Housing agency calls for surge to end homelessness
Councillors embrace Homeward Trust’s updated plan to tackle ongoing problem
Housing officials are calling for a surge to get all of Edmonton’s chronically homeless in stable homes by 2020 and to end shortterm homelessness in the city by 2022.
But that will take money, resolve and help from across the community.
Homeward Trust officials believe they can house 4,000 individuals within three years, but their annual operating budget will need to grow from $35 million to $65 million. Another $230 million will be needed in capital spending over six years to build new housing.
The housing agency says it’s finally getting raw data from Edmonton’s homeless shelters, which lets them understand how few people stay there for extended periods of time.
But they still need numbers and information from hospitals and prisons, hoping to understand how many people are being discharged without a home to go to.
“Is it 10, is it 20? Or 200 people a month,” said Susan McGee, head of Homeward Trust, presenting an updated plan to end homelessness at council’s executive committee Tuesday. “Nobody would be able to estimate.”
DATA-FOCUSED APPROACH
Homeward Trust is rolling out a more data-focused approach, she said, promising annual updates. She also put out a call for data experts from outside the sector to join their advisory committee.
“We’re so close to it. We need other people to ask these provocative questions,” said McGee. “We need to draw the circle bigger.”
Only some of the funds will come from the municipal government.
Council’s executive committee approved the release of $1.2 million for Homeward Trust’s operating budget Tuesday, the same amount budgeted annually since 2000. The strategy itself goes to council next Tuesday.
McGee said Homeward Trust is still waiting to hear about a potential funding increase from the federal government. The organization also is working with the province. They recently released a request for expressions of interest for homeless housing project.
Edmonton adopted a plan to end homelessness eight years ago. Since then, it has housed 6,000 people, reduced the homeless population by roughly 1,300 people, and learned much more about how complicated a task it is.
In any given year, about 11,000 people in Edmonton experience homelessness for at least a short period of time, said McGee.
Most find housing again on their own, but it means the population is constantly fluctuating.
Those who don’t find housing risk becoming chronically homeless, which can be a downward spiral with trauma and drug addiction.
Councillors embraced the updated plan Tuesday, with several stressing how much more expensive it is for government budgets and communities to leave people on the street.
“We’re blowing our brains out fiscally handling it the way we are,” said Mayor Don Iveson, referring to the thousands of dollars a day required to keep people in intensive care beds because they have no home to recuperate in.
People sometimes doubt homelessness can end, but “it’s a myth that people don’t want housing,” he said, urging people in doubt to talk with those who have come out of homelessness, finding dignity and success with the right support.
We’re so close to it. We need other people to ask these provocative questions. We need to draw the circle bigger.