Women spike in city homeless count

Respondents who identified as Indigenous remained disproportionately high at 23 per cent

More than half of those who responded to a recent survey of homeless people in Hamilton identified as women.

That jump to 53 per cent in this past November’s “point-intime” count surpassed the 32 per cent it recorded in 2018 and 28 per cent in 2016.

Meanwhile, respondents who identified as Indigenous remained disproportionately high at 23 per cent.

The results for women — reflected in the preliminary data released Monday from the fiveday initiative that involved 545 respondents — are not surprising, says Katherine Kalinowski, chief operating officer with Good Shepherd in Hamilton.

“We have been saying for many, many years as women’s advocates the data under-represents the number of women experiencing homelessness in our community,” she said.

“Women are often not counted because they rely on other methods of surviving their homelessness and are often among the hidden homeless.”

That can include couch-surfing in dangerous situations to stay off the street, but women are also on the radar in shelters that have been over capacity for years.

The crunch continues, but during the pandemic, the city has increased shelter spaces for women and extended drop-in programs at agencies.

This may be have led to more women completing the survey, says Nadia Zelisko, the city’s program manager of homelessness policy and programs.

Zelisko cautioned drawing comparisons with previous data, noting point-in-time counts provide a “snapshot of need” of participants but not a portrait of the overall landscape.

However, it’s “likely” that homelessness has increased during the pandemic, which has “exacerbated” conditions for vulnerable populations.

“So it could well be that there is an increase in women experiencing homelessness, but this isn’t data that can allow us to say that with certainty.”

Nonetheless, the results show that more women are accessing services than in the past.

While the point-in-time count provides a demographic snapshot, the city and its agency partners also maintain a “byname” list of people who use services such as shelters.

At the end of September, the list included 1,375 people — a total that surpassed any other time last year or in 2020, but data collection also improved, the city noted in a report.

Even if the third nationally coordinated “Everyone Counts” exercise doesn’t provide a complete picture of people experiencing homelessness, the information matters, Zelisko said.

“It allows us to advocate on their behalf for supports we need in our system.”

The latest result of 23 per cent of respondents identifying as Indigenous or having Indigenous ancestry isn’t markedly different from previous years.

Therein lies the problem, says Cindy Sue Montana McCormack, acting executive director of the Coalition of Hamilton Indigenous Leadership (CHIL).

It’s an indication that the factors leading to the outsize homelessness — including the lingering trauma of the Sixties Scoop — aren’t being adequately addressed, despite decades of reports, she said.

“How can we effect change? We have to have more direct intervention by Indigenous communities — period. And we have to be funded to do that.”

CHIL co-ordinated the pointin-time count in partnership with the city’s housing services division. Indigenous partners are reviewing results before more are released in April.

“One of those numbers has to do with how many of those homeless individuals identified being in child care or a youthrelated service,” Montana McCormack said.

“That’s going to be a rude awakening.”

To review all the preliminary data and results from previous counts, visit www.hamilton.ca/pointintime on the city’s website.