10. STREETS
TO HOMES INITIATIVE FOR ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS INITIATIVES « DE LA RUe ŕ un logement »
POUR ATTÉNUER LE PROBLČME DES SANS‑ABRI |
COMMITTEE
RECOMMENDATION as amended
That Council approve the following:
Whereas homelessness is a serious concern
that City Council wishes to address;
And whereas it has been demonstrated
that housing and support services are a necessary part of a solution to the
homeless situation;
And whereas the New York Model has
demonstrated that understanding and having the ability to identify the cost
implications in addition to the social impacts of the homelessness issue is a
key component of a homelessness strategy;
And whereas the New York Model
effectively builds a business case that demonstrates the return on investment
of providing housing and housing support services to achieve the outcome of
moving homeless individuals to homes;
And whereas it would be helpful in finding lasting
solutions to this important issue, to have a clear understanding of the costs
to the social safety net of a homeless person in Ottawa;
Therefore be it resolved that staff
complete a business case similar to the New York Model for the City of Ottawa,
that analyzes the current costs of municipal services provided to the homeless
population in Ottawa versus costs associated with properly funded supportive
housing options and that identifies where we can maximize the value of the
current community investments to directly contribute to the achievement of the
objectives of a housing first strategy and that staff provide a progress report
back to the Community and Protective Services Committee by fall 2007.
Recommandation du Comité TELLE QUE MODIFIÉE
Que le Conseil approuve ce qui suit :
Attendu que la question des sans-abri constitue
une grave préoccupation, que la Ville souhaite résoudre;
Attendu qu’il a été démontré que le logement et les services de soutien
connexes constituent un élément incontournable de la solution au problčme des
sans-abri;
Attendu que le modčle de New York a montré que la compréhension et la
capacité de déterminer l’impact financier en plus des coűts sociaux du
phénomčne des sans-abri constituent un élément clé d’une stratégie ŕ cet égard;
Attendu que le modčle de New York permet de démontrer le rendement de
l’investissement consenti pour fournir des logements et des services de soutien
connexes afin de procurer un logement aux sans-abri;
Attendu qu’il serait utile, afin de trouver des solutions durables ŕ
cette importante question, de connaître clairement le coűt d’une personne sans
abri pour le filet de sécurité sociale ŕ Ottawa;
Il est résolu que le personnel procédera ŕ une analyse semblable au
modčle de New York pour la ville d’Ottawa, que cette analyse évaluera le coűt
des services municipaux fournis actuellement aux sans-abri d’Ottawa par rapport
aux coűts inhérents ŕ des services de logement convenablement financés; qu’elle
déterminera les moyens d’optimiser les investissements publics afin de
contribuer directement ŕ l’atteinte des objectifs d’une stratégie donnant la
priorité au logement; et que le personnel soumettra un rapport provisoire au
Comité des services communautaires et de protection d’ici ŕ l’automne 2007.
DOCUMENTATION
1.
Deputy City Manager, report dated 1 February 2007 (ACS2007-CPS-HOU-0004).
2.
“Hope
for the homeless” article from The Ottawa Citizen, 11 December 2006.
3.
Extract
of Draft Minute, 15 February 2007 will be distributed prior to Council.
Report to/Rapport au :
Community and Protective Services Committee
Comité des services communautaires et de protection
01 February 2007 / le 01 février 2007
Submitted by/Soumis par : Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal
adjoint,
Community and Protective
Services/Services communautaires et de protection
Contact Person/Personne
ressource : Russell Mawby, Director
Housing/Logement
(613) 580-2424 x, 44162
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SUBJECT: |
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OBJET : |
INITIATIVES « DE LA RUe ŕ un logement »
POUR ATTÉNUER LE PROBLČME DES SANS‑ABRI |
REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That the Community and Protective Services Committee receive this report for information.
RECOMMANDATION DU
RAPPORT
Que le comité des services communautaires et de
protection reçoive le présent rapport ŕ titre d'information.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Over the last few years, there has been increasing evidence of the effectiveness of a ‘housing first’ approach to homeless services. In some places this has been called a ‘streets to homes’ approach. The basic premise is simply that placing homeless individuals and families in long term housing increases the opportunities for and sustainability of support services.
There is a commitment in the Ottawa community of stakeholders in homeless services to a ‘housing first’ approach, whether it is moving directly from the street or moving as quickly as possible from emergency shelters. In other words, no one wants homeless individuals and clients to wait until employment, sheltered workshops, etc, is in place before placing in housing. However, it is acknowledged that certain supports have to be readily available immediately, especially for those with serious mental illnesses and/or addiction issues.
The available information indicates there are 2,000 individuals on the waiting list for supportive housing in Ottawa. Current supportive housing programs cost from $13,000 to $18,000 per person. However, a detailed analysis would need to be undertaken to determine what range and types of supportive housing models would be needed, what savings potentially might be achieved elsewhere in the system, and who would pay for what.
The City of Ottawa has ensured that a continuum of supports for homeless and those at risk is already in place in Ottawa. However, appropriate funding is not available. To achieve significant progress on ending homelessness, we need leadership, funding and partnerships with senior levels of government, and community involvement from business groups, faith groups and volunteers from the general public.
RÉSUMÉ
Depuis
quelques années, on constate de plus en plus l’efficacité d’une solution axée
sur le logement en premier lieu pour les services aux sans‑abri. C’est ce
qu’on a appelé en certains milieux l’initiative « de la rue ŕ un
logement ». C’est que, tout simplement, si les personnes et les familles
sans‑abri sont placées dans des logements pour une longue durée, il est
plus facile de leur fournir constamment des services de soutien.
Les
intervenants dans les services aux sans‑abri ŕ Ottawa sont déterminés ŕ
adopter une telle solution, qu’il s’agisse de leur faire quitter la rue
directement ou de les sortir le plus rapidement possible des refuges. Autrement
dit, personne ne veut que les personnes et les clients sans‑abri attendent
d’obtenir un emploi ou du travail dans un atelier protégé avant d’ętre logé. Il
faut toutefois que certaines mesures de soutien leur soient facilement
disponibles immédiatement, surtout dans le cas des personnes qui souffrent de
graves maladies mentales ou qui ont des problčmes de toxicomanie.
Selon les renseignements
disponibles, il y a 2 000 personnes qui figurent sur la liste d’attente
pour obtenir un logement en milieu de soutien ŕ Ottawa. Les programmes actuels
de logement en milieu de soutien coűtent de 13 000 $ ŕ
18 000 $ par personne. Il faudrait toutefois faire une analyse
détaillée pour déterminer quel éventail et quels types de logements en milieu
de soutien seraient nécessaires, les économies qui pourraient peut‑ętre
ętre réalisées ailleurs dans le systčme, et qui paierait pour cela.
La Ville d’Ottawa a déjŕ mis en
place tout un ensemble de mesures de soutien pour les sans‑abri et les
personnes ŕ risque. Toutefois, elle ne dispose pas des fonds nécessaires. Pour
en arriver éventuellement ŕ atténuer le problčme des sans‑abri, nous
devons compter sur l’initiative, les fonds et la collaboration des niveaux
supérieurs de gouvernement, et sur la participation du milieu comme le monde
des affaires, les groupes religieux et les bénévoles en général.
BACKGROUND
Over the last few years, there has been increasing evidence of the effectiveness of a ‘housing first’ approach to homeless services. In some places this has been called a ‘streets to homes’ approach. The basic premise is simply that placing homeless individuals and families in long term housing increases the opportunities for and sustainability of support services. These are most commonly mental health services, often combined with addiction services and always including basic life management skills. The earlier clients move back into housing, whether from the streets or from the shelters, the more effective the intervention.
A 2003 study of the homeless in Ottawa concluded that, while the main cause of homelessness was poverty combined with lack of affordable housing, many people remained in or cycled in and out of homelessness because of the lack of supports to both find and maintain appropriate, long term housing.
In 2005, the National Secretariat on Homelessness commissioned a study on the relative costs of housing homeless people in four Canadian cities – Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax and Montreal.
The executive summary of the study report, titled “: “The Cost of Homelessness: Analysis of Alternate Responses in Four Canadian Cities” is attached.
Costs per year for existing responses, averaged across the four cities were:
· Institutional responses (prison/detention and psychiatric hospitals): $66,000 to $120,000;
· Emergency shelters (cross section of youth, men’s women’s, family and victims of violence): $13,000 to $42,000;
· Supportive and transitional housing: $13,000 to $18,000; and
·
Affordable housing without supports (singles and family): $5,000 to $8,000.
This study did not look at the costs of other services used by homeless people, and there has been limited exploration of those costs in Canada. The executive summary of this study is attached at the end of this report.
The first Ottawa Community Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in 1999 recognized the need to focus on housing as a solution to homelessness, not just on better management of homelessness by expanding and enhancing emergency services. This means that the community committed to advocating for, planning and developing safe, affordable housing with supports as needed. The subsequent updates of the Community Action Plan (2002 and 2005) reflected a community focus on reducing the need for shelters by concentrating on housing loss prevention, housing search and stabilization, and ultimately increasing the availability of permanent affordable housing with any necessary supports.
Since 2001, programs and services have been developed to reflect this changed focus. Some examples of housing initiatives:
o 152 units of new transitional supportive housing have been built since 2001, focused on youth, women and people with medical or mental health needs.
o 410 units of low-income affordable housing were developed under the Canada/Ontario Affordable Housing Program and/or Action Ottawa since 2004. Funding for another 176 units is available for 2007. Funding for at least 100 more units is expected for 2008. However, this is significantly below the target of 500 units per year established in the Long Range Financial Plan in 2004.
o Ottawa is the only city in Ontario that has used the AHP funding to build new supportive housing – 66 units since 2004.
Some examples of successful, effective support services:
o Homeless people in shelters are given priority access to rent-geared-to-income social housing. About 530 people were housed under this priority in 2006, however, dedicated support services are lacking, and this policy and process is being reviewed in 2007.
o Housing search and stabilization workers are located in each emergency shelter to help people find housing.
o Options Bytown has tenant support resource centres in 13 social housing buildings. Five of these centres operate with federal homelessness funding due to end in March 2007. The other workers will be redeployed to accommodate as many needs as possible.
o
2006, there were 57 individuals moved directly from
the streets to housing with the assistance of outreach workers and housing
search agencies that the City funds.
o The community-based Housing Loss Prevention Network assisted 2,486 households during difficulties in maintaining their housing in 2006. 80% retained their housing and did not become homeless.
The homelessness Community Capacity Building (CCB) Steering Committee is monitoring the implementation of the Community Action Plan recommendations. The Committee is concerned about the apparent lack of community capacity to develop supportive housing, especially when the 12-member Supportive Housing Network reports 2,000 individuals on their waiting lists. The Committee has also identified the lack of resources needed to move individuals directly from the street to appropriate housing, ‘housing first’.
There is a plan being developed for the CCB Leadership Table to be a strong voice to advocate for partnerships, policy and funding to develop the necessary housing and supports. This Table is comprised of representatives from the United Way, Community Foundation, the City of Ottawa and several community leaders. They will have a plan of action over the next year to engage decision makers to address these issues. This will include not only government but business leaders, faith groups and the non-profit sector.
DISCUSSION
There is a commitment in the
Ottawa community of stakeholders in homeless services to a ‘housing first’
approach, whether it is moving directly from the street or moving as quickly as
possible from emergency shelters. In
other words, no one wants homeless individuals and clients to wait until
employment, sheltered workshops, etc, isare
in
place before placing in housing.
However, it is acknowledged that certain supports have to be readily
available immediately, especially for those with serious mental illnesses
and/or addiction issues.
Ottawa Services
In addition to the services identified above, the City of Ottawa is one of six pilot sites participating in Hostels to Homes, a two year pilot project with the Ministry of Community and Social Services to reduce the use of emergency shelter services. The province is allowing the City flexibility in administering existing funding to support 45 individuals in leaving the shelters and establishing themselves in long term housing. The Ottawa Mission is taking the lead for the men’s shelters, working with community housing, health and employment services to help these clients achieve sustainable employment with reduced demand on social assistance.
We are fortunate in Ottawa to have the Canadian Mental Health Association branch that operates a Housing Outreach service. The outreach workers engage homeless individuals with serious mental health issues at drop-ins, on the streets and in emergency shelters to help them obtain the appropriate community housing of their choice. Support services are then put in place.
Examples of Successful Streets to Homes Programs outside of Ottawa
The success of these limited initiatives has led the City with community stakeholders and through the homelessness Community Capacity Building Steering Committee to explore options that are used in other cities. A preliminary search has identified the following examples.
1) New York/New York Agreements to House the
Homeless Mentally Ill
The New York/New
York agreements (1990, 1999, 2005) to end chronic homelessness among the
mentally ill partnered various levels of government with non-profit service
providers. The agreements included
significant cash investments to fund capital projects and ongoing service
levels.
A homeless mentally
ill person in NYC uses an average of $40,499 of publicly funded services over
the course of a year. Once placed into
a service-enriched supportive housing unit, a homeless mentally ill individual
reduces his or her use of publicly funded services by an average of $12,145 per
year.
NY/NY I
(1990):
· Initial capital investment of $200 million, and $65.8 million annually for 3,600 community-based permanent housing units for homeless mentally ill.
· The program was designed to place people with severe mental illness into one of two types of housing: community based residence models (clinical model integrating housing and on-site service delivery; participation mandated through the housing agreement) or supportive housing (single, independent units with community based or site based services and supports).
· As well as supports, tenants were given housing allowances, supplemental security income payments by the state, and other direct payment by the state.
NY/NY
II (1999):
· The agreement between the State and New York City provided housing and community-based services to more than 2,300 homeless mentally ill persons, $100 million from State and City to provide support services for 1,500 new units of supportive housing.
NY/NY
III (2005):
· The agreement between the State and New York City committed $1 billion in funding for 9,000 new units over 10 years for the chronically homeless population.
· Annual operating costs for the units will be $156 million. In addition to $1 billion funding the federal government has also contributed funding for these units.
The first two agreements targeted single adults with mental illness and history of homelessness, and the third agreement includes units for homeless individuals with substance abuse issues, mental illness, HIV/AIDS, youth, and families with heads of households who are disabled.
2) City of Toronto Emergency Homeless Pilot
Project
In 2002, The City of Toronto used federal
funding (SCPI) to house 125 homeless people being evicted from the “Tent City”
site. The funding provided rent
supplements for units in the private rental market as well as intensive
supports, and as a result, 88% of Tent City residents (125 people) were stably
housed for at least 6 months.
3) City of Toronto Streets to Homes Strategy
Subsequent to the Tent City pilot program, the City of Toronto implemented a “Streets to Homes” strategy using SCPI funding to assist homeless people to find and stay in permanent housing. Since February 2005, about 780 people have been housed in a variety of rooming houses, private apartments and social housing. The program includes dedicated follow up and support services that are intended to help people stay in their homes.
4) City of Vancouver Homeless Outreach Project
This project began in 2005 to get the homeless off the street, one by one. Two outreach workers go out on the street near dawn, engage one of the hardest-to-serve homeless, get them registered for welfare assistance and into his/her own housing by noon. There are no resources in place immediately and yet 80% of these clients are still in housing, even with mental health issues, addictions and trauma of many kinds. There is no funding for an organized support system. If clients really cannot stay in housing without it, then these outreach workers find what they can. The goal is simply to take the ‘worst’ off the street, the people who have remained outside for years, slowly deteriorating physically and mentally.
5) Project Homeless Connect
This project for assisting
individuals off the streets into housing has been initiated in Tempe, San
Francisco, San Diego. The outreach
teams are comprised of street outreach workers, police, fire officials,
business, churches and non- profit
agencies. A holistic support system is in place
to work with the clients.
CONCLUSIONS
In general, the experience in Ottawa matches the lessons learned elsewhere:
· Housing alone is not enough. The support services that help people stay in their communities and in their homes are a necessary part of the solution.
· Housing costs money. New York is investing over $1.3 billion to build or acquire new housing, plus over $250 million a year to provide dedicated support services. Since 2004, Ottawa has received a total of $22 million from the Federal and Provincial governments to build new affordable housing, but there has not been an increase in permanent funding for supportive housing services since 1993.
· Senior levels of government need to be committed to the solutions with long-term, sustainable funding. In the case of New York/New York agreements, sources noted that executive leadership at the state level was required to compel various agencies to work together for the multi-jurisdictional purpose of developing permanent supportive housing for the homeless with severe mental illness.
· Coordination between governments, and within governments, is an important part of the solution. For example, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing funds capital supportive housing units and the Ministry of Community and Social Services fund the supports to the units. A coordinated response would involve representatives from the Ministry of Housing to work with communities to develop local plans to meet the need for supportive housing.
The
New York Model has demonstrated that understanding and having the ability to
identify the cost implications in addition to the social impacts of the
homelessness issue is a key component of a homelessness strategy. The New York Model effectively builds a
business case that demonstrates the return on investment of providing housing
and housing support services to achieve the outcome of moving homeless
individuals to homes. The business case
demonstrates the long-term reduction in the cost of publicly funded services
when the interventions are focused on housing the homeless versus servicing the
homeless on the street.
The City of Ottawa has developed a number of innovative approaches to addressing the homelessness issue within the existing funding and policy framework. In order to complete a business case similar to the New York Model for the City of Ottawa, staff would need to analyze the current costs of municipal services provided to the homeless population in Ottawa versus costs associated with supportive housing options for the 2,000 individuals currently on waiting lists, in shelters, and rooming houses. The business case will allow the City to identify the specific areas where we can maximize the value of the current community investments that will directly contribute to the achievement of the objectives of a housing first strategy. Likewise, research needs to be conducted to ascertain what funds can be expected from other levels of government in support of the housing first implementation plan.
Staff recognize the need for leadership on this
issue to move forward. Understanding
the current costs of homelessness in Ottawa and the current needs of homeless
individuals in our community to move from homelessness to homes will assist the
newly formed Community Capacity Building leadership table to be a strong voice
to advocate for intergovernmental partnerships, policy changes and adequate
funding.
CONSULTATION
The Housing Branch recently consulted with members of the Community Capacity Building Steering Committee and service managers in Toronto and Vancouver.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no
financial implications associated with this report.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document 1: “The Cost of Homelessness: Analysis of Alternative Responses in Four Canadian Cities” Prepared by Steve Pomeroy for the National Secretariat on Homelessness, March 2005
DISPOSITION
Housing Branch will continue to provide information as requested.
Document
1
The Cost of Homelessness: Analysis of Alternate Responses in Four Canadian Cities
Executive Summary
