Homeless people in Regina more likely to be Indigenous

A snapshot of Regina’s homeless problem looks like one taken three years before, with a persistently high rate of Indigenous homelessness and multiple barriers to keeping people housed.

The numbers come from a point-in-time count this April, when volunteers searched out those living in shelters, in transitional housing or on the streets — as well as the so-called “hidden homeless.” A month later, the YMCA revealed that 286 people were deemed homeless at that time in Regina.

This week, it released a detailed account of who those people are and why they ’re having trouble finding a home.

Of about 150 people who responded to survey questions, 79.7 per cent were Indigenous — up slightly from 77 per cent found during a similar count in 2015. Only 10 per cent of Regina’s population identifies as Indigenous, according to the 2016 census.

“We are failing our Indigenous population,” Dustin Browne said of the youth-outreach group Street Culture, which participated in the count.

He also said that the high number of women among the homeless population is a cause for concern. This year, 51 per cent were female. About onethird of those pointed to domestic abuse as a cause of homelessness.

Shawn Fraser, the YMCA’S senior director of partnering initiatives, said the new data will inform the upcoming plan to end homelessness, which is due out in the coming weeks. He said it will likely include indicators that focus directly on the needs of women.

“Homelessness definitely looks different for men and women,” he said, explaining that men are more likely to sleep in shelters or outside, while women may be stuck in precarious situations because of their abusers.

The data also suggests many people are staying homeless for long periods of time. Fortyseven per cent reported being homeless for more than six months, while 32 per cent said they ’d been homeless more than three times in the past year.

Fraser said the plan likely will place emphasis on their needs.

“What is encouraging is we now have a more focused idea of what the issue is,” he said. “This is the foundation we need.”

He said homelessness in Regina seems stuck — despite more housing becoming available in the economic downturn. That’s because rents remain high and many are facing problems with addiction and mental health, which limit their ability to stay in housing even when it’s available.

“We haven’t seen the numbers falling on their own,” Fraser said. “It would be intuitive to think the vacancy goes way up and homeless numbers drop, but for the chronic and episodic homeless population we’re talking about, that simply isn’t the case.”

The most common reasons cited for becoming homeless were addiction and substance abuse (29 per cent), family conflict with a spouse or partner (21.5 per cent), and problems paying rent or a mortgage (21 per cent).

Browne said the stats show a need to commit resources to addiction and mental health, and culturally appropriate supports for Indigenous people. He said it’s also essential to fight homelessness early, with the data showing that more than half of those surveyed first became homeless as young people.

“It becomes entrenched and its way harder down the line to address it,” he said.