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The solution to homelessness? Give them a home

By: Gordon Sinclair Jr.

26/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 14

"My jaw dropped reading all the academic studies"

-- Research analyst Bri Trypuc, in Homeless in Canada study

I have a different reaction when I read the reams of research about the homeless. My reaction has less to do with my jaw than my eyes.

It makes them water.

And it makes me angry.

At least it did this week when an email arrived as I was digesting the announcement of yet another research study of the homeless -- this time a federally funded national study that includes Winnipeg and will cost $110 million over five years.

The email that arrived so coincidentally was from Martha Grant, a representative of Toronto-based Charity Intelligence Canada.

"After reading a number of your articles," she wrote, "I thought you might be interested in a new report released by Charity Intelligence Canada (Ci) on homelessness in Canada."

The key findings were further down in the email.

It was the second one that stopped me.

"Chronic homelessness is deadly, resulting in an estimated 1,350 people dying each year..."

That's when my eyes teared.

At the time I didn't know why, but it occurred to me later that what made the number 1,350 so meaningful was the number one -- the homeless person I know who's trying so hard to avoid being a statistic. Faron Hall.

There was lots more to the report, but that other emotion -- anger -- was already drawing me back to reading more about the just-announced national study in five Canadian cities.

In Winnipeg's case, it will take 300 certified mentally ill homeless aboriginal people off the street and into housing that will offer them intensive followup support and services for 18 months.

Sounds like a great start.

But there will be another 300 homeless people who suffer from mental illness who will not get housing.

They're the control group.

The problem is, the latest study is not a solution.

It's simply the latest in a countless number of studies of the homeless.

The bigger problem, the awful irony, is the researchers already know the solution, or they should by now.

The best way to help the chronically homeless help themselves has been tested, applied and proven in other studies that show it works over and over across the U.S. and even in Canada.

Give the homeless a home.

That's the solution, or at least the beginning of the solution. Give them housing first and then offer them intensive support and treatment.

As Betty Edel, the executive director of Mount Carmel Clinic, said this week: "How can you say to someone who is homeless, 'Well, we'll give you a place if you sober up?' Well, a lot of times that's their coping mechanism because of all the fear and all the strife on the streets."

The model is known as "housing first" and it has not only proven to help the homeless, it's been proven to do it at a lower cost to taxpayers.

The concept was created by Canadian-born psychologist Sam Tsemberis, who's participating in the new national study that's basically trying to test the housing-first concept in five different demographic groups in the five chosen cities.

But the idea, I would suggest, is more about regionally tweaking rather than truly testing the housing-first concept.

Everyone involved knows, or should know, it has worked in Canada because the concept has already been piloted successfully in Calgary and Toronto.

As Tsemberis told the CBS Evening News two years ago:

"Housing is the cure for homelessness. It's that simple."

Yet, here we go again.

Another study to prove the proven.

Why not simply provide housing for the chronically homeless, thereby saving lives and saving money?

It can be regionally tweaked after the homeless get what they need first. A safe place to live.

But that would require the political will to actually spend money on people too many Canadians only see with their hands out.

So, instead of housing first, we have study first. Study first being the tired old concept where researchers have a field day and politicians take a holiday from responsibility.

I told you I was angry.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2009 B1

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14 Commentscomment icon

Don't worry, the pretty young women are all working at Earl's and making WAY more than minimum wage!

whosays

You can look up Anarcho-capitalism at Wikipedia to see what the ideology is all about.

It is not we who seek a Utopia. It is the people who believe in government...coercive force...that seek to shape the world to their Utopia that will never happen.

"Eaton's elevator operators were not all disabled."

Looks like you are not as old as I because I remember the one legged individuals, war veterans who ran those elevators in the 60's. Even if they were pretty young women, no one hires them any more because their labor was priced out of the market a long time ago. So the economic lesson is the same.

Paradise lost? Try Ireland from 400 AD to about 1400 AD. No government for 1000 years.

Anyway, I am pretty well watching the most powerful nation state in history self destruct right before my eyes. Canada is so tied to the American economy that we might go down with them.

Ron Paul is making great strides in America. His End the Fed campaign is catching on. Soon enough there will be a call for an end to the Income tax and a return to the gold standard.

So the bottom line is I don't have to do a darn thing. The socialism we now embrace will destroy this country and I'm hoping that when people have had enough of the government, they will end where they should have began: by having faith in liberty rather than states.

Jenny

Why not make minimum wage $100 an hour? A lot of entry level jobs will never be created is why there should be no minimum wage.

You have mental health issues, on welfare and living in a Manitoba Housing unit. If your disease causes you to end up in hospital, welfare will not pay your rent. You will get evicted for non-payment. Back to the streets you go. Why? MH policy is to reward property managers for low arears. Then they pay someone to remove your belongings.
Wierd eh, paying a contractor $500 because they lose $350 in rent.

Thank you Jenny, for the most white bread comment ever. You're a born politician if there ever was one. Leave your job immediately and drive to the legislature for your new career.

@Chris Buors - I have been reading your rants for years. Always good for a chuckle. I know you believe that everything ever imagined by government has had the exact opposite effect than intended. Property rights, marijuana, taxes, employment, housing, chemicals, sunshine, balloon animals....the list goes ever on.

I know, I know..a truly free market society will balance everything from poverty to bad haircuts. True freedom means no rules. Rules are oppressive MAAAAAAANN!!!

Give your head a shake. The Utopia you envision will never happen. You'll die insisting that everyone just listen to you to become more enlightened.

Eaton's elevator operators were not all disabled. I knew almost all of them. Pretty young girls mostly. Don't know who's feeding you your info about elevators and movie ushers.

You know.

You know.

We know that you think you know.

Paradise Lost my friend. Paradise Lost.

You know what makes me angry, Gordon? The fact that we are building a human rights museum to study and discuss human rights instead of spending that money on supporting actual human rights. This is a very taboo topic at the Free Press, since the paper's editorial board decided to take a pro-museum stance and thus feature endless puff stories and press releases rather than real hard news about the musuem project.

The public was simply told that there were getting this tax-payer funded museum, without being given a chance to say yea or nay. Well, the vast majority are saying nay now by voting no with their wallets and denying the museum organizers the millions of dollars that they desperately need to create what will very likely by a massive white elephant.

We should have been given a choice. And if we were, I bet more people would have said yes to funding intiatives that actually help those in need, rather than help those with the most powerful voices to create a legacy to wealthy family masquerading as a facilty that we actually need. Shame on the Free Press editorial board for taking sides instead of simply reporting the news.

The solution to homelessness is much more than just giving them a home.

If someone is poor you can solve that by giving them money. If someone is homeless, then you can give them a home. But if the person is an alcoholic or drug abuse, and poor and homeless, giving them anything is not going to solve their problems, if they just wind up abusing again.

Next to no one in this country has lived on their lives entirely on the streets, there are reasons why people end up without a home and job - and most of that centres behind addiction. Farrn was given an apartment, and he wound back up on the streets again - why? Because he wasn't ready to get rid of his addiction.

I agree - give them a home. I think there are a few nice big homes in River Heights or Tuxedo that would nicely house some of our homeless. And of course the current residents of that area would be great role-models, I'm sure...

It's disgusting how research groups rape the government coffers for funds for something so apparent it stares them right in the face. And it's disgraceful how our government agree's with this.

Cuba has no homelessness.
Canada needs to step up to the plate.
We are WORLDS behind in this area compared to a poverty stricken 3rd world nation, that also happens to send more doctors to poor 3rd world nations then the entire world health organization..
Hmm Maybe communism is actually onto something...

A few suggestions.

First, increase the minimum wage from $9.00 to $11.00 or $12.00.

Secondly, a lot of homeless people are battling alcohol and substance addictions. That is why a lot of homeless people are homeless in the first place. More funding for addiction treatment will decrease addiction rates which in turn will decrease the number of homeless people.

Third, untreated and undiagnosed mental health issues will put a lot of sufferers on the street. More mental health awareness and better and more accessible treatment is required to decrease the number of homeless people with mental illnesses on the streets.

Throwing more money at housing for homeless people will help remedy the problem temporarily. It is not a realistic long-term solution. To truly combat this homeless issue, you have to look at the root of the problem.

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