Homelessness in Canada
[1][2] Public policies shifted away from rehousing in the 1980s in wealthy Western countries like Canada, which led to a de-housing of households that had previously been housed.
The report of the major 1987 IYSH conference held in Ottawa said that housing was not a high priority for government, and this was a significant contributor to the homelessness problem.
In the 1980s a "wider segment of the population" began to experience homelessness for the first time – evident through their use of emergency shelters and soup kitchens.
[5] "Homelessness describes the situation of an individual or family without stable, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring it.
It is the result of systemic or societal barriers, a lack of affordable and appropriate housing, the individual/household’s financial, mental, cognitive, behavioural or physical challenges, and/or racism and discrimination.
[7] Based on the more conservative figure, the annual cost of homelessness in Canada in 2008 was approximately $5.1 to $7 billion in emergency services, organizations, and non-profits.
However, this distinctly different subgroup of individuals who are "chronically homeless" consume about half of shelter beds and available resources at any given time.
[1] 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.
[1] Homelessness remained a minor concern as long as extremely cheap accommodation was available in 'skid row' rooming houses or flophouses located in the poorest parts of most major cities.
A 1988 report endorsed by participants at the Ottawa conference, said that a "significant component of the homelessness problem is that housing has not been a high priority for governments at any level.
[11] 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.
[15] On December 19, 2006, Prime Minister Harper announced social policies with $526 million of funding to tackle poverty and homelessness in Canada.
The Homelessness Partnering Strategy received $270 million and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation received $246 million to refurbish and renovate affordable housing, as well as to improve access for homeless people to various services and supports such as health and substance abuse treatment programs.
[7][Notes 1] Factors that can lead an individual to become homeless vary widely, however the most common reasons include financial challenges, conflict or abuse in previous homes, and health issues.
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.
[20] In a paper published in 2010, York University professor, Stephen Gaetz, argued that, "[p]risoners who are sentenced or who are awaiting trial often lose their jobs and housing, and without support, wind up in homeless shelters and drop-ins upon release ...
[21] Alberta's Pathways to Housing program, which includes about $7 million in provincial money, has been helping homeless Calgarians who have been in and out of the corrections system due to unpaid tickets for petty crimes.
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.
[3] 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 eligibility rules, with many provinces competing with each other to offer the lowest assistance so those in need would leave.
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 no home and thus relying on homeless shelters or else sleeping outside.
NHI funded the federal program Supporting Community Partnerships Initiative (SCPI) which covered the costs of temporary shelters and services for the homeless.
At that point, the federal governments' expenditures were cost-sharing, one-time only funding initiatives that lack long-term leadership on homelessness.
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.
[38] As of October 2024, Calgary recorded 6,701 service requests through 311 regarding homeless encampments, marking a 24% increase compared to the first nine months of 2023 and nearly seven times the number reported in 2018.
