Government of Canada takes concrete action to address homelessness in Edmonton
EDMONTON, Nov. 2, 2018 /CNW/ - One of the most important roles of the Government of Canada is to support vulnerable Canadians, including those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
The Government of Canada is investing in communities developing innovative solutions to prevent and reduce homelessness. Randy ?Boissonnault, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, today announced the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) will receive $885,000 from the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) Innovative Solutions to Homelessness. This funding scales up the CAEH's successful funding stream, to extend the By-Name List and Coordinated Access System project to support the 20,000 Homes Campaign.
With this new investment, the Government of Canada is supporting the CAEH's efforts to build on the lessons learned from the project to assist 30 additional 20,000 Homes Campaign communities, as well as the initial 8 pilot communities, in making progress towards making a national reduction in chronic homelessness. The project will also test the impact of three different options of support on the implementation of a By-Name List in achieving reductions in chronic homelessness.
Edmonton was one of the first communities to join the campaign and was one of the eight pilot communities. It has had the most success of any major city in Canada in reducing homelessness having cut homelessness by over 43% in the last nine years.
By March 31, 2019, the CAEH will have received $1,383,966 from the Homelessness Partnering Strategy to support the By-Name List and Coordinated Access System project.
The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness leads a national movement of individuals, organizations and communities working together to end homelessness in Canada. The 20,000 Homes Campaign is a national change movement focused on ending chronic homelessness in 20 communities and housing 20,000 of Canada's most vulnerable homeless people by July 1, 2020.
Quotes
"Our government is committed to preventing and reducing homelessness in Canada. Everyone deserves a safe place to call home. Even one person on the streets in Canada is too many. Projects like this one, by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, support communities in our mutual goal to reduce chronic homelessness."
? Randy ?Boissonnault, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre
"For decades homelessness in Canada has followed a lethal trajectory, increasing steadily year after year. That is until recently, when a small but growing number of Canadian cities like Edmonton began reversing this trend, showing that with a focused effort, homelessness could be reduced. With this investment 38 communities will be able to take these proven approaches to accelerate their efforts to eliminate chronic homelessness and pave the way for the elimination of homelessness in Canada."
? Tim Richter, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness
Quick Facts
- As part of the National Housing Strategy, the Government of Canada announced a total investment of $2.2 billion for homelessness over 10 years. By 2021?22, this will double annual investments compared to 2015?16.
- This investment builds on investments made through Budget 2016 of $111.8 million in funding over two years and will maintain funding levels for 2018-19.
- These investments put Canada on a path to reduce chronic homelessness by 50 percent by empowering local communities to deliver a combination of housing programs and support services, as well as responsive and preventive measures.
- On June 11, 2018, the Government of Canada announced Reaching Home, the redesigned federal homelessness program.
- Reaching Home will replace the existing Homelessness Partnering Strategy on April 1, 2019.
- This investment will kick start and build a foundation for national reductions in chronic homelessness under Reaching Home. The 20,000 Homes Campaign currently has 38 participating communities in eight provinces and one territory including 31 of 61 Homelessness Partnering Strategy Designated Communities. To date, over 18,000 people have been housed by campaign communities and twelve communities have achieved quality By-Name Lists.
- A By-Name List is a real-time list of all people experiencing homelessness in a community. It includes a robust set of data points that support coordinated access and prioritization at a household level and an understanding of homeless inflow and outflow at a system level.
- A Coordinated Access System is a way for communities to design, streamline, and bring consistency to the process by which people experiencing homelessness access housing and services. A strong system uses a By-Name List and Housing First approach.
Associated Link
Homelessness Partnering Strategy
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness
20,000 Homes Campaign
Backgrounder
Homelessness Partnering Strategy
The Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) is a unique community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness by providing direct support and funding to 61 designated communities in all provinces and territories.
The HPS supports community efforts and allocates funds accordingly, which provides communities with the flexibility to invest in proven approaches that reduce homelessness at the local level. The HPS funds are targeted directly toward community priorities which have been identified through an inclusive community planning process, involving officials from all orders of government, community stakeholders, and the private and voluntary sectors. The objectives of the HPS are achieved through several funding streams.
Regional funding streams
The majority of HPS funding is delivered regionally through three funding streams:
- Designated Communities;
- Rural and Remote Homelessness (non-designated communities); and
- Aboriginal Homelessness.
These streams focus on the needs of homeless individuals and individuals at imminent risk of homelessness at the local level, and provide funding to help individuals gain and maintain a stable living arrangement.
National projects
The national funding streams help to develop a better understanding of homelessness based on local data collection, and make surplus federal real properties available to organizations that plan to use the facilities to address homelessness.
- National Homelessness Information System;
- Surplus Federal Real Property for Homelessness Initiative; and
- Innovative Solutions to Homelessness.
Innovative Solutions to Homelessness
Innovative Solutions to Homelessness is one of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy funding streams. This funding stream can be used to support community-based innovative projects to reduce homelessness and its cost; build strategic partnerships with key stakeholders; and test and/or share new tools, provide training and technical assistance, develop social metrics and analyze research findings geared towards homelessness.
In 2016, a call for proposals was launched to identify 1) large-scale pilot projects (between $25,000 and $500,000) and 2) small-scale experimental projects or prototypes (up to $25,000) to create and/or evaluate concrete and potentially ground-breaking practices, establish strategic partnerships, develop innovative tools and best practices or initiatives that individuals, organizations or communities can use to prevent or reduce homelessness.
SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada
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