Lauren Boothby - Edmonton Journal
Homeward Trust was set to resume the homeless count on Wednesday evening for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Volunteers are resuming the in-person homeless count meant to take a snapshot of how many people are houseless at a point in time.
Around 200 volunteers and community agencies were set to walk the city streets Wednesday evening and into Thursday to meet with self-identified houseless people, gathering data at a single point in time that will help social agencies plan how to assist struggling Edmontonians into the future.
The last regular count was in 2018. Homeward Trust opted to do an administrative count in 2020 instead — gathering data from the housing sector, shelters, Alberta Health Service and the justice ministry. Homelessness has surged since the onset of the pandemic with more people camping outdoors
Homeward Trust has continued maintaining its “By-Name-List” which tracks people in the system by their name and birthday through these sectors — nearly 2,700 people are on it already.
Susan McGee, Homeward Trust CEO, told Postmedia ahead of the count that this helps track trends over time, and provides information needed to confidently prioritize which programs to fund.
“The visibility of homelessness is different today than it was before the pandemic, and we know that across Canada. Every city is being really challenged with both increases in real numbers (and) just the visibility through encampments,” she said.
“There are some very urgent needs in our community, that are very obvious, that are simply not resourced efficiently.”
McGee said the count is a snapshot of what is seen at a particular moment in time. It’s impossible to identify everyone, but the count and By-Name-List, are important for the agencies trying to help, she said.
Deaths from homelessness rose 70 per cent in one year — 222 people died in 2021, according to advocacy group Edmonton Coaliation on Housing and Homelessness (ECOHH).
More people affected by housing issues: ECOHH
Meantime, ECOHH was also hoping to raise awareness about homelessness and gather support to fund more affordable housing on Wednesday.
ECOHH president Nadine Chalifoux said the goal is to share the “shameful” data with Edmontonians and assert that in a wealthy country like Canada, no one should be without a home.
“There is no reason for this travesty. For decades governments invested in social housing, and homelessness was nearly non-existent. ECOHH wants people to send the premier and the prime minister a message that it is time for a significant investment in non-market housing to end this long-drawn out pain,” she said in a news release.
Homelessness is just the tip of the iceberg of a problem that begins when people find themselves in housing they can’t afford, ECOHH asserts.
Edmonton’s new housing needs assessment predicts nearly 60,000 households will be in core housing need within four years and there will be a shortage of about 40,000 affordable rental housing units. That assessment points to a significant shortfall of rental housing far below current market rates.
McGee also pointed out a lack of long-term funding for affordable housing from provincial and federal governments, who for many years only focused on filling short-term needs.
“Affordable housing is, really in our mind, part of our infrastructure. It’s part of our social fabric, it’s part of what allows families to be successful, to be hopeful, and to contribute as much as they can to being part of a healthy community. When we see it that way, we don’t launch funding programs for five years and then shut them down, we start to look at the needs differently,” she said.
“It’s part of what we regularly need to plan for, like we plan for schools and we plan for other services and community wellness.”
lboothby@postmedia.com
@laurby
Calgary conducts first count of homelessness in 4 years
Adam Toy - Yesterday
On Tuesday night, a small army of people combed Calgary to collect a better picture of homelessness in the city.
Members of Calgary civil society organizations conduct a point-in-time count of the city's homeless population, pictured on Sept. 28, 2022.© Global News
“The point-in-time count -- or, as we like to call it, the ‘pit count’ -- provides a snapshot of homelessness on any given night," said Patricia Jones, president and CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
"It's just one of the tools we use to measure homelessness in Calgary and as a result of that, to kind of manage and design systems and supports for people experiencing homelessness.”
While Calgary has been doing counts every other year since 1992, the last one was done in 2018. The onset of the pandemic cancelled the 2020 count.
Read more:
Joint funding recommended to support Calgary’s future extreme weather response
On Tuesday evening, point-in-time counts were being done concurrently in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
Read more:
Edmonton homeless population count set for Wednesday, history shows need for winter shelter space
The ersatz census collects three types of data: administration of housing and shelters; systems like social services, health and justice; and data collected from in-person surveys.
“It's not an intrusive process or is as less-intrusive as we can be. It's relational, it's respectful and it protects people's privacy,” Jones said.
“They will be asking very specific questions so we can gather data to get a specific point in time of the amount of people experiencing homelessness and what some of the primary issues are.”
Video: Powerful and personal stories of housing struggles shared with Edmonton council committee
The data collection also allows civil society organizations to work with people experiencing homelessness to better understand “what the current situation is in the community, any progress that's being made in our efforts to end homelessness, where there may be some gaps or challenges, where we need to potentially refocus some energy, that there are certain subpopulations within that group that might need additional support in order to exit homelessness,” Elaine Wilson at CUPS Calgary said.
Jones said having updated data, especially after the onset of the pandemic that hit many Albertans’ health and work, is vital for those who are living on the edge of homelessness.
“There's a lot of people still falling between the cracks.
"I believe we have a one per cent vacancy rate in Calgary. I think inflation is up by 20 per cent. So there are a lot of people kind of on the edge of the wedge and we need to make sure we have that safety net because I think that is the mark of a healthy community: the manner in which they support those most vulnerable,” Jones said.
Read more:
Number of people sleeping rough in Calgary increases
Wilson said CUPS’ services, like its basic needs funds, have been under increased demand since COVID-19.
“Those basic needs that individuals (who) maybe prior to COVID had a steady job or had some sort of income that they may have lost or had challenges due to COVID not being able to work, I think a lot of that contributed to seeing an increase of people reaching out for support,” she said.
“I do think one of the benefits to have come from COVID has been a real sense of collaboration among the sector.
“But we are still, even now as we kind of slowly start to come out the other side, are seeing those long-lasting impacts that COVID has had on a lot of individuals who may have not had a lot of other resources that they were able to access."
Adam Toy - Yesterday
On Tuesday night, a small army of people combed Calgary to collect a better picture of homelessness in the city.
Members of Calgary civil society organizations conduct a point-in-time count of the city's homeless population, pictured on Sept. 28, 2022.© Global News
“The point-in-time count -- or, as we like to call it, the ‘pit count’ -- provides a snapshot of homelessness on any given night," said Patricia Jones, president and CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
"It's just one of the tools we use to measure homelessness in Calgary and as a result of that, to kind of manage and design systems and supports for people experiencing homelessness.”
While Calgary has been doing counts every other year since 1992, the last one was done in 2018. The onset of the pandemic cancelled the 2020 count.
Read more:
Joint funding recommended to support Calgary’s future extreme weather response
On Tuesday evening, point-in-time counts were being done concurrently in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.
Read more:
Edmonton homeless population count set for Wednesday, history shows need for winter shelter space
The ersatz census collects three types of data: administration of housing and shelters; systems like social services, health and justice; and data collected from in-person surveys.
Related video: Former army medic visits homeless encampments to offer medical care, compassion and dignityDuration 3:01 View on Watch
“It's not an intrusive process or is as less-intrusive as we can be. It's relational, it's respectful and it protects people's privacy,” Jones said.
“They will be asking very specific questions so we can gather data to get a specific point in time of the amount of people experiencing homelessness and what some of the primary issues are.”
Video: Powerful and personal stories of housing struggles shared with Edmonton council committee
The data collection also allows civil society organizations to work with people experiencing homelessness to better understand “what the current situation is in the community, any progress that's being made in our efforts to end homelessness, where there may be some gaps or challenges, where we need to potentially refocus some energy, that there are certain subpopulations within that group that might need additional support in order to exit homelessness,” Elaine Wilson at CUPS Calgary said.
Jones said having updated data, especially after the onset of the pandemic that hit many Albertans’ health and work, is vital for those who are living on the edge of homelessness.
“There's a lot of people still falling between the cracks.
"I believe we have a one per cent vacancy rate in Calgary. I think inflation is up by 20 per cent. So there are a lot of people kind of on the edge of the wedge and we need to make sure we have that safety net because I think that is the mark of a healthy community: the manner in which they support those most vulnerable,” Jones said.
Read more:
Number of people sleeping rough in Calgary increases
Wilson said CUPS’ services, like its basic needs funds, have been under increased demand since COVID-19.
“Those basic needs that individuals (who) maybe prior to COVID had a steady job or had some sort of income that they may have lost or had challenges due to COVID not being able to work, I think a lot of that contributed to seeing an increase of people reaching out for support,” she said.
“I do think one of the benefits to have come from COVID has been a real sense of collaboration among the sector.
“But we are still, even now as we kind of slowly start to come out the other side, are seeing those long-lasting impacts that COVID has had on a lot of individuals who may have not had a lot of other resources that they were able to access."
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