap between the number of wards of the province needing shelter and the number of spaces available for them, youth court worker Mark Cherrington said.

"I'm dealing with young people that are living in big drain culverts because there is no placements, and children's services are not willing, or not able to provide those resources," Cherrington said.

CBC News obtained numbers from the Edmonton region of children's services which show that two years ago there was a shortfall of more than 700 beds, and now that shortfall is over 800.

That means, the provincial government doesn't have a bed for one out of every four children in government care, in Edmonton. [...] [Read More]

A Count of Homeless Persons in Edmonton 2008
  • As in the 2006 Count of Homeless Persons there is an increase in the number of homeless people in Edmonton. A total of 3079 people were counted in 2008. This reflects an increase of 18% or 461 people in the total number of homeless counted.
  • The number of absolute homeless increased by almost 5% or 88 to 1862 and the number of sheltered homeless increased by approximately 44% or 373 to 1217;
  • In terms of gender, 2124 or (69%) of homeless individuals were observed to be male and 23%, or 702 were female. Of the remaining 253 or 8%, 245 were children and caregivers in families whose gender was not observed. The relative proportion of the number of men to women is higher than the 2006 count results; in total, there was an increase of 304 males and 94 females;
  • The Count recorded a significant decrease in the number of turnaways in 2008. Only 52 people were turned away as compared to 256 in 2006. In addition, the number discharged with no home to return to dropped to 72 from the previous count of 113. Turnaways are not included in the homeless tally. There were no turnaways from housing providers;
  • There was a significant increase in the number of families enumerated in 2008 as compared to 2006 (133 compared to 79). This represents an 87% increase (34) in the number of Absolute Homeless Families; a 50% increase (20) in the number of Sheltered Homeless Families. This can be attributed to a number of factors including improvements in the survey forms, which clarified the definition of dependants, caregivers, and their housing status, as well as an increase in the number of spaces available for women and children i.e. La Salle and Wings of Providence; There are 125 children living on the street;
  • There was an increase in the number of shelter spaces available from 2006, of those available spaces, a large number are reserved for women and children, this is reflected in the increase in the number of homeless families;
  • The vast majority of the 3079 total homeless figure is single aboriginal men between the ages of 31-54;
  • The numbers reflect an increase in the number of children, and seniors over 65 yrs of age living on the street.
 
 

Yellowknife is dealing with a much higher percentage of homeless people than other capital cities in Canada, according to a new report by the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition.

The coalition's 2008 report card on homelessness found that five per cent of the city's overall population, or 936 individuals, stayed in an emergency shelter at some point last year.

In most Canadian cities, that figure is around one per cent, said Lyda Fuller of the homelessness coalition.

"For example, in southern Canada, you have services to homeless people in outlying areas around the major centres," Fuller told CBC News in an interview Monday.

"Here, people tend to come into Yellowknife, because we do have most of the services, and so you see a collection of homelessness within the city."

The report also found that men are at a higher risk to become homeless, usually because the priority for housing is for women with children. [...] [Read More]

 Click the image to downlaod the PDF from the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition (Spring 2009).

 
 

Toronto, ON May 5, 2009 – The Salvation Army has released a report with findings from a national study on homelessness in Canada. The report – "Poverty Shouldn't be a Life Sentence" - is based on information from surveys of hundreds of homeless men living in Salvation Army shelter care between 2007-2008 and finds that factors such as employment, income, healthcare and housing continue to adversely affect the marginalized throughout Canada.

These findings show that nearly 30 percent of homeless men are employed and nearly two-thirds receive money from some source of welfare or a job, yet many still find themselves within the shelter care system. The findings conclude that a national housing strategy, which includes social services, like job training, health care and counseling, must be prioritized by federal officials in order to end the cycle of poverty.

Poverty Shouldn't be a Life Sentence

"Our study found that there's an immediate demand for affordable housing," said Commissioner William W. Francis, Territorial Commander of The Salvation Army in Canada and Bermuda "But, housing by itself, will not solve homelessness. It's only through a strong foundation of social supports that homeless individuals can begin to transition out of poverty and into permanent housing."

The report – "Poverty Shouldn't be a Life Sentence" - is the cornerstone of The Salvation Army's Red Shield Campaign, which officially begins today. Throughout the month of May, the campaign will raise funds to support Salvation Army programs - particularly the more than 3.5 million people currently living in poverty. To spread public awareness, The Salvation Army has released a debut documentary, "One Day of Hope," on its Web site: www.SalvationArmy.ca. The film, which was directed by Hubert Davis from Untitled Films, gives a day-in-the-life look at the people and places that make up The Salvation Army's shelter services. In addition to the featured film, The Salvation Army's national advertising campaign, which spotlights the issue of poverty in Canada under the tagline – "Poverty shouldn't be a life sentence" will be running during the month of May. [...] [Read More]

 
 
Homelessness: Clear Focus Needed
Download PDF

• Backgrounder
"Given the complexity of the issue, reducing and preventing homelessness requires a long-term, coordinated effort by all levels of government. This starts with the province taking a lead role and establishing a clear focus," said Doyle.

The report notes that government's goals and objectives are poorly defined, and that no overall target for homelessness has been identified. Doyle said, "When there are no clear goals or performance targets, accountability for results is missing. How will we know we are successful if we have not identified success?" Also, a clear profile of BC's homeless population has yet to be developed because Government does not have the information it needs to make effective decisions.

The Auditor General makes a number of recommendations to address homelessness in British Columbia including developing a comprehensive plan to address homelessness, designating an agency to lead homeless initiatives and gathering better information about the homeless population.

 
 
Further reading...
About a year ago, Calgary launched a 10-year plan to end homelessness. The Edmonton report to be released Thursday will likely adopt many of the key details of that plan.

As part of the background for the Calgary study, the city hired a forensic accountant to tally their current spending on homelessness.

The conservative estimate: about $320 million is spent on a homeless population of about 4,000 in a given year, according to Tim Richter, the president of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

For the 1,200 chronic homeless, the cost was about $134,000 per person, per year, Richter said.

Those numbers are at the high end of a range from similar studies in U.S. and Canadian cities conducted over the past decade. But they're no anomaly.

The City of Ottawa hired Steve Pomeroy to investigate the costs of different responses to homelessness in 2007. As part of his work, he looked at the money spent on the issue in cities across Canada.

"Having done this in about six or eight cities now, what I've found is that the relative patterns of cost are quite consistent," he said.

One oft-cited New York study Pomeroy mentioned in his work found homeless people with severe mental illness in that city used an average of $40,000 per person per year in emergency services. [...]
[Read the full article]

The Fix: Edmonton's bid to end homelessness Read The Edmonton Journal's in-depth series on the
City of Edmonton's plan to end homelessness.

Just three days before it triggered an election, the federal government quietly approved a five-year extension of Canada's national housing and homelessness programs that were due to expire. But it has frozen the dollars despite growing need, according to a backgrounder from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation on Friday.

"On September 4, 2008, the Government of Canada decided to set aside funding for housing and homelessness programs at $387.9 million per year for five years to March 31, 2014," reported CMHC, the federal government's housing agency, on September 19.

There is no breakdown on the funding. But the overall dollars haven't budged much since the original programs were announced almost a decade ago, despite growing national need and growing inflation (that has cut into the value of the dollars). More details on federal housing and homelessness issues and the federal election are in a special section on the Wellesley Institute web site. [...]

[...] Among the proposals in its economic platform, Closing the Gap, the Green party pledges to introduce a Guaranteed Livable Income, a national affordable housing program and more Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. funding for non-market housing, and to build 20,000 new affordable housing units.

The guaranteed income plan, still in its concept stage, would replace assistance programs including welfare that "are highly bureaucratic and shame-based," said Carr in between photo opportunities at the United We Can bottle depot on Carrall Street and the Carnegie Centre at Main and Hastings.

The new social assistance program would be simple, require less bureaucracy and place more money into the pockets of people who need it the most, Carr said. It would work like a negative income tax, decreasing slightly in proportion to a person's income.

Unlike welfare, she said, Canadians would be able to maintain some privacy over their financial choices.

"You wouldn't have to be eligible by applying for it, and in essence, having the welfare police constantly checking whether you're working, or capable, or whether you need that extra pair of running shoes." [...]

Growing Home Conference

The community court model is based on a concept called 'restorative justice' - similar to the communal problem-solving aboriginal people have used for eons.

"The individuals in the downtown eastside are hurt and they need healing," Chief Leah George-Wilson from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation told CTV. "The way for things to be made right for them is to have those services available."

The idea of community court is to take a problem-solving approach to crime. By dealing with the underlying health and social problems that contribute to crime, the hope is chronic offenders can be rehabilitated effectively. The way community court hopes to achieve this goal is to focus on integrated case management. Social housing and addictions counselors will be in the court beside lawyers and sheriffs, with the public welcome to participate in what is hoped will be the speedy rehabilitation of repeat offenders...

VANCOUVER -- As many as 300 homeless people, largely from the Downtown Eastside, are to be moved off the streets and into housing next summer as part of a project by the Mental Health Commission of Canada that will have the side effect of helping clear the poverty stricken area before the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The Globe and Mail has learned that the three-year project is part of a five-city effort first announced in this year's federal budget. There has never been any explicit link to the Olympics, which are expected to bring global attention to the Vancouver region that includes Canada's poorest postal code.

But the timing of the effort and some early details, disclosed to The Globe in a briefing, could have an impact on the homeless situation in the neighbourhood - a 10-block area where open drug dealing and use occurs.

"People who are currently very visible in the Downtown Eastside and other areas of Vancouver, who have mental health and addiction issues, will be offered housing through rent subsidies primarily, and will be offered a different kind of service than they currently have access to," said Paula Goering, a lead researcher for the commission's project...

Calgary's homeless numbers are growing significantly faster than the city's general population, leaping 18 per cent since 2006 according to this year's count. As of May 14 there were 4,060 homeless Calgarians, up from 3,436 in 2006. Officials cannot explain it, but the rate of homeless families jumped dramatically, rising to 197 from 145 in 2006 -- a 36 per cent increase...

"A Life-Threatening Condition"
TORONTO, June 23 /CNW/ - A new study released today documents the brutal impact of homelessness on the lives of women in Toronto. Calling homelessness a "life-threatening" condition for women, the study reveals staggering rates of sexual assault among homeless women, and documents health impacts that significantly reduce life expectancy. The Women & Homelessness Research Bulletin, released jointly by Street Health and Sistering, paints a detailed picture of women's street homelessness today and its devastating impact.

"We were staggered to learn that homeless women are ten times more likely to be sexually assaulted than homeless men and are more likely to have a serious physical health condition," stated Kate Mason, study coordinator at Street Health. "One in five women had been sexually assaulted in the past year and almost all - 84% - had at least one serious physical health condition."

"Absolute poverty exists on the streets of our city with brutal consequences for women," said Angela Robertson, study advisor, and Executive Director of Sistering. "Homeless women cannot meet their basic survival needs - they don't know where their next meal is coming from, they don't have safe shelter or private space to address personal hygiene needs. The provincial government is developing a strategy to reduce poverty, that strategy should include steps to bring an end to women's street homelessness. It's unsafe and unjust to condemn a woman to live on the street."

The study is a partnership between Street Health, an organization providing nursing care and street outreach services to homeless people, and Sistering, a multi-service agency for homeless and low-income women in Toronto. It surveyed 97 homeless women in Toronto about their health status and access to health care. Findings include information on the causes of homelessness, the difficult daily lives of homeless women, their physical and mental health status, as well as the barriers homeless women face when attempting to access health care. The bulletin sets out a series of solutions aimed at service providers and all levels of government to improve the health of homeless women and end homelessness... [Read More]

And See: Street Health | Sistering | Wellesley Institute

OTTAWA - The first of what are to be hundreds of street people will enter the new program designed to end homelessness in the city by the end this year or early next year at the latest, say officials spearheading the initiative.

Details of the program are being worked out. It will follow ones from around the world that are very simple and showing success, and the goal is to eliminate homelessness in the city within 10 years.

Under the program, hardcore homeless people - those living on the streets or in shelters for more than 60 days - will be given small apartments and the supports the need, like addiction and mental health services, to stay off the street for good.

In North America, Philip Mangano, an appointee of U.S. President George W. Bush, has helped implement such programs in hundreds of cities, and Tuesday he guaranteed local leaders that if they implement the program, it will reduce the number of people living on our streets. "I assure you that the investment you are making will lead to a return," he said. "You will see the numbers of people living on the streets decline. It will improve the quality of life for everybody in your community, especially your poorest and most vulnerable neighbours."

The goals are both economic and humanitarian. A city study estimates that each of the city's 900 or so hardcore homeless costs the provincial, federal and municipal governments $400 to $500 per day when the costs of shelters, soup kitchens, policing, hospital stays, jail and other resources are added in. By comparison, the study found that if homeless people are given homes with support services, it's much cheaper and better for the person. It's estimated that a person needing the highest amount in support programs would cost $115 a day if they were in their own apartment. A person needing low support would cost $24 per day. The city study is backed up by dozens in other cities in Canada, the U.S. and abroad...

Related:

Harm Reduction and Housing First Action Plan
...Homelessness and attendant problems have become a visible issue for the City, primarily in the Downtown area. The Action Plan is one of a series of City initiatives to address homelessness including cooperation with the Downtown business community, neighbourhood groups and the formation of the Safer Nanaimo Working Group.

The Plan has three main components:

The review of Best Practices highlights a Housing First approach to homelessness, which emphasizes moving people off the streets and into housing as quickly as possible and following up with support services. With supports and harm reduction measures, individuals are able to move towards self-reliance and independence.

The examination of the homeless situation in Nanaimo concluded that the number of homeless is estimated to range from 150 to 300 and varies by season. Nanaimo sees a large number of transient homeless because it is a Hub City – a major geographic and transportation centre. The majority of the homeless are in their mid 20s to mid 40s in age and have addiction issues. A smaller percentage experience mental illness.

The Action Plan has eight areas of action to be undertaken over a five-year period. The Plan proposes a Housing First and Harm Reduction approach designed to get homeless people into housing and provide them with the supports they need to maintain their housing and begin to get their lives back on track. Proposed harm reduction measures are to be integrated with the housing initiative to reduce the impacts of high-risk behaviour, such as drug abuse, on the individual and on the wider community... [Read More]


Recommendations:
1) Re-establish the Ministry of Housing
2) Eliminate the homeless crisis in 5 years
3) Re-invest in a social housing program
4) Support local governments and community organizations
5) Focus on the whole province
6) Expand social housing on existing sites
7) Include four key elements in social housing and support programs:
• "Housing First plus the supports necessary for success"
• Homelessness prevention
• Adequate infrastructure
• Accountability
8) Maintain and expand the public land bank
9) Protect manufactured home tenants
10) Strengthen security of tenure and rights for tenants
11) Increase income assistance rates and the minimum wage
12) Increase mental health and addiction services


The number of people using emergency shelters showed a small decline to 8,915 individuals, but shelter beds were filled 18,540 more times in 2007 than in 2006. This 5.7% increase – to 342,165 times that shelter beds were used – is largely a result of longer stays.

Compared to 2006, the average length of stay in an emergency shelter is up 13.9% in 2007. This reflects the difficulty of finding suitable and affordable housing in an expensive housing market.

Modest increases in minimum wage and income support were offset by an increase in rents and other living costs.

Of particular concern is the rise in the number of families using emergency shelters. In 2007, 1,237 children spent time in an emergency shelter, an increase of 6.4% compared to 2006.

Overall, homelessness worsened in 2007 after some progress in 2006. It's time for the Ottawa community to say "Enough is enough! We've got to get moving to end this!" [Read More]

 

The number of homeless people in British Columbia may be triple the estimate Housing minister Rich Coleman provided to The Tyee last week, according to a new report by health professors at UBC, SFU and the University of Calgary.

In B.C. there may be as many as 15,500 adults with severe addictions or mental illness who are homeless, says the 149-page report, Housing and Support for Adults with Severe Addictions and/or Mental Illness in British Columbia. The report is dated October, 2007, and was released to The Tyee on Jan. 30, 2008.

The authors are SFU's Michelle Patterson and Julian Somers, Calgary's Karen McIntosh and Alan Shiell, and UBC's Jim Frankish. The report was prepared at the request of the health ministry's mental health and addictions branch. Other partners and contributors to the report include the provincial health authorities, the Employment and Income Assistance ministry and Coleman's own Forests and Range ministry.

To get their estimate, the authors used data and reports from the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Canadian Senate, the provincial government and academic journals. "No single authoritative source of information is available to derive these estimates," the report says. "However, a number of recent reports offered valuable insights into various levels of housing need."

The report says some 130,000 adults in B.C. have severe addictions and/or mental illnesses. About 39,000 are "inadequately housed," meaning they meet the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's definition of being in "core housing need." Of those, about 26,500 don't have enough support to help them stay in their home.

Somewhere between 8,000 and 15,500 are what the report calls "absolutely homeless," meaning they are living on the streets, couch surfing or otherwise without shelter. The report says the authors confirmed their figures with "local stakeholders and key informants." The report also says that despite impressions that homelessness, mental illness and addiction are urban problems, interviews with front-line workers found the same problems were "highly prevalent in rural settings." [Read More]

The Streetlink Shelter, the bane of downtown businesses and place of last refuge for many homeless people, will be moved from Store Street as part of an initiative that will also create an additional 78 supportive housing units and 35 shelter beds. Victoria's Ellice Street park, north of downtown, will be the site of the new facility.

The announcement was made yesterday as part of a sweeping homeless initiative by the City of Victoria and the province that will see more than 170 housing units constructed for homeless people. The plan includes units that will be redeveloped.

A price tag wasn't given, but Rich Coleman, B.C.'s minister responsible for housing, said the money will come from $41 million earmarked last fall to deal with homelessness. The province will pay development costs for the projects and arrange all capital costs and operating funds either through B.C. Housing or other partners.

Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe said the projects will be fast-tracked through the city's development process with a view to having two of the sites open in 2008 and the Streetlink site redeveloped by 2010. The city will make one parcel of land available for the project and exempt the operations from property taxes... [Read more]

Quality of Life in Canadian Communities: Trends & Issues in Affordable Housing & Homelessness

...The working poor — those whose sole income was from a full-time, minimum-wage job — faced similar problems despite the fact minimum wage in all 22 cities has gone up in recent years and is about $8 per hour.

"In no case could a single person earning minimum wage be able to find an affordable private rental unit in any of the 22 communities. Depending on where they lived, they required anywhere from $463 to $1,673 in additional monthly wages in order to spend less than 30 per cent of their income on an average one-bedroom apartment," the study said.

The situation is exacerbated by the fact there has been little construction of social housing by government and the fact that few private entrepreneurs are building rental accommodation for low-income people, the report said. Most private rental properties serving people with low incomes are in need of replacement because they are 40 years old or older, the study added...

BOX 4–MEASURING HOMELESSNESS

The Quality of Life Reporting System relies on a definition of homelessness that includes singles and families experiencing any of the following conditions:

  • Rooflessness: staying overnight in a place not meant for human habitation (e.g., a vacant building, a public or commercial facility, a city park, a car or on the street);
  • Living in an Emergency Shelter: singles and families relying on the emergency shelter system on a short-term or recurrent basis;
  • Invisible homelessness: temporarily and/or involuntarily living with friends or relatives ("couch-surfing") or exchanging favours in return for housing; and,
  • Houselessness: includes people who reside in long-term institutions because there is no suitable accommodation in the community and youth living in care.

Due to numerous methodological and practical challenges, there continue to be few statistics available which reliably monitor changes in the incidence of homelessness.At the same time, a combination of street counts and estimates from several QOLRS communities consistently suggest that the level of homelessness is not decreasing.

  • According to the 2007 Greater Vancouver Vital Signs Report, there was a significant increase in the number of street homeless in Greater Vancouver between 2002 and 2005, going from 333 people in 2002 to 1,127 in 2005.
  • The City of Calgary conducted a one-day count of homeless persons in 2006, including usage of Emergency Shelter and Transitional facilities, and street counts. The 3,436 individuals counted represented an increase of 34 per cent from 2004.
  • Edmonton's one-day count in 2006 was the latest of seven to be conducted by the city. The report found that although significant progress has been made towards addressing homelessness needs, homelessness continues to be a growing issue in
  • Edmonton. The one-day observed homeless count, which is an indication of the scale of homelessness, increased from 836 in 1999 to 1,915 in 2002 to 2,618 in 2006. Growth was most evident among singles, which accounted for 90 per cent of all homeless people in 2006.
  • Waterloo's Homelessness to Housing Stability Strategy provides these estimates: in 1999, the first calculation of the annual prevalence of homelessness estimated that between 1,500 and 2,000 people experienced homelessness over the course of a year in Waterloo. The 2006 Inventory of Services estimated 4,832 individuals aged 16 and over used emergency shelters.
  • According to the Hamilton Social Planning & Research Council, the number of people using an emergency shelter at least once a year has almost doubled over the last 20 years in Hamilton. This data is also reflected in "on a given night" shelter counts conducted by the Social Planning and Research Council showing 160 people staying in emergency shelters on a given night in November 1995, and over 400 in November 2006.
  • Toronto completed its first street needs assessment in 2006. A total of 5,052 individuals were identified.The majority (72.2 per cent) were staying at a shelter.The number of individuals staying in shelters was highest in 2001: 31,175 people (men, women and children). Beginning in 2002 and continuing to 2006, the number of families and the number of children decreased.
  • Finally, in the Halifax Regional Municipality, a total of 266 homeless persons were surveyed in 2004. This represents a 13 per cent increase in the number of individuals identified as homeless from the 2003 survey. While the number of homeless individuals in the Halifax Regional Municipality cannot be said to have increased by 13 per cent, the study did conclude that the situation has not been improved and may have deteriorated.

Local QOLRS Reports (Reports produced by the QOLRS municipalities).
For additional reports, see here.

More than a month after Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe promised to find homes for 50 street people within 120 days, there is no indication even one hard-to-house person has been identified or one home secured.

"I don't know, time will tell," Lowe said yesterday of meeting the deadline, which he says depends on the number of housing units available and how quickly proposed outreach teams mobilize. Also, a governance structure, needed to implement the plan outlined in the mayor's task force report on homelessness released Oct. 19, has yet to be adopted. It may still be do-able. We're doing what we can to try to meet whatever we can in the first 120 days," Lowe said. "Even if we house 40, we'll have made a great start and built momentum."

The actual 120-day deadline is Feb. 15, but with Christmas holidays, Lowe said he's shooting for March 1. Victoria lawyer Stewart Johnston, who is seeking to temporarily shut down the Cormorant Street needle exchange where many homeless addicts congregate, and force the health authority to fund a bigger, better location, said the mayor must stick to his promise.

"We knew it would be difficult, the task force knew, and so did the mayor. So, it's difficult; now carry on and do it," he said. "If it were easy, it would not be a problem all these years, and getting worse." Johnston doesn't place the burden of delivery solely on the mayor's shoulders -- he notes the provincial and federal governments must provide substantial funding for housing and mental-health and addiction services.

The city's task force aims to find 1,550 housing units over the next five years for the homeless. Within a year, the city plans to find accommodations, through rent subsidies, for 350 people. Various avenues are being explored. The new Our Place complex could take a few people, according to Lowe, but Victoria Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe said that facility was not part of the plan for the first 50 people. Some might go directly to detox/treatment beds, she said, while others might bump supportive-housing tenants functioning well enough to "graduate" to more independent, apartment-style housing. In the new year, capital region mayors will be asked what housing stock they can provide.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority has kicked in $7.6 million toward the effort -- more than $3 million of that going toward the creation of four outreach groups, called Assertive Community Teams, which will provide support in the areas of housing, substance abuse and mental health. Another $1.7 million is earmarked for adult detox treatment.

Housing 50 people within four months is expected to have an immediate effect downtown. Many of the homeless often end up sprawled outside the Cormorant Street needle exchange or Streetlink on Store Street, amid feces, filth and scattered hypodermic needles.

Thornton-Joe said the task force had its "First 50" meeting on Monday. "There's been discussion but we actually haven't said here's the page [of names]," she said. Once determined, the names will be kept confidential. The task force felt it should set an aggressive target to get everyone motivated, said Thornton-Joe, adding she's not conceding defeat on the deadline.

"It's realistic and optimistic," she said. "I don't think it will be impossible. Whether we reach all 50, that's the question."

A city-commissioned study has concluded that the current approach to dealing with chronically homeless people costs taxpayers up to 10 times more than it would to give the same people a home and support programs.

The study will be tabled at the city's community services committee Thursday.

It is part of a comprehensive review of the city's approach to its chronically homeless population of about 900 people who are costing millions in shelter, policing, jail, and hospital services, said the study.

It would be much more cost-effective to build social housing and provide addiction, education, and mental and physical health services directly to this population, the study by Focus Consulting concludes.

The report says chronically homeless people cost about $51 a day in shelters. But when policing, hospital stays, and jail resources directed toward this population are added in, the cost increases to an average of $400 to $500 a day for each person.

By comparison, the study found a person needing the highest amount in support programs would cost $115 a day if they were in their own apartment. A person needing low support would cost $24 per day.

"Institutional and emergency responses are much more costly than long-term housing options, even when including the costs associated with providing support services with the housing," the study says... [Read more]

Housing First: An Inverstmnent with a Return in Prosperity - The Report of the Aberta Affordable Housing Task Force

Edmonton... The province is undertaking an ambitious 10-year plan to co-ordinate initiatives that address homelessness in Alberta through the development of an Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness. The initiative will be led by the Honourable Yvonne Fritz, Associate minister of Affordable Housing and Urban Development.

"We recognize the many diverse challenges ahead in addressing the issues around homelessness," said Premier Ed Stelmach. "I have every confidence that through the leadership of Associate minister Fritz, the Secretariat for Action on Homelessness will be very successful in completing its work. This is an ambitious goal, but one that I believe we must pursue to help those most in need."

The new Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness will have a mandate to develop a provincial strategy to end homelessness. The Secretariat will work closely with municipalities throughout the province to co-ordinate and support them in the development of their regional homeless strategies, utilizing the best practices of programs that have worked...

The Secretariat will include representation from throughout the province and is expected to be in place by April 2008. Over the next several months, a governance and accountability structure, terms of reference including membership, and budget will be developed.

In response to the Alberta Affordable Housing Task Force report, the province committed more than $285 million in new funding this year to address immediate housing pressures. The Alberta government's affordable housing strategy will lead to the development of more than 11,000 units over the next five years.

Addressing affordable housing and homelessness is part of Premier Ed Stelmach's plan to secure Alberta's future by building communities, greening our growth and creating opportunity. Further details regarding the new Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness will be available in the weeks ahead on the Municipal Affairs and Housing website at www.municipalaffairs.gov.ab.ca...

The Downside of Alberta's Boom...

Building the Future, Karen Wilkie, Senior Policy Analyst, Canada West Foundation, October 2007

October 2007: Addressing affordable housing shortfalls and meeting the needs of individuals and families are key issues in many communities across Canada. However, identifying the need for affordable housing is just a first step. In order to effectively meet the affordable housing needs in a community, a number of considerations must be taken into account. Building the Future outlines ten of these considerations:

  1. Communities must identify and clarify the type(s) of affordable housing required.
  2. Communities must take a two-pronged approach to meet the growing demand for affordable housing: i) new construction; and ii) maintaining existing forms of affordable housing.
  3. Communities must recognize that, in many cases, "bricks and mortar" are not enough. The needs of the residents must be "built in."
  4. Determining where affordable housing units should be located is critical.
  5. Communities must identify and address barriers to affordable housing.
  6. Partnerships must be established.
  7. Affordable housing is not just a job for government. The free market has an important role to play.
  8. Housing is both a supply and demand issue and public policies need to address both sides of the issue.
  9. Affordable housing requires long-term thinking.
  10. Addressing the affordable housing challenge in Canada will cost money.

This short and accessible paper will be of great use to policy-makers and the public as Canadians wrestle with the best ways to address the affordable housing challenge and ensure that all Canadians have an adequate roof over their heads.

For more information about the paper or the Western Cities Project, please contact Robert Roach, Director of Research (roach@cwf.ca). Please direct media inquires to: Gary Slywchuk, slywchuk@cwf.ca, 403-835-8192.

Lost in the Shuffle (1 October 2007)

Source:
Press Release
Community Social Planning Council

Thousands of homeless children losing out on education
October 1, 2007
TORONTO – A groundbreaking new report shows at least 2,000 homeless children in Toronto are needlessly at risk of slipping through the cracks of the education system every year.

Lost in the Shuffle, by the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto and Aisling Discoveries Child and Family Centre, is the first study in Canada to document the impact of homelessness on children's education in Toronto.

The report found that the majority of homeless children aged six to 12 attend three schools in the year they lose housing, and as a result repeat material and miss curriculum. Highly transient students can attend more than 10 schools before reaching high school, and many of them face barriers due to emotional trauma.

"Neither the school system nor the shelter system is equipped to systematically help them through," says report author Ann Decter.

"And yet we know the steps we can take to make sure homeless children stay on track with their education without massive new spending. Teachers need help to keep these kids on the right track, and the kids need the support of a trained professional – a guardian angel on their side."

Community experts are uniting in a call to help transient students cope.

"We owe it to these kids to recognize the challenges they experience and to support them. We know we can build resiliency to help them overcome tough times," said Paula Carrie of Aisling Discoveries, the organization that pioneered ways to smooth the path for these children.

According to a national survey, 76% of women and 88% of children in shelters were escaping situations of abuse.

"Domestic violence is the sleeping giant in children's homelessness. Many of these children are going to school afraid that their fathers are going to find them on the playground," said Rhonda Roffey, executive director of Women's Habitat.

In any given year, since 1990, the annual population of children living in Toronto's homeless shelters has ranged from a high of nearly 7,000 to no less than 3,500. The full report, funded by the United Way of Greater Toronto, is available online at www.socialplanningtoronto.org.

Media contact: Alissa Von Bargen, Communications Officer, Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, T: 416-351-0095 x 214 C: 647-230-9164 avonbargen@cspc.toronto.on.ca

Special housing eyed where chronically homeless can get the help they need
Desperately looking for a way to deal with downtown Victoria's growing numbers of homeless – about 1,200 people at last count – the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce thinks it's found a way to get at least 200 chronically homeless off the street.

But it's not a made-in-Canada solution.

The answer is adopting a Canadian version of the American Interagency Council of Homelessness strategy that's decreased the number of homeless on the streets of participating cities by up to 70 per cent, said Bruce Carter, chamber chief executive officer.

Adopting a similar 10-year strategy here would get chronically homeless – people with disabilities, mental illness and addictions problems – into special housing where they can get the support services they need.

Just back from the Canadian Chamber's policy debates in Ontario, Carter said he thinks he's sold the 170,000-member Canadian Chamber of Commerce that it's a homeless answer worth considering.

With an estimated 20,000 homeless across Canada living in downtown alleys and in front of businesses, he said there's no denying "homelessness has become a huge problem for our businesses across the country."

But there's no national homeless policy in this country, said Carter, estimating it would cost about $500 million per year to implement an ICH-type strategy in this country.

Using Portland, Ore., as an example of how a city can reduce chronic homeless numbers by 60 per cent within the third year of its ICH plan, Carter said Portland found each person off the street saves the city $16,000 in reduced social costs. [To read about the Portland approach, Home Again - A 10-year plan to end homelessness in Portland and Multnomah County, Citizens Commission on Homelessness (December 2004), CLICK HERE (PDF).]

The cost saving would be similar if Victoria copied Portland's example – a $3.2 million saving per year if just 200 chronic homeless were removed from downtown Victoria streets, he said... [Read more]

Street Health Report 2007

STREET HEALTH ACTION PLAN
We hope that the findings of the The Street Health Report 2007 will be a call to action to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to address homelessness in Toronto.

Overall, homeless people in Toronto have much poorer health than the general population. Homeless people in our survey carry an alarmingly higher burden of many serious physical and mental health conditions. Three quarters suffer from at least one chronic or ongoing physical health condition. In the past year, more than half had experienced serious depression and one in ten had attempted suicide.

The health of homeless people in Toronto has deteriorated in the past 15 years. Many serious physical health problems have become more common, and new illnesses have emerged that disproportionately affect homeless people. The most important factors impacting the health of homeless people are the result of social policy decisions that have been made by our governments in the past 15 years, particularly the cuts to social assistance and the lack of investment in new affordable social housing.

Homelessness is a devastating and growing problem in Toronto. There is an urgent need to take action to:

  • Address the poverty and inequality that underlies homelessness
  • Improve access to affordable and appropriate housing
  • Improve immediate living conditions for homeless people
  • Improve access to health care and support for homeless people

Our action plan presents realistic solutions to immediately improve the health of homeless people and to ultimately end homelessness... [p.50] [Read more]

Homelessness is Not a Crime
"It's constant. If you're sleeping somewhere, you get charged with trespassing. You're just trying to get out of the rain or something to keep dry. You get charged all the time." – Survey Respondent

Since the mid 1990s, new by-laws, as well as changes to policing practices around existing by-laws, have been introduced that criminalize the activities of people who are homeless. Prohibiting people from sleeping in public places like Nathan Phillips Square, and fining people for activities like panhandling, loitering, and public drinking, has turned homeless people into criminals and made their lives even more difficult. A recent Montreal study of this issue, found that 72% of homeless people who were given tickets for sleeping in parks went to jail because they couldn't pay the fine.*

An extensive examination of the relationship between homelessness and the criminal justice system can be found in Justice and Injustice: Homelessness, Crime, Victimization, and the Criminal Justice System**, a 2006 research study conducted by The John Howard Society of Toronto and the Centre for Urban and Community Studies at the University of Toronto. [p.45] [Read more]

VICTORIA (CUP) – Homeless people in Victoria have won a small victory in their upcoming Charter challenge to have their rights to sleep outside recognized.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has dismissed an application from the City of Victoria for a permanent injunction that would have restricted homeless people from setting up another tent city in a downtown park.

The application, which was rejected on Aug. 13, is a small victory in an ongoing campaign for homeless people's "right to sleep."

Irene Faulkner and Catherine Boies Parker, two lawyers working on the case, said that bylaws which make it illegal to sleep overnight in parks violate homeless people's rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They plan to challenge the constitutionality of those bylaws in September.

"The way things are standing right now, we'll be looking to move ahead with the trial on Sept. 4," Faulkner said. "This is great news on our side."

In a video posted on HomelessNation.org last month, Boies Parker said, "The underlying issue is the constitutionality of the bylaws that make it illegal to sleep outside."

Boies Parker and Faulkner argue that Victoria's laws deprive homeless people of security by preventing them from sleeping outside while the city that lacks shelter spaces. Section 7 of the Charter guarantees security of the person. They also said that the bylaws have a disproportionate effect on homeless people, violating their Section 15 right to equality before the law... [Read more]

Source: Lawyer Irene Faulkner Updates Case, homelessnation.org (2007-09-13)
Link added.

The Attorney General's office for British Columbia has intervened in the case against homeless people sleeping outside. Based on a City of Victoria bylaw an injunction was requested to end a tent city in Cridge Park in October 2005. This tent city followed 2 others, one on the lawn of the BC Legislature (Camp Campbell) and another in the orchard in front of St. Anne's Academy. Challenged on a constitutional basis the City of Victoria tried to back out of the case but a BC Supreme Court Judge denied a discontinuation applied for by the City. The Attorney General's office has requested a postponement claiming they have to get up to speed on the case. However, this case has been posted for 2 years and now will not likely appear in court until Spring 2008. Meanwhile homeless people across the nation have waited long enough. The city of Victoria has more than 1,200 homeless people or people at risk of being homeless as registered by a survey conducted by the Cool-Aid Society. (See: [Victoria Homeless Needs Survey 2007: A Pathway to Home: HOUSING FIRST – PLUS SUPPORTS]) Since the city only has 170 bed, mostly provided by charity organizations, there is nowhere for people to sleep. Therefore, a law that criminalizes sleeping outside, when there is nowhere else to sleep, is unconstitutional.

Vancouver–Days after a judge ruled that homeless people have a right to camp in Victoria's city parks, police moved in yesterday to break up a growing tent city near the provincial legislature.

Five people were arrested when some homeless campers refused to take down their tents.

Police were enforcing a new bylaw that doesn't prevent camping in public places, but tries to regulate it by only allowing camping overnight.

The new bylaw was quickly put into place after a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled earlier in the week that Victoria's original bylaw, passed three years ago to prohibit erecting a shelter in a public place, was unconstitutional because there aren't enough shelters to house Victoria's homeless. While advocates for the homeless lauded the Tuesday ruling, municipal officials across Canada are watching the decision closely. Within hours of the ruling, tents started going up in Victoria's Beacon Hill Park near the legislature. Camps have since popped up in other city parks.

"The whole city is open," activist David Johnston, who is homeless himself, said yesterday before the police moved in. "Some of the more hard-core people are gathering here at Beacon Hill, but they're setting up tents everywhere."

Johnston joined other advocates for the homeless to successfully sue the city of Victoria three years ago after a tent city was forcibly taken down. [...]

Mental Health and Homelessness

In Canada, over 10,000 people are homeless on any given night. People experiencing homelessness are at high risk for compromised mental health, mental illness, suicide and addictions. The pathways linking mental health and homelessness are interrelated. Mental health can be influenced by various individual, social, cultural, physical and socio-economic determinants. These factors can, in isolation or combination, be related to homelessness. Further, while various mental health issues can precede homelessness, others can develop or worsen with continued homelessness.

The Improving the Health of Canadians: Mental Health and Homelessness report provides an overview of the latest research, surveys and policy initiatives related to mental health and homelessness and, for the first time, presents data on hospital use by homeless Canadians... [Read more]

The Journal of Primary Prevention

Small step for homeless

An innovative program to find permanent housing for Toronto's most troubled homeless who live on the streets has proven to be a real success since it was launched two years ago and should be expanded.

Since Toronto City Council introduced the Streets to Homes program, permanent housing has been found for more than 1,200 people, of whom 87 per cent remain housed. A survey released this week of these formerly homeless people also found they are happier, healthier and rely less on emergency services like hospitals and ambulances.

The Streets to Homes program, based on a "housing first" strategy, is aimed at finding permanent housing for people instead of just focusing on improving services for them as they continue to live on the street. As well as finding homes for the homeless, the program provides extensive support to ensure they stay housed.

Although this small program has proven its worth, it cannot by itself end homelessness in Toronto and the surrounding 905 communities. A study last summer found nearly 1,000 people are sleeping on the street each night in Toronto and close to 4,000 are living in 63 homeless shelters. In addition, more than 67,000 people are on the waiting list for subsidized housing in Toronto alone. The average rent for a bachelor apartment in Toronto is about $750 a month, but the shelter portion of social assistance payments is only $325 a month.

Indeed, the homeless problem has grown worse in recent years. Cathy Crowe, a Toronto street nurse and author of a new book, Dying for a Home: Homeless Activists Speak Out, wrote this week in the Star that "there is no question that circumstances today, compared with 1998, when hundreds of organizations declared homelessness a national disaster, are more catastrophic."

The lack of affordable housing has been exacerbated by Ottawa's decision in the late 1990s to download the cost of providing subsidized housing onto provincial governments, which in turn told cash-strapped municipalities to put up much of the costs.

Clearly, more help is needed from Ottawa and Queen's Park. Other jurisdictions are tackling this problem in big and small ways with a spirit of co-operation between all levels of government.

And as the small Streets to Homes program has proven, even small initiatives can pay huge dividends for the less fortunate in this city.

Shelter: Homelessness in a growth economy: Canada's 21st century paradox, Gordon Laird, Chumir Foundation, June 2007

For many homeless people, the winter of 2007 was a dark time – not only were many emergency shelters filled beyond capacity during cold snaps, but housing vacancy rates actually plunged in many cities, leaving growing numbers of Canadians with few options.

The coldest, deadliest nights of the year are now behind us. But the cost of homelessness isn't. According to a new report from the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, Shelter: Homelessness in a Growth Economy, homelessness is costing Canadian taxpayers $4.5 billion to $6 billion a year.

Canada in 2007 collectively spends more managing homelessness than it spends on international development ($4.1 billion) or on annual debt reduction ($3 billion). In fact, the cost of homelessness in Canada is comparable to the cost of the $4.35 billion 2006 GST tax cut and the entire 2007 environment plan on climate change, fresh water and wildlife conservation.

Since the early 1990s, Canada's main response to homelessness has been to build new emergency shelter beds and fund front-line services to help contain and warehouse a growing pool of homeless Canadians.

It hasn't worked. Welfare services, municipal services, provincial health-care systems and the non-profit sector have been left to take up the slack for the estimated 300,000 homeless people as well as the upwards of 2.7 million low-income Canadians who now face housing affordability problems.

This nation's decade of relative inaction on homelessness, from 1993 to 2004, cost Canadian taxpayers an estimated $49.5 billion, across all services and jurisdictions.

All levels of government have shown a lack of leadership. Most provincial governments, for example, inadequately fund welfare, making it difficult, if not impossible, for recipients to find a place to live in our soaring real estate markets. Some of these same people then wind up in homeless shelters funded by all three levels of government. Taxpayers are paying at least twice and still we have homelessness.

While Canada's economy is booming, poverty is actually increasing. It was assumed that the economic boom would benefit all Canadians, but the evidence shows that the income gap is actually growing and affordable housing is harder to find. CIBC World Markets predicts that the average Canadian housing price will double by 2026.

Poverty is now the leading cause of homelessness in Canada, trumping substance abuse and mental illness. Canada's "new homeless" – families, women, students, immigrants, aboriginals – are simply low-income Canadians who need affordable housing.

Many governments, both here and abroad, are championing the notion of "Housing First," that is, immediately addressing housing needs through rent supplements. It has finally been recognized that homeless shelters are effective only as a short-term measure.

Housing each homeless person saves both taxpayers and government money and frees up resources to invest elsewhere. In Toronto, for example, taxpayers pay 2.5 times as much for homeless shelters as for rent supplements.

Rather than tolerate failure, Canada should consider the kind of integrated, results-oriented "Housing First" approach currently underway in the United States and Britain. Ideally, homelessness, affordable housing and poverty reduction would be integrated into a national strategy. This would require high-level leadership from Canada's federal cabinet, as well as provincial and municipal participation.

Some solutions are obvious. Possibly the best way to stem homelessness is to relieve low-income Canadians from making hard choices between buying food or paying for shelter. At the very least, Canada should index welfare, shelter and social assistance to inflation. If Newfoundland, one of Canada's least affluent governments, can do it, why can't everyone else?

We should develop a new, affordable housing strategy that develops market and non-market and
rent-to-own units. We should build more transitional and supportive housing for higher-needs Canadians. We should explore alternatives such as independent housing trusts, mixed-income co-operatives, even non-traditional interim shelters. Municipalities must reform their zoning bylaws to allow for basement suites.

Canada can no longer afford homelessness. Left unattended, circumstances will only become worse for many of those currently homeless. It is much more fiscally responsible to engage homelessness and invest directly than to neglect it.

Gordon Laird is media fellow at the Calgary-based Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership.

VANCOUVER – The Province is funding 996 more units of supportive housing to reduce homelessness, Premier Gordon Campbell announced today. The $80-million investment includes the purchase of 15 buildings in Vancouver, Victoria and Burnaby to protect affordable housing. The Province launched a major housing initiative last fall, Housing Matters BC, and committed additional new funding in Budget 2007. Today's announcement secures important affordable housing, will help reduce homelessness, and gives the Province and local governments more tools to help those who cannot help themselves...
See Backgrounder.

Three governmental budgets have been delivered over the past seven days, and the hundreds of thousands of low, moderate and middle-income Torontonians seeking affordable housing have been left out of all three. The federal budget of March 19 was entirely silent on new affordable housing spending; the provincial budget of March 22 merely re-announced previously allocated federal housing dollars; and the municipal budget of March 26 proposes cuts to local housing and homelessness spending.

The federal government says housing is primarily a provincial and municipal issue. Over the past two decades, it has cut housing funding and downloaded programs. The Ontario government, following suit, has cut provincial housing funding and downloaded programs to municipalities. Provincial housing spending has been flat-lined in recent years. Municipal politicians in Toronto call federal and provincial politicians "dead-beats" and say it's all their fault – even as local officials cut housing and homelessness funding.

Meanwhile, the hundreds of thousands of Torontonians trapped in inadequate or unaffordable homes, the tens of thousands in shelters and the uncounted thousands of "hidden homeless" are left to watch federal, provincial and municipal politicians squabble and pass the buck and point an accusing finger at each other... [Read more]

...The cost of addressing this issue is significant. The value of land to be committed by the City is approximately $50 million. In 2014, when all of the sites are fully developed, the annual City tax forgiveness would be $1.1 million and the annual incremental cost (including rent subsidies and support costs) to the province for the renovated SRO hotel rooms and new supportive housing units would be about $48 million. It is hoped that the addition of corporate, philanthropic and citizen contributions to be pooled with funding from other sources will help make raising sufficient funds to meet this challenge possible.

The solution of supportive housing requires sustained commitments from the City, the Province, and the community to provide the necessary financial resources and to build longterm capacity to address and manage homelessness and the problems that arise from it. It is noteworthy that these proposals directly support the Project Civil City initiative of the City of Vancouver, and will contribute significantly to achievement of the goals of that program. While the cost of addressing homelessness is high, the financial and ethical cost of leaving individuals homeless is higher. A workable and sustainable solution will not only improve the lives of the homeless, it will also bring financial and social benefits to the whole community... (pp.2-3)

Homelessness is not necessary. Unlike most other urban social problems, homelessness is something policymakers actually know how to address. The U.S. and Britain have slashed their rates of homelessness during the past decade. But in Canada, homelessness is on the rise; and in the Vancouver region, the official count of homeless persons almost doubled from 1,121 souls in 2002 to 2,174 in 2005.

Homelessness is not cheap. Provincial taxpayers spend up to $40,000 annually per homeless person, according a 2001 study. That money is spent on police calls, hospital visits and other emergency social services. If there are only 2,174 homeless people in the Vancouver area (an official figure everyone in the field assumes is well below the actual total) and if each person uses $40,000 in services (a figure that did not include all local services), then British Columbia taxpayers are spending $86.9 million a year just to help people living on the streets stay alive... [Read more]

Idea One: Trade Fairs for the Homeless
Idea Two: Raise the Welfare Rates
Idea Three: Train Young Workers
Idea Four: Spread the Love Around
(Help allay resistance from not-in-my-backyard
neighbourhood groups.)
Idea Five: Buy a Few Hotels
Idea Six: Give Addicts Time to Heal
Idea Seven: Bring Governments Together

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, December 19, 2006-Today, the Honourable Diane Finley, minister of Human Resources and Social Development, announced $526 million for the new Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS), a strategy aimed at combating homelessness in communities across Canada and extending CMHC's renovation programs.

The new Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) will be funded at $270 million over two years.

The new Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) includes:

  • Consulting with stakeholders from the private and non-profit sectors and listening to their concerns;
  • Partnering with the provinces and territories in the new year to determine how funding will be effectively allocated across Canada, thereby addressing the unique needs of many Canadian communities similar to the Canada-Quebec Agreement model;
  • Providing greater access to support networks appropriate to individual needs of homeless people (such as skills training, health and substance abuse treatment) to help them attain self-sufficiency and full participation in Canadian society;
  • Requiring that funding be specifically targeted at the development of transitional and supportive housing; and
  • Tracking progress in the prevention and reduction of homelessness.
  • [Read more]
     Read the Media Backgrounder — CMHC Renovation Programs

Even with somewhere to stay, life in the Downtown Eastside is rough, MARK HUME writes

...Homelessness is a problem in every Canadian city, but in the Greater Vancouver Area, where there are now 2,174 people living on the street, including 22 children with their families, the tableau of poverty is laid out block after bleak block.

Here on the dead-end streets, where Canada's homelessness crisis takes on a shocking form and proportion, the problem has become impossible to ignore.

How did it get this way? How did this beautiful, laid-back city, where the climate is softened by winds from the South Pacific, become a place of such despair for so many?

The answer that emerges from interviews with poverty advocates, officials and front-line workers is disturbing. The homelessness crisis, which has become such a visual blight that it is hurting tourism and leading to convention cancellations, didn't befall the city like some kind of natural disaster. Instead, it was largely caused by government policy...

...In 1996, the Canada Assistance Plan ended after 30 years of guiding transfer payments from Ottawa -- worsening the situation. CAP had tied the provinces to providing welfare support to people based on need, but provinces were then free to put restrictions on welfare and they quickly did, disqualifying many...

...Down and out, for the count
Nobody knows how many homeless people there are in Canada but estimates range from 150,000 to 250,000. Homelessness remains a largely undefined problem because no reliable method for counting people who live on the streets has been determined. Although several cities conduct counts, not all follow the same methodology, leading to data that can't be compared. Ottawa, for example, has results that indicate it has more homeless people than either Vancouver or Toronto, which have much larger populations. Some jurisdictions use point in time counts, which aim to determine the number of homeless people in a geographic area on a given day. Others use period counts, annualizing the numbers to determine the total number of individuals in a given year who are homeless. Some counts rely only on people staying in shelters; others exclude detox units, recovery houses or hospitals. Some don't include emergency shelters for abused women. Counting people who live hidden, under bridges or in alley ways, and those who are often on the move and don't follow a regular timetable is a difficult task... [Read complete article]

Along with providing financial support to communities, the SCPI encourages them to work together with provincial, territorial and municipal governments and the private and voluntary sectors to strengthen existing capacity and develop new responses to homelessness. Communities are allocated a maximum funding level which must be matched from other community sources (i.e.: fundraising, local sponsors, etc.) and requires communities to explain how their activities will continue once SCPI funding ends. Projects funded support priority areas identified through a community planning process... [Read more]

Toronto's most vulnerable left out in the cold if federal commitment to homeless initiatives ends.

On National Housing Day, Mayor David Miller makes public a list of 46 projects that are slated for closure as funding deadline looms.

Homeless teenagers seeking to reconnect with their families; young Aboriginal mothers and their children needing transitional housing; men and women honing employment skills in the hopes of becoming housed and independent; people who are in desperate need of permanent housing. These are just some of the Torontonians whose lives are about to take an even sharper turn for the worse.

The federal government's Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI), a cornerstone of the City's strategy to end homelessness for the past six years, is scheduled to end March 31, 2007 and nothing appears to be in place to stop this.

Mayor David Miller is taking the opportunity on National Housing Day, Wednesday, Nov. 22, to make public the complete list of 46 SCPI-funded programs that will have to start winding down service in December in anticipation of the March 31 deadline, unless other funding can be found.

"The demise of these highly successful programs will have a profound and highly visible impact on some of our most vulnerable citizens," said Mayor Miller. "Unless the federal government immediately renews funding for homeless services in cities across the country - even on an interim basis - the momentum that we have built up to end homelessness in Toronto will come to a dead stop." [Read more]

SCPI Funded Service Related Projects Affected by SCPI Deadline of March 31, 2007 [PDF]

Homelessness is on the rise in almost all Canadian cities, and those on the front lines of addressing the problem lay the blame squarely on the fact that Canada no longer has a fully-funded federal housing program. Senior-level housing programs were cancelled by the federal government in 1993. In the years that followed, most provincial governments (with the notable exception of Quebec) followed suit by cutting funding to provincial low-income housing...

...In Victoria, which has about 700 homeless and not enough shelter beds to go around, the homeless situation prompted renewed concern recently when a U.S. company cancelled a conference in the city, citing too many panhandlers and street people as the reason. Premier Gordon Campbell has said his government will increase welfare rates in the February budget. The welfare shelter rate in B.C., at $325 a month for a single person, hasn't been increased in 12 years.

Surveys show that Aboriginal people are disproportionately represented among Canada's homeless population and are more likely to be "street homeless" than living in shelters. In Winnipeg, it's estimated that Aboriginals comprise up to 70 percent of the homeless population. The Manitoba Urban Native Housing Association, which has 965 units in Winnipeg and 1,595 throughout the entire province, has 4,000 families on a waiting list... [Read more]

...Boomtown Alberta is drawing thousands of people from across the country, many of whom can't find anywhere to live. Those who can are making it more and more difficult for others with lower incomes, or who are on welfare or disability pensions, to find a home.

In a province that trumpets itself as the land of promise and plenty, thousands - many with jobs and enough money for a home - are left out in the cold.

In Calgary and Edmonton, some shelters routinely turn away close to 100 people a night. Last week, police had to be called in to calm 82 people who became desperate and angry when told there was no room in the Calgary Drop-In Centre.

Both cities have introduced last-minute emergency solutions, but the president of the Alberta Housing Coalition says it's too little, too late... [Read more]

Solving the Housing Crisis
Report on Affordable Housing in Vancouver
Carnegie Community Action Project (June 2006)

Solving the Housing Crisis

...Invest in Bricks and Mortar Social Housing
Far from being a "failed social experiment", bricks and mortar social housing provides stable homes for individuals and families with low income. Initiatives like the Provincial Housing Program provide both infrastructure for the community and an asset for all British Columbians. It is abundantly clear that the private market has failed to provide adequate housing choices for all residents. Only continued investment in bricks and mortar housing and an expansion of supported housing by community groups will allow all British Columbians access to a safe and secure home.

Increase Income Assistance Rates
Increasing income assistance rates will allow low income individuals and families to achieve a level of dignity and housing tenure security. Clearly, $510 a month is not enough to secure safe housing, eat nutritious food, and look for work. Welfare rates with the shelter portion need to be raised by at least 50%. Vancouver's Homeless Action Plan, approved unanimously by City Council in 2005, made similar recommendations for shelter rates. Increasing the buying power of low income households will allow tenants to generate economic activity in their neighbourhoods and facilitate property maintenance by landlords... [Read more]

See also:
Affordable Housing Policy Brief
Carnegie Community Action Project, Carnegie Centre Community Association

Housing Market Info & Stats

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Housing Market Information

The electronic editions of CMHC's standardized national suite of publications are now free. Clients can view, print, download or subscribe to future editions of CMHC's popular Housing Market Outlook, Housing Now, and Rental Market series of reports, as well as a number of other statistical reports and tables.
For example:

  1. The Committee expresses concern about the significantly low proportion of unemployed workers eligible for receiving insurance benefits, and notes that the State party has not provided detailed responses to the Committee's previous concerns on this issue. The Committee notes with concern that in 2001, only 39 per cent of unemployed Canadians were eligible for benefits; that in some Provinces such as Ontario, eligibility rates are even lower; that the number of youth receiving employment insurance benefits has decreased; that migrant workers and many parttime workers, predominantly women, contribute to the plan but have great difficulties in accessing benefits; and that the replacement rate of income which has been reduced to 55 per cent in 1997, is the lowest ever.

  2. The Committee, while noting the information provided by the State party of its willingness to ensure that low-income working families do not receive fewer benefits than those receiving social assistance, is deeply concerned by the discriminatory impact of the National Child Benefit "clawback system", on the poorest families in Canada, in particular single-motherled families.

  3. The Committee notes with concern that low-income families, single-mother-led families and Aboriginal and African-Canadian families, are over-represented in families whose children are relinquished to foster care. The Committee is also concerned that women continue to be forced to relinquish their children into foster care because of inadequate housing.
  4. The Committee regrets that domestic violence as a specific offence has not been included in the criminal code.

  5. The Committee notes with concern that women are prevented from leaving abusive relationships due to the lack of affordable housing and inadequate assistance.

  6. The Committee notes with concern that about 7.4 % of the population, amounting to about 2.3 million people, suffer from food insecurity in the State party, that about 40 percent of food bank users are children and young people, and that about 51 percent of food bank users while receiving social assistance benefits in 2005, still had to resort to food banks because of the insufficient level of these benefits.

  7. The Committee, while welcoming the National Homelessness Initiative and the adoption of numerous measures on housing, regrets that the information provided was not sufficient enough to assess the results of such measures. In particular the Committee is concerned that the estimated number of homeless persons in Canada still ranges from 100,000 to 250,000. The Committee, while welcoming the decrease in the proportion of households with core housing need, notes with concern that in 2001 such households still represented about 13,7 to 16 percent of all households. The Committee is further concerned that shelter allowances and social assistance rates continue to fall far below average rental costs, and that waiting lists for subsidized housing remain very long, as for example in Hamilton and Montreal.
Cycles of Homelessness: Understanding Eviction Prevention and its Relation to Homelessness

METHODOLOGY
The study took place in the urban regions of Greater Vancouver, British Columbia (BC), Ottawa, Ontario and Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), Nova Scotia. It relied on a review of published and unpublished literature on eviction and eviction prevention; focus groups and interviews with 91 households with a history of eviction; key informant interviews with a network of frontline workers and experts in the area of eviction, and dissemination of project results through professional associations, and local networks of community organizations...

PRINCIPLE CONCLUSIONS
The experiences of study participants confirm much of the existing knowledge regarding the characteristics of tenants facing eviction. However, the research indicates gaps in what is known about the experiences of certain vulnerable groups of tenants, and a need to question the assumption of a straightforward link between eviction and homelessness. The following three themes reflect the most significant findings of the study.

  • Eviction prevention Cannot be equated with homelessness prevention.
  • Threat of eviction is an important and useful indicator of crisis.
  • Making a real impact on homelessness requires new public policy and investment.
Pages 5-6:
2.2 The Facts
2.2.1 Many people in Hamilton depend on provincial social assistance programs for survival. As of September 2005, Hamilton has approximately 24,000 persons attempting to subsist on the Ontario Works ("OW") social assistance program, the primary provincial social security program for individuals and families.9 Less than 4000 of these individuals are single person beneficiaries, the rest are families.10 This represents well over 10,000 children on this program.11 Hamilton also has approximately 19,494 individuals on the Ontario Disability Support Program12 ("ODSP"), the primary provincial social security program for the disabled, and 2,766 of those are children.13
2.2.2 Given the numbers on social assistance, it is imperative that social assistance rates provide an adequate standard of living. Yet social assistance rates still fall far below the LICO poverty line. For instance, a single person on Ontario Works receives $6,432 annually, amounting to only 38% of the poverty line.14 Families fare little better. A single parent receives $13,272 annually from Ontario Works (62% of the poverty line), while benefit rates for couple families with 2 children amount to only 55% of the poverty line".
2.2.3 We include below a table from the most recent report on local poverty from the Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton, showing the troubling inadequacy of Ontario Works social assistance rates when compared with the costs of securing housing and the costs of food:

TORONTO — After years of arguments between politicians and activists on both sides, Toronto is set to conduct its first-ever census of the city's homeless population on Wednesday.

More than 1,700 volunteers are to undertake the one-night, $90,000 survey as the city attempts to find out how many people are living on the streets in Canada's largest centre, and what kind of services they need.

Opponents of the census say it's unnecessary because the "needs" of the homeless are obvious (they need housing), and that any attempt to count street people will fail due to a number of factors, including an expected lack of co-operation from those being surveyed.

As well, others say, there's a large number of uncountable "hidden" homeless, also called "houseless," who often double-up in other people's homes, or who are in temporary spaces looking for something permanent.

One such organization, the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, has asked faith-based groups, community workers and others not to participate. [See: Position on City of Toronto's 'Street Needs Assessment' aka "The Count".]

Advocates say the survey is needed to understand the depth of the problem, and some add that it will serve to dismiss claims by some politicians that the homeless problem in Toronto is way overestimated.

The city says it has representatives from 34 community agencies and various municipal divisions involved through the Street Outreach Steering Committee.

Findings from the survey will be sent to the Community Services Committee and then on to full council by July.

Similar surveys have been conducted in Calgary and Vancouver, and in both cases the number of homeless was found to be higher than expected.

Follow-up...

The City of Toronto held a "Street Needs Assessment" on April 19th. TDRC has a long history of being opposed to this method of counting homeless people.

The results of the count were released on Friday, June 23rd. The report went to Community Services where numerous amendments were debated and lost, and then on to Council at the end of July were it was approved. None of the amendments were revived.

The Street Needs Assessment found that 5052 people were homeless on April 19th including:

  • 3649 (72%) in shelters
  • 818 (16%) on the street
  • 275 (5%) in health care or treatment facilities
  • 171 (3%) in Violence Against Women facilities
  • 139 (3%) in correctional facilities

We believe that these numbers must be treated as a snapshot, they do not present a full and accurate representation of all homeless people. We know that many were missed that night due to the survey methodology. The numbers don't even start to take into account the hidden homeless population.

The City's Full report is available here.

Michael Shapcott's recent backgrounder on the street counts - which includes such information as Edmonton and Vancouver's significantly higher numbers despite a lower population - is available here.

Here is some background information to help you gain a better understanding of the issues:

See also...

The new eligibility rules have led to an increase in homelessness, as evidenced in both Vancouver and Victoria. The City of Vancouver's Homelessness Action Plan found that the number of homeless doubled between 2001 and 2004, and notes that, "In 2001, about 15 per cent of the street homeless were not on welfare. By early 2004, this had increased to 50 per cent, and by summer 2004, more than 75 per cent of the street homeless reported they are not on welfare." Similarly, a study of Victoria-based social service agencies reports major increases in demand for all types of emergency assistance, including food and shelter... [Read the Full Report]

Grade C+ ... Only slight progress made.

Community social service agencies in Ottawa have devoted significant efforts in assisting the large number of people who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in 2005.

In spite of their efforts, there has been only slight progress in ending homelessness in the past year as reflected by shorter stays in shelters for some, development of new supportive and affordable housing units, and a small decrease in private market rents.

There were also small rises in income for persons on income support or earning minimum wage.

However, these small gains in the area of housing and income are offset by the larger number of people experiencing homelessness in Ottawa in 2005... [Read more]

The following table is adapted from Alliance to End Homelessness.

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Finding Home: Policy Options for Addressing Homelessness in Canada




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