RESOLVED TO DO THE WORK
Partner agencies inch closer to goal of housing 3,000 homeless, Ryan Rumbolt writes
Homelessness in Calgary has been a problem for decades, but back in the ’90s, the situation was reaching critical levels.
The homeless population was growing by around 15 per cent every year, says Kathy Christiansen, executive director with Calgary Alpha House Society, who saw firsthand how not-for-profits and charitable organizations were fighting homeless in Calgary.
When looking at the issue then and now, Christiansen says the biggest difference is not whom agencies are helping, but rather how they are helping.
Back then, she says the focus was on shelter services, including the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre, and the addition of shelter services by the Mustard Seed.
“There was this big sort of expansion in terms of responding to this growth, and even with that investment ... it didn’t sort of make a difference in that manner,” she says.
While shelters provide critical, short-term intervention for Calgary’s homeless population, Christiansen says shelters alone couldn’t reduce the increasing numbers of homeless.
It wasn’t until 2008 that the approach to fighting homelessness in the city shifted from crisis response to long-term stability, starting with the 10-year Plan to End Homelessness.
That plan eventually led to the Resolve Campaign, a partnership of nine agencies using a housingfirst strategy to help end homelessness in the city.
Before the plan and before Resolve, Christiansen says “there was this idea that you had to earn your right” to stable housing by “gaining sobriety” or “addressing your mental illness.”
Now, Resolve agencies are giving the homeless a permanent place to stay first, which allows clients to then tackle underlying issues which can lead to homelessness and hopefully break the cycle of life on the streets.
Sandra Clarkson, executive director of the Drop-In Centre, says shelters and housing-first agencies are working together to provide “a continuum of care” and “wraparound supports” to Calgary’s atrisk populations.
She says emergency shelters act as the first line of support.
“It’s really about, ‘ Where do you go if you have no other options?’ Go to the emergency shelter. And once you enter that shelter, it’s about getting you housed as quickly as possible.”
In the last year, Clarkson says the number of clients at the DropIn Centre has dropped eight per cent, thanks in part to the housing-first push of Calgary agencies combating homelessness. Along with emergency shelter services, the Drop-In Centre also has two apartment buildings offering permanent housing for more than 60 at-risk Calgarians.
The Resolve Campaign’s goal is to raise millions of dollars to help fund affordable, accessible housing for 3,000 homeless Calgarians.
Cheryl Hamelin, executive director of the Resolve Campaign, says the housing-first mission has taken a significant strain off emergency shelters, which are still an important part of Calgary’s intervention services.
Had the 10-year plan not become a reality, Hamelin notes Calgary’s homeless population would have “mushroomed into something that was basically insurmountable” for agencies to address.
“Basically housing people, but not housing first ... just creates a Band-Aid that society is going to have to pay for down the road,” she says.
“I think it would have been sort of mass housing without supports, just to kind of get the problem dealt with, which would have then just been magnified in the future.”
Thankfully, Calgarians don’t have to wonder how bad things could have been, thanks to the efforts of Resolve partners such as Bishop O’Byrne Housing Association, Calgary Alpha House Society and The Calgary John Howard Society.
This month alone — which happens to be the final month in the Resolve fundraising push — all three agencies announced they will be opening affordable housing facilities.
Last week, the provincial government announced $6 million in funding for Bishop O’Byrne Housing Association’s (BOBHA) Columbus Court project, which will provide affordable housing for approximately 250 Calgarians.
Gary McNamara, CEO with the association, says securing funding for Columbus Court has been challenging, both with the economic downturn and the change in the provincial government.
“We’ve still got work to do on the funding and with Resolve,” he says. “The more money we raise through Resolve, the lower our mortgage can be. And the lower our mortgage is, the more flexibility we have with the rents.”
With eight housing communities across the city, BOBHA offers safe and affordable options to lowincome Calgarians, including the elderly, vulnerable or at-risk individuals, and small families.
Many risk factors can put Calgarians in a precarious position, especially addiction and mental health concerns, Christiansen says.
Calgary Alpha House Society, which works with Calgarians struggling with substance abuse, has a specialized approach to helping women. Christiansen says homeless women are at a higher risk of abuse and exploitation, so Alpha House has opened a wom- en’s building.
“We have 20 women living here in a quicker time frame than expected and it’s just because of the collective dialogue and the ongoing commitment from (not-forprofits, the government and the private sector),” she says.
“The programming and the supports that we do here will come from (the women). They’ll tell us what they want and we’ll gauge what seems to be working, but it’s going to have its own culture and it’s going to be built around who lives here, and that’s really important.”
Another Resolve partner working with a population at a greater risk of homelessness is the Calgary John Howard Society (CJHS), which provides housing and supports for people coming out of prison. Last week, CJHS and a number of Resolve partners broke ground on the society’s Bedford House development, which will provide housing for 32 individuals.
“Housing is a huge part of crime prevention, and (housing) is linked very much with homelessness and jail,” says Gord Sand, executive director at the society. “We try to interrupt the cycle where they’re in prison, they get out, they go to a shelter, they get in trouble and they go back (to prison).”
These programs and buildings are only a few of the successes made possible through the Resolve Campaign.
With more than 3,000 Calgarians still in need of housing, Resolve is accepting pledges until the end of March, and pledges can be paid out any time before March 2021.
While the 10-year plan and Resolve might not have ended homelessness in Calgary, “at least now we have a chance of getting there,” Hamelin says. “Did we (end homelessness) in 10 years? Maybe not. But will we do it ... and (do we have) all the good things that we need to continue on the journey in place? Absolutely, 100 per cent.”