CEO Sleep Out, and the Need for a Long Term and Coordinated Strategy to End Homelessness
Forty Winnipeg CEOs and community leaders spent a night at Portage & Main to raise awareness for homelessness and together raised $107,000 to employ homeless people. It was all part of Winnipeg's first CEOs for Downtown Sleep out event in support of the Downtown BIZ's Change for the Better program.
But Our CEO's for the Downtown Change for the Better Sleep-out, was more then just sleeping our and raising money for employing those less fortunate not able to find employment. It was about starting a dialogue to end homelessness.
Subsequently the BIZ invited Mr. Tim Richter from the Calgary Homeless Foundation, as part of our CEO's for Downtown Change for the Better, Sleep Out initiative.
Our goal in inviting Tim to speak at our event was to demonstrate how cities could address homelessness issues through a "housing first" approach.
In the morning Tim spoke to a room of CEO's and stakeholders, and in the afternoon we held a closed door session with major stakeholders to ask questions and learn more.
Tim made a clear and statistical link between reducing homelessness / panhandling and public intoxication by creating supportive housing (housing 1st approach) to help those less fortunate off the street, permanently and in a comprehensive manner.
Some of the key points heard from Calgary:
- A housing first approach has led to a significant re-education, almost elimination of panhandling and public intoxication, making their downtown safer. Image has improved.
- An end to homelessness is possible. The model is proven to work in Canada and the US.
- It has saved governments substantial operating dollars (services in general that help this community):
o Calgary: $134,000/person/year for chronically homeless vs. housing & support $10,000 to $25,000/person/year.
o 2007: More than $320 million is spent every year in Calgary on homelessness. If nothing was done, the cumulative economic cost of homelessness could be more than $9 BILLION in the next decade.
- Province of Alberta was not leading to address this issue. Calgary's Mayor, at the urging of the corporate community, decided to appoint someone to develop a 10 year plan to end homelessness. Corporations got involved and lended their leadership.
- The concerns of other cities and towns were collectively mobilized under this one strategy, and the community was involved in the process of creating the plan.
- The province was "forced" to respond and the dollars flowed.
- 3000 supportive housing units have been created in the last 4-6 years. 85% average housing retention rate. Homelessness across Alberta is dropping: Edmonton: 21% decrease from 2008 to 2010; Fort McMurray: 42% decrease 2008 to 2010; Lethbridge: 53% street homeless decrease from 2008 to 2010.
After our closed door meeting, there was a general conclusion of those in attendance that our City/Province requires a coordinated approach, and our own strategy to end homelessness, as is being done in Calgary. There is a clear need for coordination of plans and resources.
There seemed to be willingness for the group of stakeholders in attendance to meet again to determine how we can collectively coordinate the efforts of all the players, at all levels, to create a long-term strategy, and identify the required resources.
Lets see where this goes...
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