Housing First no pipe dream: councillor
Up to 20 homeless to get homes over three years
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, February 5, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The enthusiasm abounds in city councillor Linda Bussey's voice as she talks about recent efforts to establish a Housing First program in Yellowknife this year.
Coun. Linda Bussey is optimistic that a Housing First program will begin to providing housing for at least one person by mid-summer. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
"It's not a la-la project. It's got teeth," Bussey said.
The program provides homeless people with housing along with support services to address any underlying issues.
A national study found the strategy saves money and works better than services typically offered, such as relying on emergency shelters to house homeless people.
After years of talking about the program coming to the city, Bussey said the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness now expects to put at least one person in housing by July or August.
"I think it's going to grow and it's going to address a lot of needs that we have. I think we're going to see a lot of changes, a lot of positive changes," she said.
The plan is for the program to be run by a non-governmental organization, to be selected after a request for proposals is issued in the coming months.
She expects a staff of perhaps three to four people will be hired to provide services to those in the Housing First program.
"We need clinical services, we need tenant relations services, we need tons of service," Bussey said.
In addition to preparing the request for proposals, which will go to council for approval, Bussey said a sub-committee of the advisory board will develop criteria to determine who might become the first person accessing the program.
With $1.08 million in funding already in place for the next three years, Bussey said they expect to be able to grow the program to house up to 20 people.
Bussey said a successful program will draw further funding to keep it going when the federal funding runs out in three years.
"We're going to build something so viable that everyone is going to get involved," she said.
The new details on the program follow a workshop with consultant Cameron Keller on Monday and Tuesday.
"Everybody left that room with not just the feeling but with the determination that we can succeed," Bussey said.
"This is not a pilot project. This is moving forward."
The advisory board will begin meeting every week to hammer out details instead of once per month.
Keller also gave a presentation about Housing First at the city's municipal services committee meeting Monday. Listening in council chambers were Health and Social Services Minister Glen Abernethy, Yellowknife North MLA Cory Vanthuyne, Kam Lake MLA Kieron Testart, Avens CEO Stephen Jackson and Ndilo Chief Ernest Betsina.
Keller suggested Housing First units should be scattered around in various locations around the city so that not all the units are in one structure.
Those using the program would pay 30 per cent of their income from social services for a unit.
"People don't want to live in buildings that are filled up with the most marginalized members of society," Keller said.
The traditional approaches to homelessness haven't been working, he said.
"We're not solving chronic homelessness, and in fact homelessness is probably getting worse in most cities," he said.
Keller was involved in the national study that began in 2009 on Housing First. It compared those provided with housing and support services to a control group.
It found there were savings associated with Housing First as the use of other services dropped and that clients reported positive developments in their lives.
Last month Mayor Mark Heyck said he expects to soon carry out an election promise to create a task force on homelessness, addictions and mental health designed to create specific recommendations to address the issues.
He wants a tight timeline for the group to work on studying the issues, somewhere in the range of four to five months.
