$47 million needed to house city’s homeless

Eye-popping figure contained in report from Kelowna task force, but consultant says it would pay off in lower costs for policing and health care

Eliminating certain types of homelessness in Kelowna will cost $47 million over five years, city council heard Monday.

The money would go toward construction of 110 new long-term housing units ($18 million), various supportive housing programs ($26 million) and a new independent agency to co-ordinate housing efforts ($2.6 million).

Federal and provincial grants will be sought to cover most of the expected costs, but a hefty contribution from Kelowna taxpayers is expected as well.

“Of course, the highlight in the media is going to be the money part,” Alina Turner, a consultant hired by the city to work with the Journey Home anti-homelessness task force, told council. “We get that $47 million is a lot of money, (but) it’s a good investment.”

For every dollar spent housing the homeless, she said, studies show a two-dollar reduction in policing, health care and other costs involved in managing the street population.

“You’re saving funds that would otherwise go into reactionary measures,” Turner said.

City council agreed to provide $50,000 in new funding, on top of $75,000 already committed this year to the Journey Home task force, to begin hiring staff this fall for a new civic agency to steer anti-homelessness efforts.

The city will also try to get big-dollar commitments for new housing projects and programs from Ottawa and Victoria.

About 5,000 people are said to be homeless or at risk of being homeless in Kelowna, council heard from Turner.

This figure includes 3,000 people who earn less than $20,000 a year who are spending more than 50 per cent of that income on rent. It also includes 1,700 people who are occasionally homeless and 150 people who are chronically homeless.

BC Housing has recently committed to providing 88 supportive housing units for homeless people in Kelowna, with another 102 expected. But the Journey Home task force members believe about 300 are currently needed.

“That leaves us a gap of 110 units,” Turner said, estimating construction of those units would cost about $18 million.

Such units, Turner said, would likely be the long-term residences for people who might otherwise spend the rest of their lives on the street with serious addiction and mental-health problems.

“Some of this long-term care becomes their palliative care. It becomes the place where they die,” Turner said.

New housing support programs would help provide accommodation for another 500 people, under the plan developed by the task force.

Estimated to cost $26 million, the money would be spent on such things as rent subsidies, provision of 225 short-term housing units to get homeless people housed quickly and additional individual supports.

Between 2019 and 2024, the plan projects that 2,100 people who would otherwise be homeless would be moved into stable, safe accommodation.

Council members praised the work done by the Journey Home task force members and said they were hopeful the five-year plan would reach its targets.

“I’m really happy with where we’re at,” Mayor Colin Basran said. “With the buy-in from the community, this is possible.”

Coun. Gail Given told Turner: “As you say, we’ll always have our poor, but hopefully we’ll have housing for them.”