Plan to reduce homeless to zero almost ready

Functional zero is the goal of Journey Home strategy

A plan to reduce Kelowna’s homeless population to “functional zero” will be ready by early spring.

Alina Turner, a consultant with experience addressing homelessness in other cities, has been hired to guide the work of Kelowna’s so-called Journey Home strategy.

“The work of the task force to move the Journey Home vision to reality is well underway with a goal to present the strategy for council’s decision by late June 2018,” reads part of a staff report going to city council today.

A top goal of the strategy is to eliminate homelessness over the next five years, the report states.

“The focus is on community strengths, bringing together knowledge, skills, and resources to transform the local homeless serving sector into a co-ordinated, personcentred and outcomes-focused system,” the report states.

While the interim report has few details on what the 22 task force members are discussing as ways to reduce homelessness, there is said to be a ‘critical need to increase permanent supportive and affordable housing supply.”

The report says the idea of “functional zero” will be used to measure the moment when homelessness is eliminated. “(This) means that homelessness is prevented whenever possible, and that experiences of homelessness are rare, brief, and non-recurring,” the report says.

A so-called community summit hosted by the Journey Home task force will be held tomorrow, involving members of social service agencies and other groups. The public cannot attend the invitation-only event.

Public input will be solicited through an online survey planned to run on the city’s website between Feb. 5 and March 5.