Street Needs Assessment: An Investigation of the Characteristics and Service Needs of Persons who are Homeless and not Currently using Emergency Shelters in Ottawa

<br />· The Street Needs Assessment was developed in response to the City of Ottawa Homelessness Initiative Team requesting information on the magnitude of the problem of homeless individuals not currently or regularly using emergency shelters. It further developed into an effort to investigate some of the specific characteristics and service needs of this part of the homeless population often referred to as the “street homeless”. · Previous attempts at enumerating homeless persons not using emergency shelters in other US and Canadian cities had mixed results and often were criticized by advocates and policy makers alike for providing under or over-estimates of the population. A number of methodological problems of these studies were recognized and addressed in the creation of this project. · The purpose of the current Street Needs Assessment study was to estimate the number of persons who were identified as being “street homeless” in a two-week snapshot in the winter and to investigate their experiences and service needs. · The project involved developing a method to meet persons who were homeless (and not currently using shelters) and to investigate their experiences and service needs. It is the first attempt at this type of project conducted in the City of Ottawa, and draws provisional recommendations from the observation of the persons met. ...

Publication Date: 
2001