Challenges of Ending Homelessness in the Canadian Context
In Canada, homelessness remains a significant and growing issue. While frequently presented in public narratives as an individual failing, severe housing deprivation should be thought of as a systemic issue. This encourages policies at higher levels of government that focus on the root causes of homelessness and engage various public sectors. Through a larger research project in partnership with the Ontario Alliance to End Homelessness (OAEH), we engaged in a comprehensive review of government policies related to homelessness in mid and high-income countries. This review includes discussions of best practices and identifies gaps in tackling homelessness in the Canadian context.
Throughout this review, housing affordability stood out as a significant barrier, as did the availability of supportive housing. This is because the ongoing increase in private rental costs pushes some people out of the bottom of the housing market on the basis of discrimination. Alongside this, individuals with mental health or addiction challenges face tremendous difficulties in staying housed in the face of limited supportive housing. Financial constraints can cause brief periods of homelessness to become longer, turning crises into chronic homelessness. However, policies can reduce the arms of both acute and chronic homelessness by acting on a structural level to improve housing availability and reduce evictions.
Investing in Public Housing
Through the review, the most consistent pathway for permanently affordable housing across high-income nations was to develop public housing. Supporting investment in public housing can go hand-in-hand with other more short-term strategies for affordability, such as targeted social assistance, rent supplements, and the development of housing that meets “shallow” affordability criteria. For designing effective public housing policies and targeting investment, there are two main questions to keep in mind:
- The location of public housing units.
- Appropriate investment.
It is noted that historic practices of congregating all public housing in one area can have other detrimental social impacts. Instead, thoughtful integration of public housing into all communities is best practice.
On the support side, expanding the availability of resources in low-income neighbourhoods is essential to improving the housing conditions of recently housed people, especially those who have endured homelessness crises in the past. This effort includes creating employment opportunities, enhancing educational resources, improving access to physical and mental health services, and reducing crime through the creation of opportunity. Achieving this level of development requires a proper investment in human and financial capital, which requires accountability pathways for critical services related to the sectors mentioned above. Defining objectives, capacity, and timeframes for building the needed infrastructure is a necessary part of such policies to ensure goals are met.
Permanent Supportive Housing
While enhancing public housing development alongside the services that ensure this housing leads to good social outcomes is a good starting point, some individuals require more intensive services. For those exiting chronic homelessness, services on-site may be needed to make housing tenure permanent. This can include assistance with:
- Scheduling rent or bill payments
- Cleaning
- Communicating with the landlord
- Managing health
- Seeking timely assistance
- Socializing with neighbours
Otherwise, recently housed individuals with a history of chronic homelessness are at risk of losing their housing. Thus, a second high-level policy approach will be the creation and maintenance of permanent supportive housing.
Permanent supportive housing means individuals have access to private housing units with a contract similar to any other rental lease agreement but with additional on-site services designed to assist with daily activities. The key feature of supportive housing is that it does not require a commitment to mental health treatment or sobriety as a condition for access. Helping with medical appointments, conflict resolutions, skill development, and socialization can foster a sense of belonging and make residents feel at home. Once they feel stable, residents develop an intrinsic motivation to maintain their housing—not to avoid penalties or adhere to the rules of the program but for their well-being.
Two Simple but Significant Goals
In conclusion, while Canada has embraced best practices at the program or community level through Housing First, we need structural-level policy changes to support this implementation. Practices from around the world, in our review, congregate around two approaches: 1) further development of new public housing; and 2) a vibrant permanent supportive housing stream. Until Canada implements these, our responses may be focusing on symptoms rather than causes.
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This post is part of our #CAEH24 blog series which highlights research on preventing and ending homelessness that is being presented at the 2024 National Conference on Ending Homelessness, October 29-31 in Ottawa, ON. Learn more about this work through the Tenants Deserve Better: A Look at Housing Stability and Eviction Prevention Programs session on Tuesday, October 29, from 1:30 – 3pm