‘Housing First’ model called for

When Tyler Gray started working as housing support co-ordinator at Carmichael Outreach in June, he was shocked by the amount of time it takes for homeless people to just survive.

“Somebody who lives in extreme poverty dedicates the vast majority of their day to acquiring the resources they need to survive for the next day — food, clothing, shelter,” Gray said.

Those basic amenities are available at Carmichael Outreach, a community-based organization that supports individuals struggling with addictions, poverty, health issues and helps them find housing.

As part of World Homelessness Day, a research report, Homelessness in Regina: Current Situation and Solutions from Other Communities, which was authored by Nikolina Vracar and funded by the Community Research Unit (CRU) at the University of Regina for Carmichael Outreach was released Thursday.

The report notes that between August 2011 and September 2012, 101 people who needed housing walked through Carmichael’s doors.

“We were able to house 34 of those clients,” Gray said.

By the end of the report year, only 13 maintained that housing — largely because addiction and mental health supports dropped off when the individual had a place to live.

“The housing crisis in Regina is almost a decade old,” said Hirsch Greenberg, department head of Justice Studies at the U of R and on the CRU board. “There have been many committees, both government and community-based organizations, looking at the issue and we are still facing a major crisis with respect to housing.”

Regina’s vacancy rate is at 1.9 per cent and 8.9 per cent of Reginans are in great need of housing.

Although data on the city’s homeless is incomplete, a report published in 2010 indicates about 4,500 individuals use an emergency or transitional shelter during a year.

The report released Thursday further notes: “When we consider the hidden homeless, the number of homeless individuals may be two to three times greater than the actual count.”

The availability of rental housing in Regina —especially affordable rentals — is very low because there aren’t enough housing units and the number of housing units being built has not kept pace with the city’s population growth.

Homelessness costs taxpayers huge amounts of money for crisis response — whether it’s the police, emergency rooms, psychiatric wards, jails or detox centres, Greenberg said.

“These are very expensive acute responses,” he said.

A more cost effective approach would be the Housing First model where individuals are first housed and then given support services as needed. The rationale is that individuals are capable of making positive life changes if they have proper housing.

“It’s hard to find employment if you don’t have a home,” Greenberg said.

Moncton, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton have successfully used the Housing First approach.

According to the report, Housing First programs in other cities have seen between 80 and 90 per cent of their clients stay off the street and the program has saved taxpayers.

“Intervention for Housing First versus a treatment model, I believe, was in the $16,000 more per year range,” said Gray. “But the cost for those services that people would acquire was $26,000 higher if they don’t have housing first. So you end up saving $9,390 per year per client.”

The report highlights the need for municipal, provincial and federal governments to partner with front-line service providers, health professionals and community stakeholders to develop targeted interventions that will result in better supports and access to housing for high-risk, highneeds clients.

Clients include those with mental illness and substance abuse problems, those leaving the foster care system or correctional centres, women fleeing domestic violence and single dads.

“We’re not just dealing with a single category of people who are homeless, we’re dealing with multiple categories and so it’s going to take a collaborative approach, it will take multiple services,” Greenberg said.