Homelessness in Canada

Homeless man in Toronto

Homelessness in Canada has grown in size and complexity in recent years.^[1] While historically known as a crisis only of urban centres such as Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Montreal, the increasing incidence of homelessness in the suburbs is necessitating new services and resources.^[2]

The demographic profile of Canada's homeless population is also changing. While in the past men used to comprise the vast majority of homeless persons, now women and children represent the fastest growing subgroup of the homeless population, followed by youth.^[3] In recent years homelessness has become a major political issue in Canada.

Definition

The lack of a consistent definition of homelessness is a contentious issue, however most research and programs focus on "absolute homelessness"^[4] and public policy initiatives.^[4]

The Canadian Homelessness Research Network released the first Canadian Definition of Homelessness in 2012 ^[5] It also broke down the experience into 4 typologies: unsheltered, emergency sheltered, provisionally accommodated, and at risk of homelessness. The definition received a lot of support and also faced some criticism.^[6]

Scope

While counting the homeless is a politically charged and methodologically contentious issue, the federal estimate of the core number of homeless people in Canada was 150,000 in 2005, or about 0.5 per cent of the population.^[7] Homeless advocates estimated it to be closer to 300,000.^[2] Based on the more conservative figure, the annual cost of homelessness in Canada in 2007 was approximately $4.5 to $6 billion in emergency services, community organizations, and non-profits.^[8]

Myths

There are many myths about "the homeless."

Contrary to popular stereotypes, only a small proportion, about 6% in Toronto, of the homeless population suffers from schizophrenia.^[4] Much more common are affective disorders, self-reported by 20-40% of Toronto's homeless.^[4] According to Toronto's Street Health Report in 2007, one in ten homeless people reports attempted suicide in the past year.^[9]

Homelessness is actually a chronic problem for only a small minority of people, the vast majority of individuals are "one-time only" shelter users or experience episodic homelessness. However, the distinctly different subgroup of individuals who are "chronically homeless" consume about half of shelter beds and available resources at any given time.^[2]

Many of "the homeless" who make use of homeless shelters are also employed.^[10] Individuals and families are simply priced out of private housing markets. In 2000, about 22% or 2.5 million Canadian households fell below the minimum amount required to afford a basic home, gauged at $25, 920. Five years later, this number rose to 26% or 3.2 million households.^[11]

While some of the "homeless" do perish in the extreme cold of Canadian winters, more die due to the extreme heat in summers.^[12] The first heat registry system in North America was set up in Toronto's west end to address this problem in the summer of 2008.

Another common misunderstanding surrounds the homeless who prefer not to use the shelter system. In addition to rules and regulations, shelter users must accept crowded shelter conditions, which carry a high likelihood of TB exposure in inadequately ventilated room, along with risks of bedbugs, scabies, and lice infestations.^[4]

History

While in Canada there has always been a certain portion of the population that was very poor, it is not until recently, after the 1980s, that "homeless" has come to mean the "unhoused" versus those simply living in poor quality housing.^[3] Previously, the "homeless" was a general term applied mostly to transient men with no family ties, such as the migrant workers who travelled by freight hopping during the Great Depression.^[3]

Homelessness remained a minor concern as extremely cheap accommodation was available in 'skid row' rooming houses or flophouses located in the poorest parts of most major cities. Even the most destitute could find some form of housing, even if its quality was abysmal.

At the end of the Second World War in 1946, the federal government created the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) to make mortgages and home ownership more accessible to people and organizations.^[2] The surplus generated by the CMHC was used in the 1980s to fund non-profit, Aboriginal, and rent supplement housing.

However, following changes to Canada's National Housing Act housing act in 1996 to give the CMHC "more flexibility", it was able to directly fund social housing and its role in supporting new and existing affordable housing diminished.^[13] Today the CMHC still exists, and its annual surpluses ($7.6 billion in 2006) raises questions as to why some of this money cannot be spent on new housing initiatives.^[14]

About 20,000 social housing units were created every year following the 1973 amendments to the National Housing Act.^[3] Starting in the mid-1980s, the federal government initiated a series of cuts in funding for national housing programs.^[13] While accurate statistics on the homeless population are hard to gather, it is the general consensus that the number of homeless increased considerably beginning in the 1980s.

Despite Canada's economy this trend continued, and perhaps even accelerated in the 1990s. In Toronto, for instance, admissions to homeless shelters increase by 75% between 1988 and 1998^[15] After 1993 the national affordable housing program initiated in 1973 was cut and Canada's focus in addressing homelessness in the 1990s was to create more homeless shelters and emergency services^[2] A decade later, in 2003, the federal government resumed spending on housing investment at $2.03 billion, a 25% decline from 1993 levels of $1.98 billion when adjusted for inflation.^[16]

Causes

Why people become homeless is a complex question and the answers are as unique as each individual's history. People become homeless by many different paths; however, the most common reasons are "inability to pay rent (53%), conflict or abuse (26%), alcohol or drug use problems(8%)". Other factors can include mental disorders, foster care exits, exiting from jail or hospitalization, immigration, rising housing costs and decreased rent controls, federal and provincial downloading of housing programs, and low social assistance rates.^[3]

While the causes are complex, the solutions to homelessness may be simple: "Homelessness may not be only a housing problem, but it is always a housing problem; housing is necessary, although sometimes not sufficient, to solve the problem of homelessness."^[17] Policy changes are often criticized for punishing the poor instead of trying to solve the underlying problem.^[18]

Lack of low-income housing

A homeless Toronto woman sits on a park bench

While in 1986 30,000 new low-income housing units had been built across Canada, this had fallen to 7,000 in 1999. In the city of Calgary, with one of the most acute housing shortages, only 16 new units of rental housing were built in 1996.

Deinstitutionalization

A homeless man sleeps on the TTC subway.

The 1960s and 1970s also saw an international movement towards deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, moving them out of asylums and other facilities, and releasing them into the community. Studies found that the vast majority of those who had been placed in asylums could be healthy and productive members of society if placed in the community and provided with the proper care and medication.

Thus over these decades the number of people confined to mental institutions fell dramatically from just under 70,000 to about 20,000. However, while great savings were made by shutting down empty institutions much of this money was absorbed by general government funds, and did not make it into community care.

No assurances were made that those discharged had access and were taking the medication they needed. While some of those discharged did integrate with the community, a significant number, estimated at around 75%, did not. Many of these individuals became homeless. Today up to 40% of homeless have some sort of mental illness.^[19]

Poverty in Canada

Poverty in Canada remains prevalent with certain groups in Canada. The measurement of poverty has been a challenge as there is no official government measure. Some groups, like the Canadian Council on Social Development and the National Anti-Poverty Organization, believe the low-income cut off published by Statistics Canada is applicable as a poverty measure regardless of whether its intent or designation is to be one. They have argued, that as it stands, the LICO is the best measure available that accurately measures a relative poverty rate. The LICO has fallen to a near a record low at 9.4% as of 2008, down from a recent high of 15.7% in 1996.

In the 2001 census, 702,600 Canadians were considered to be at-risk for homelessness, in that they spent more than 50 per cent of their household income on shelter. Lack of income security combined with the lack of affordable housing creates the problem of "hidden" homelessness. The "hidden homeless" may actually fall back and forth between homelessness and being housed, making the problem of homelessness much larger than that identified in street or shelter counts.^[2]

Cuts to Social Assistance (welfare)

In the late 1990s, under Finance Minister Paul Martin, large cuts were made to transfer payments to Canada's provinces. At the same time, Canada removed a long-standing requirement of each province and territory to provide a livable rate of social assistance to all those in need. This led to a series of cuts to welfare rates and tightened elibility rules, with many provinces literally competing with each other to offer the lowest assistance so those in need would leave. Alberta even offered bus tickets for welfare recipients to leave the province. In 2002, B.C.'s newly elected Liberal government introduced welfare reforms which in the coming years removed tens of thousands from that province's welfare rolls. All of this has had the effect of leaving thousands of people without the means to pay for even the most modest accommodation, resulting in many Canadians having literally no home and thus relying on homeless shelters or else sleeping outside.

Solutions

The National Homeless Initiative (NHI), created in 1999, was the federal secretariat most directly responsible for homelessness matters until its closure in 2007. The NHI was created to fund transitional housing and a range of services for homeless people across the country. NHI funded the federal program Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative (SCPI) which covered the costs of temporary shelters and services for the homeless.^[20]

The federal government replaced the NHI with the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) which was allocated to spend $270 million between 2007 and 2009^[21] In September 2008, the Government of Canada announced that it would set aside funding for housing and homelessness programs of $387.9 million per year for the next five years^[22]

Canada is one of the few countries in the world without a national housing strategy (United Nations, 2009). Many of the federal governments' expenditures are cost-sharing, one-time only funding initiatives that lack long-term leadership on homelessness. The United Nations has also noted the lack of information on these expenditures, including the number of houses produced.^[13]

Housing has been declared a fundamental human right. Canada helped to draft the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights that includes a right to access housing in Article 25. Canada also ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in 1976, which recognizes an adequate standard of living, including housing, in Article 11.^[23]

Homeless advocates maintain that government funding should be spent on securing affordable housing versus funding more homelessness programs.^[2] In British Columbia, the service and shelter costs of homeless people ranged from $30,000 to $40,000 annually versus $22,000 to $28,000 per year for formerly homeless persons housed in social housing.^[24]

A plan to house Vancouver's homeless was proposed by a local architect. It called for the rapid erection of temporary villages assembled from the same type of modular units that mining companies provide for remote workers. "Stop Gap Shelters" is what architect Gregory Henriquez calls it. "All of us in this community have long been advocates for permanent housing," he said. "But we've gotten to the point where the numbers of homeless are so staggering that I'm left wondering if we will ever catch up doing it that way. I don't think we can. I think there has to be a stop-gap measure. And that's what this is." Henriquez drew up plans for a motel-like village, with 48 to 120 suites clustered around central courtyards. The colourful compound includes a managers' office, a covered patio, and a second storey meeting room. [The Tyee, 2008]

An "Exiting Process" as suggested by Karabanow in 2009, provides a detailed flow chart of steps for an individual to "exit" homelessness. There are six individual steps in the process, each of which can interact and flow into the next. The steps are not mutually exclusive or exhaustive, they simply offer a framework for individuals to attempt; in reality it may take several attempts for an individual to truly eradicate the issues which caused them to be homeless in the first place. The first step in Karabanow's process is called Precipitating Factors and involves becoming disenchanted with street life and beginning to experience boredom with the street lifestyle. The second step is called Courage to Change and involves having increased responsibilities including becoming more involved and connected with family members or people who really care. The next step is Securing Help which involves using services, detox treatments or drop-in clinics. This step also includes searching for a permanent residence using supportive housing or structured programs. This step may also include becoming involved in school again. The next step is labeled as a transition phase. This step includes aspect of individual growth and change in scenery, including a proposed increase in self-esteem and building a network of non-street associates and activities. Factors that would help this stage along include finding a sympathetic landlord or employer to aid in the slow process of cutting ties to the street life world. The next step is called Change in Routine and involves just that. This step includes solidifying employment, a residence and possibly attending school. The individual at this point should be focusing on future plans and appear happier, healthier and more driven. At this point in the process the individual may also be relying on social assistance to stay on track. The last step is aptly named "Successful Exiting". This is the last stage of Karabanow's proposal and involves being in control of one's life and having direction and stability. The individual at this point should be able to fully care for themselves and have a dramatic increase in self-esteem, pride, and enjoyment in one's life.^[25]

See also

• Poverty in Canada
• Seaton House
• Old Brewery Mission
• Union Gospel Mission
• Le Bon Dieu Dans La Rue (Dans La Rue)

References

http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/homeless-to-home/homeless-to-home.cfm

Further reading

• Abramovich, I.A. (2012). No Safe Place to Go: LGBTQ Youth Homelessness in Canada - Reviewing the Literature. http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/cjfy/article/view/16579
• Abramovich, I.A. (2011). LGBTQ Youth Homelessness. http://ilona6.com
• Agencies Helping the Homeless Told Not to Encourage Encampments, CBC News, January 16, 2009.
• Experiencing Homelessness: Fourth Report Card on Ending Homelessness in Ottawa—January to December 2007. The Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa, 2008.
• Fortin, Véronique. "Keep Your Coins, I Want Change! The Homeless and the Shrinking Public Space in Montréal" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Law and Society Association, Hilton Bonaventure, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, May 27, 2008
• Frankish, C., Hwang, S., & Quantz, D. (2005). Homelessness and health in Canada: Research lessons and priorities. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 96(2).
• Gaetz, S., Tarasuk, V., Dackner, N., Kirkpatrick, S. (2006). "Managing" Homeless Youth in Toronto: Mismanaging Food Access & Nutritional Well-being. Canadian Review of Social Policy, 58(43), 1-19.
• Gulliver, T. (2008). York MES Student coordinates first heat registry program. http://www.yorku.ca/yfile/archive/index.asp?Article=10875
• Hausfather, Nadia (2005). 'To the streets cuz we're on the streets': Exploring the controversy of homeless youth activism in Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario) (M.A. thesis). Wilfrid Laurier University. 
• Housing Works: A Special Report 2007. Giving voice to the crisis.
• Hulchanski, J.D. (2009). Conference keynote address, Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada. University of Calgary, February 18, 2009, Canadian Policy Research Networks http://www.cprn.org/documents/51110_EN.pdf
• Hwang, Stephen W. "Homelessness and Health." CMAJ, January 23, 2001; 164 (2)
• Koyama, Danielle K. (2002). Internal displacement: A study of homelessness in the city of Toronto (M.S.W. thesis). Wilfrid Laurier University. 
• Laird, Gordon (2007). "Shelter-Homelessness in a growth economy: Canada’s 21st century paradox." A Report for the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership.
• Layton, Jack, Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis ISBN 0-14-028888-0
• Margaret, E. et al., (2001). "Homelessness—Causes and Effects, Volume 3: The Costs of Homelessness in British Columbia. Ministry of Social Development and Economic Security." Government of British Columbia.
• Murphy, Barbara. On the Street: How We Created the Homeless. Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford, c2000.
• Roberts, Alison J. Rice (2001). A qualitative study of presently and formerly homeless female adolescents (Ontario) (M.A. thesis). Wilfrid Laurier University. 
• Shapcott, M. (September 2006). Executive Summary from "Blueprint to End Homelessness in Toronto. Wellesley Institute (p.7).
• Shapcott, M. (October 2007). "Ten Things You Should Know about housing and homelessness." Wellesley Institute. Policy Primer.
• Shapcott, M. (2008). New income numbers confirm growing income inequality; One-in-four Canadian households below fair housing income; New figures underline urgent need for national housing strategy. Wellesley Institute Backgrounder: Growing Income Inequality.
• "A Snapshot of Homelessness in Canada," National Homelessness Initiative (2006).
• Street Health Report 2007: Highlights and Action Plan. Toronto.
• United Nations (2009). Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Miloon Kothari. Based on Mission to Canada 9–22 October 2007.

External links

• Shelter: Homelessness in a Growth Economy
• "From homelessness to home". Alliance to End Homelessness. Retrieved 29 January 2011. 
• "It's In Their Eyes: PhotoSensitive's Exhibit on Homelessness in Canada". PhotoSensitive.com. Retrieved 18 May 2012.