Category: Resources: Housing

Title:Progress report on the implementation of a plan for Alberta: ending homelessness in 10 years.
Variant Title:2009-10 report to the minister
Corporate Author: Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness
Subject:Housing – temporary, emergency, homelessness
Publisher:Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness
Place of Publication:Edmonton
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

At the direction of Premier Ed Stelmach, who recognized that the growing number of Albertans who were at-risk of becoming or currently experiencing homelessness was an unacceptable situation, the creation of the Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness (the “Secretariat”) was announced on January 23, 2008. The Secretariat was given the responsibility for developing Alberta’s strategic plan to end homelessness. A Plan for Alberta: Ending Homelessness in 10 Years, (“the Plan”), was released on March 16, 2009. When the Government of Alberta accepted the Plan, it became the first province in Canada to sate publicly its intention to end homelessness. Central to the provincial plan is a fundamental shift in Alberta’s approach, which has relied on emergency shelters for those experiencing a housing crisis. This new direction means moving away from managing the problem because, despite the dedication of all those working within the system, this approach does not solve the problem of homelessness. Instead, the Plan provides a road map for ending homelessness. It includes strategies to achieve housing stability for those already in crisis by employing a housing first philosophy, and it outlines the courses of action that will prevent Albertans from falling into homelessness in the years to come. All Albertans will benefit from ending homelessness in our province because it will result in cost-saving opportunities for taxpayers. Evidence indicates that an emergency response system that relies on shelters and publicly funded services such as hospitals and policing, is more costly to public systems than providing housing with supports to homeless individuals. We also know that if we continue to employ the traditional approach, the number of homeless individuals and families in Alberta will very likely continue to grow.

Language:English
 Material Type:Report

D. HOUSING/2010 HUA report.pdf

Title:A predictable crisis: older, single women as the new face of homelessness.
Author(s):Sharam, Andrea
Subject:Women – older women|split|Women – poverty|split|Housing – temporary, emergency, homelessness
Publisher:Australian Policy Online
Place of Publication:Hawthorne, AU
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

The dissolution of partnerships and re-partnering involve serious risks for women and their children, according to this paper. This significant gender-based economic and social problem has emerged on the back of demographic change. A recent national study of women and housing used ABS demographic modelling to show that a sizeable proportion of female baby boomers are single, poor and facing significant housing insecurity, which suggests that the new face of homelessness will be single older women by virtue of a combination of the sheer number of women in the cohort, their poorer economic status and social changes that occurred in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. This forecast appears as a startling departure from the existing statistics. More women than men use the homelessness service system, but this reflects the response to family violence which is aimed at women. Single women (as a group distinct from those seeking assistance because of violence) receive only about 4% of the national funding for homelessness. Single women are currently but minor players in the homelessness statistics, which can be explained by the historical size of this cohort, but this could shift from a trickle to a roar in the space of generation.

Language:English
 Material Type:Report

D. HOUSING/2010 predictable_crisis.pdf

Title:A place to call home: Edmonton’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness : update year 1.
Corporate Author: Edmonton Homeless Commission
Subject:Housing – planning, policy
Publisher:Edmonton Homeless Commission
Place of Publication:Edmonton
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

A year after the release of A Place to Call Home, Edmonton’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness is already celebrating significant advances. In some cases it has exceeded its targets for year 1.
The Highlights: 424 permanent homes have been secured for 546 people who had been homeless. A Rapid Exit program is under way at one shelter. A Pathways to Housing program has been developed. In its first 3 months of operation it has accepted 15 people with a concurrent disorder of mental illness and substance abuse, and 10 have been housed. A furniture bank has been established.

Language:English
 Material Type:Report

D. HOUSING/2010 place_to_call_home_year1.pdf

Title:Newcomers’ experiences of housing and homelessness in Canada
Editor:Teixeira, Carlos
Citation:Canadian Issues, Fall 2011
Subject:Housing – affordable, social housing|split|Housing – temporary, emergency, homelessness|split|Immigration – statistics, studies|split|Immigration – refugees|split|Housing – studies, surveys 
Place of Publication:Ottawa
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

This collection of articles explores many aspects of immigrant housing in Canada.

Language:English
 Material Type:Collection of Articles

D. HOUSING/2010 newcomer_housing.pdf

Title:Housing vulnerability and health: Canada’s hidden emergency.
Corporate Author: Research Alliance for Canadian Homelessness, Housing, and Health
Subject:Housing – temporary, emergency, homelessness|split|Housing – studies, surveys|split|Health issues – poverty
Publisher:Research Alliance for Canadian Homelessness, Housing, and Health
Place of Publication:Toronto
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

For the first time in Canada, we have the numbers to show that people who are vulnerably housed face the same severe health problems – and danger of assault – as people who are homeless. The number of people experiencing the devastating health outcomes associated with inadequate housing could be staggering. There are about 17,000 shelter beds available across Canada every night, but almost 400,000 Canadians are vulnerably housed. This means that for each person who is homeless in Canada, 23 more people are vulnerably housed – paying more than half of their monthly income for rent, and living with substantial risk of becoming homeless. Key findings: People who don’t have a healthy place to live – regardless of whether they’re vulnerably housed or homeless – are at high risk of serious physical and mental health problems and major problems accessing the health care they need. Many end up hospitalized or in the emergency department. 40 per cent of people who don’t have a healthy place to live have been assaulted at least once in the past year, and one in three have trouble getting enough to eat. Key recommendations: We’re calling for the federal government to respond by setting national housing standards that ensure universal, timely access to healthy (i.e. decent, stable, and affordable) housing.

Language:English
 Material Type:Report

D. HOUSING/2010 housing_vulnerability_health.pdf

Title:Housing, public policy and social inclusion
Author(s):Hulse, Kath|split|Jacobs, Keith|split|Arthurson, Kathy|split|Spinney, Angela
Subject:Housing – general|split|Housing – temporary, emergency, homelessness|split|Social inclusion, exclusion
Publisher:Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
Place of Publication:Melbourne
Date of Publication:2010
Abstract:

This Positioning Paper is the first output of an AHURI Project on Housing, Public Policy and Social Inclusion which aims to broaden and deepen understanding of the ways in which housing processes interact with social and economic disadvantage and whether, and to what extent, housing and related policies and programs can be effective in ameliorating these disadvantages and promoting social inclusion.

Language:English
Series:AHURI Positioning Paper No. 135
 Material Type:Report

D. HOUSING/2010 AHURI_Positioning_Paper_No135_Housing_public_policy_and_social_inclusion.pdf