Ephesians 2:10 ...join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing." (The Message)

 Mission Update:  October, 2005 - Andy Coats

 Homelessness Defined Summary

The Final Report of the Peel Regional Task Force on Homelessness

Executive Summary

The definition of homelessness includes:

* those who are absolutely without shelter
* those forced to share accommodation under conditions offering no security of tenure or which are adverse to physical or emotional well being, and
* those who are at substantial risk of being on the street in the immediate future

Many people are only two or three pay cheques away being homeless. Many of the homeless were once comfortably situated only to find that an accident, a serious illness, a family breakdown, mental health problems or the loss of a job started them on a downward spiral which ended on the street.
To respond to the need for a long-term comprehensive solution to homelessness in Peel Region, Peel Regional Council established a Task Force to look into the issue and to report back to Council with recommendations for immediate and long-term strategies. At the same time, Regional Council approved the establishment of two emergency shelters for single men, one in each of Brampton and Mississauga.

The Peel Regional Task Force on Homelessness is made up of a Regional Councillor from each of the Peel Municipalities, the Commissioners of the Departments of Housing, Social Services and Health, a senior officer of the Peel Regional Police Department and one of the co-Chairs of the Peel Coalition for Shelter. (For Terms of Reference see Appendix A).

The Task Force has worked collaboratively with others and tried to learn from them:

* The Task Force consulted agencies and individuals who work with homeless people, the faith community, ethnic minorities and the homeless themselves. (See list of contributors in Appendix B.)
* The Task Force examined the findings and recommendations from the Provincial Task Force on Homelessness and the Toronto Mayor's Action Task Force on Homelessness (the Golden Report) to assess their applicability to Peel Region and to develop a "made in Peel" solution which is appropriate to the needs of this community.
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1. Homelessness in Peel Region

While homelessness is a problem usually associated with big cities, there is a growing number of homeless people in Peel Region. Since December 1998, more than 300 different men sought refuge in the Public Works garage in Brampton that was converted to an emergency shelter for the winter. In addition, there are 125 hostel beds in 4 permanent facilities that are available for single women, women with children, couples with children and youth. When these beds are all full homeless people are put up in a hotel. The number of people who stayed at the hotel almost doubled in 1998 (689) over 1997 (351).

The impact on families and, particularly, children of not having a home is devastating. When a family loses its home, the children are often required to change schools and they lose their friends. The impact on mental health and academic progress can take many years to overcome.

Toronto has more than 400 hostel beds for youth, while Peel has only 18 beds. Young people looking for shelter are increasingly troubled. Many are experiencing mental health problems, learning disabilities, behavioural, emotional and health problems, substance abuse, pregnancy, the effects of physical and sexual abuse and poverty. And, for many young people, shelter use is a repeated experience.

There are few options for single women and couples without children. The Task Force heard that there is a need for emergency shelter for couples and single women.

Homeless men are traditionally not seen as a priority because they are expected to be able to take care of themselves. In Peel there are just 4 year round emergency shelter beds for single men at the Salvation Army's Family Life Resource Centre, although single men will be placed in the hotel if necessary. The needs of single men have been addressed in the past winter by a combination of "Out of the Cold" approaches, first provided by the churches and then in the Regional shelter.

Because the only shelter for men in operation this past winter was located in Brampton, transportation was provided from Caledon and Mississauga to the shelter and back. The number of people being picked up in Mississauga grew over the winter but there were homeless people in Mississauga who were not comfortable leaving their own turf; they need to build up a relationship of trust with the staff of the shelter and the mobile first.

The Rutherford Road men's shelter was originally only intended to operate for the winter, closing at the end of March. When the Region identified a need to keep the shelter open longer, Brampton City Council approved an extension to the lease until April 2000. The shelter closed on April 30, 1999 and will reopen in November 1999. Several respondents to the consultation, including the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Brampton Downtown Business Association and the faith community, have expressed concern about the closing of the shelter for the summer. They cited the lack of alternative shelter for single men in the Region and the view that people are at risk due to exposure in summer as well as winter.

Homelessness was also investigated within nine multicultural communities: Punjabi, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Tamil, former Yugoslavian, Spanish, and Caribbean. The focus groups found that these multicultural communities are also dealing with a number of issues related to homelessness, such as displaced seniors, substance abuse, mental illness, abused women, unemployment, refugee and illegal immigrant issues and lack of culturally sensitive resources.

Being homeless is a barrier to health care. Homeless people are reluctant to obtain treatment, as well as to follow up with treatment. The overall health status of homeless people is very low. Homeless men and women do not have different illnesses than the general population; however, their living conditions and poverty affect their ability to cope with health problems. Homeless people use fewer preventive health services and more emergency hospital services, adding to the overcrowding of the emergency rooms, as well as adding to the cost of health care.

Many homeless and marginalized people have limited access to health care because they do not have Health Cards. Other communities have provincially funded Community Health Centres, which provide health services that are sensitive to the needs of vulnerable populations. Medical practitioners are salaried rather than fee for service, meaning that people without health cards are able to access health care. As well, there is a tendency to focus more on health promotion and disease prevention rather than on treatment. Attempts to establish a Community Health Centre in Peel have not been successful.

The Task Force heard that homeless people who have a serious mental illness or a serious mental illness combined with substance abuse are the most difficult to serve. Trained outreach workers are needed to help them to access housing, counselling, life skills support and employment. There is also a need to train people working with homeless and marginalized people to deal with issues related to mental illness.
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2. Current Resources and Gaps

The Task Force heard about the range of resources and services that are currently available to address homelessness in Peel. At the same time we heard about the shortages and gaps. For example, the Peel Children's Aid Society, which deals with homeless families in which children need protection and with youth in need of shelter said that more emergency housing for single adults and families is needed in the Region.

The Peel food bank, Foodpath, is serving many more people now than ever before. They see a direct link between the high cost of housing and the lack of money for food.

Brampton Community Legal Services, which advocates on behalf of low income people who are at risk of becoming homeless, believes that homelessness is becoming more acute because the provincial government has reduced social assistance benefits and made it more difficult for households to receive social assistance.

The Salvation Army identified growing demands for shelter, including supported housing for people with addictions, mental health issues and AIDS.

The John Howard Society and Malton Neighbourhood Services operate housing registries which advocate on behalf of hard to house people and make referrals to agencies that will provide other supports. They have found a shortage of safe, affordable housing as well as transitional and supportive housing and are concerned that some "slum" landlords are providing unsafe housing.

The Faith Communities play an active role in addressing social issues, including homelessness. Many churches have been active in providing shelter and other supports to homeless people through the Out of the Cold program and through meal programs in various churches. The 905 Faith Community, a group of Christian and Jewish faith community leaders, has been devoting its energy to the issue of permanent housing. They have developed a co-operative relationship with some local politicians, notably Mayor Hazel McCallion, by working together to persuade the federal and provincial governments to address the need for permanent affordable housing. The group is seeking to broaden its membership to encompass other faiths.

The Peel Coalition for Shelter is a broad based community group working to improve the quality of life for homeless people. The Coalition helped to create the Task Force on Homelessness and to establish the Rutherford Road shelter. The Coalition has defined a Continuum of Care model (attached as Appendix F) which is an interlocking network of interventions, which includes outreach, shelter and support.

In summary, the Task Force found homeless people in Peel Region to have many of the same characteristics as homeless people in Toronto and, therefore, in many important respects, to mirror much of the broader community. A key difference is the deficiency in so many services in Peel - virtually certain to compound or aggravate the problems brought on by homelessness.
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3. Needs and Conclusions

There are several key areas in which needs have been identified:

A. Housing
We heard repeatedly that the real problem is that there is no affordable housing available. We heard about the long waiting lists for the subsidized housing that exists in Peel. We heard that the money available to low income people, whether from social assistance or from employment, was insufficient to meet the cost of any housing that was available. And we heard that there is very little housing available.

In the past 20 or more years the private sector has produced virtually no rental housing. The cost of building and operating rental housing is greater than the market rents, so that the private sector cannot earn a return on their investment to motivate them to produce rental housing.

There is a need for different levels of government to intervene in the housing market in order to stimulate a greater supply of rental housing in this community. One way is to implement changes in the regulations and the housing environment to reduce the cost of producing such housing. Many factors such as sales and property tax changes, zoning and planning issues and the high cost of land are the subject of recommendations in the Golden Task Force report. We need to push the senior levels of government to implement these changes.

However, these measures are not sufficient to produce housing that is broadly affordable. Some level of government financial support is still needed if the private sector is going to realize a sufficient return to make rental housing an acceptable investment. If government subsidies are to be provided, an alternative is to provide support to community sponsored non profit housing. We need to revisit past non profit housing programs to develop a new approach which will be accountable to the taxpayers and as efficient as possible.

Whether due to mental illness or to the lack of the experience and the life skills needed to live independently, some people are unable to maintain their housing. With adequate support, targeted to the specific needs of individuals, even the most vulnerable are able to live successfully in the community. We need to push the various levels of government to increase the available supply of supportive housing. We need to look at innovative approaches including Single Room Occupancy and supported boarding houses.
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B. Continuum of Care
It is essential that any strategy for services include action in each of the areas of Outreach, Shelter and Support. In all of these areas it is important to work with existing agencies as much as possible to build on existing services and knowledge. The Continuum of Care developed by the Peel Coalition for Shelter provides a framework for the provision of the needed range of services.

i. Outreach
Some kind of mobile outreach program should continue year round, that includes a medical component as well as support to people with mental health or addiction issues.

ii. Shelter
The current supply of emergency shelter or hostel beds in Peel is inadequate.

* the Region needs to develop a plan to provide more temporary accommodation for families
* the Region should consider an expansion of the number of short and long stay beds for young people
* there is a need for a place for young people to "hang out" during the day, where they can access services if needed but also just have a place to be without coming into conflict with other people
* there is a need for a shelter for single men in each of the cities of Brampton and Mississauga
* there is a need for an emergency shelter which will accommodate single women and couples
* the Region should consider how to ensure programs for homeless people in the day time; including operating the shelters on a 24 hour a day basis and providing adequate community based drop-in programs.

iii. Support
There is a need for a range of supports for people who experience homelessness, including assistance to connect with the existing network of services, case management for people with mental health issues and counselling.
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C. Focussed Medical Care
There is a need to devise strategic directions for services to the homeless which includes alternatives to the fee for service approach to health care and are accessible by people who do not have Health cards.

D. Prevention
Programs which support people to maintain or access housing and thereby to avoid becoming homeless need to be continued, evaluated and expanded to ensure total coverage of the Region and that the service is adequate to address the demand. These programs include the recently established Rent Bank, which provides low income working families with financial support to pay first and last months rent or to pay off arrears, and Housing Help centres, which help to connect people with available housing. We need to work with people currently housed, particularly those living in assisted housing, to prevent evictions.

Social Services is examining how its staff can better assist people to access and retain housing. Ongoing education will be provided for front line workers on the causes, realities and impacts of homelessness. As well, Social Services will ensure that other agencies have access to information about Ontario Works, what resources are available, the role of Ontario Works staff and what rights people have.
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E. Income
The Region should urge the Province to increase the shelter component of social assistance under Ontario Works to cover the cost of basic affordable housing.

Similarly, the Region should urge the Province to establish a shelter allowance program for low-income workers to bridge the gap between their income and the cost of basic housing.

F. Advocacy
The cost of addressing the needs of homeless people is beyond what is affordable and appropriate to be funded from property taxes. The Federal and Provincial Governments should provide the assistance needed to support the initiatives taken by the Region.

G. Co-ordination
Keeping track of the homeless population, ensuring that the measures being undertaken are addressing the need and introducing new initiatives as required will be a responsibility shared between the different Regional departments. As well, some parts of the solution require the leadership of the area Municipality. Co-ordinating the efforts of the various players are crucial