Slight drop at homeless shelters, despite increasing need

Homeless shelters are still over filled, running at about 105 per cent of capacity

DESPITE A SLIGHT decrease in the number of people staying in Niagara’s homeless shelters, the number of people needing help has increased, along with real estate prices.

Although a report to be presented at next week’s Niagara Region health committee meeting says 1,641 individuals and families stayed in local emergency shelters in 2017 — 41 fewer than a year earlier — shelters are still over capacity, running at about 105 per cent, said Mark Carl, executive director of Hope Centre in Welland.

“That’s a real struggle.”

And people are needing to remain in shelters for longer periods of time, likely because they cannot afford to move out on their own.

“Before they could get a $600 apartment. Now that apartment is $900. Someone living on Ontario Works that’s getting $630 or $700, how can you afford that?” Carl said.

Some of the cheapest two-bedroom apartments are going for $1,200 a month, he added.

“First and last month’s rent, you have to come up with $2,400.”

The regional report, being presented for information at next Tuesday’s meeting, also shows an increase in the length of shelter stays. Repeat shelter users stayed for an average of 181.8 days in 2017, compared to 164.2 in 2016.

But as a result of the longer stays, Carl said shelters are “almost unable to accommodate as many people.”

He said Niagara’s homeless shelters have increased efforts to keep people from becoming homeless in the first place. But rather than focus primarily on providing emergency shelter, organizations like Hope Centre are focusing on supporting people at risk of homelessness “so that they can be successful staying in their own apartment so they can have their dignity and not being in and out of shelters.”

For instance, according to the report nearly 2,000 households accessed homelessness prevention programs last year — about 50 more than in 2016; and 83 households were placed in the Housing First program — more than double a year earlier.

“I think as a region, we’re turning the corner and getting more people in supportive housing. That’s a lot cheaper to operate than a 24-hour shelter,” Carl said.