Housing-first strategy offers dignity, hope

Archbishop Smith sits on leadership committee to end homelessness

- WCR file photo by Ramon Gonzalez Two hundred homeless people set up tents in a downtown field in 2007.

By GLEN ARGAN
WCR Editor
Edmonton

Archbishop Richard Smith is taking a role on a major Edmonton committee determined to end homelessness in the city.

Smith has been serving on the leadership committee of the Edmonton Committee to End Homeless established by Mayor Stephen Mandel, along with other high-profile community leaders from business, government and community organizations.

“They really want to take the bull by the horns and do something,” Smith said in an interview. “It involves the whole spectrum of people that are involved in the life of the community.”

Mandel’s committee has been working since early this year and is expected to submit a report to city council in October to establish a 10-year plan to end homelessness in Edmonton.

Housing first

The “housing first” perspective of the committee is an about-face from earlier approaches that aimed to try to solve the underlying personal issues of the homeless before providing them with housing, the archbishop said.

The approach of the mayor’s committee is to help people find homes first and then deal with other issues in their lives, he said.

“For a person to have a place to call home already increases their own sense of their self-worth and dignity.”

The committee says research across North America shows that it is far cheaper to house the homeless and provide them with the necessary supports than it is to meet the manifold costs of dealing with the homeless in an uncoordinated fashion.

Cost effective

It estimates that the current cost of dealing with a homeless person in Edmonton can run as high as $150,000 while a housing-first approach would run roughly $34,000 per person per year.

Smith maintained developing a better approach to dealing with the homeless is not primarily a financial matter.

“This is simply the right thing to do. These are our brothers and sisters on the street.”

The mayor’s committee estimates that about 2,600 people in Edmonton can be classified as homeless.

That is just not acceptable, said the archbishop. “You cannot sit back and be satisfied with the status quo.”

Chris Leung, executive director of Catholic Social Services, is a member of one of the subcommittees established by the leadership group.

Leung told the WCR there are really no good statistics about the homelessness problem Edmonton.

The problem is not just a matter of those who are currently homeless, but also those who are on the edge of becoming homeless due to high housing costs in the city or for other reasons, he said.

CSS already provides housing for some people who are potentially homeless, those affected by fetal alcohol syndrome or by physical disabilities, he said.

Leung lauds the housing-first approach of the homelessness committee. “It’s very different from what we did in the past.”

Once people are housed, social agencies will be better able to help them overcome some of the myriad challenges the homeless face — mental health concerns, drug addiction, or physical disabilities and other health issues, he said.

The collaborative approach taken by the mayor’s committee to involve so many different sectors of the community has the potential to bear fruit, Leung said. “It’s very exciting because we have so many different parties working together toward a common goal.”

Archbishop Smith said it is important that members of the Christian community become involved in helping to end homelessness.

That, he said, is not simply a matter of solving a problem, but also of building a caring community.

“The idea of home is far deeper and far broader than having a place to dwell. Home speaks of relationships.”

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