From Houston to Helsinki for housing

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/09/2023 (742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Earlier this month, a delegation from Winnipeg made its way to Houston to observe how Housing First dramatically reduces homelessness. This visit follows on previous discussions with Houston, Helsinki and Red Deer by local and provincial politicians looking for guidance.

Noteworthy among these cities and others around the world is each established a clear and executable plan to house vulnerable populations while Winnipeg continues to lag on co-ordination or an accompanying plan.

First, it is important to state that Winnipeg has used Housing First (HF) since 2009, beginning with three teams that housed nearly 300 people by mid-2010. These teams were funded by Health Canada through the At Home Chez Soi project (AHCS). At the time, Canada appeared more serious about reducing the nearly 35,000 Canadians who could not find housing on any given night. To date, AHCS remains the world’s largest study of Housing First and was carried out in five cities; Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and right here in Winnipeg.

Overall, AHCS moved 1,000 Canadians into housing, in the five cities, within the first 18 months of the four-year project. The vast majority of those in the project remained in stable housing for the duration of the study and continue to be housed more than a decade later, including persons in Winnipeg.

In fact, the model developed by AHCS remains the standard model of care used in cities around the world.

In a nutshell, HF is a mental health intervention that uses housing as the first step in recovery planning.

Housing combined with comprehensive case management are then used to create individualized plans. Each HF team has a small caseload, usually less than 100 persons with client to staff ratios as low as 10 clients for each staff member. This allows teams to work closely with persons and develop strong relationships aimed squarely at recovery and housing stability.

The foundational principle is client choice in the array of services and the type and location of housing. Critical to this working is ensuring the buy-in of the housing market (private, public and non-profit) to secure suitable accommodations.

However, when Winnipeg’s nearly $20-million allocation from the initial $110-million AHCS budget was exhausted, funding became less stable and relied on a patchwork of programs to support the teams established in 2009 and to add more.

Early on, funding from the federal government helped support more than 60 cities in developing Housing First approaches. But as time went on funding and adherence to the Housing First delivery standards changed.

Increasingly, HF teams also had to compete for limited funding from local foundations, direct donation and from the various levels of government. This led to a watering down of program delivery to balance the books. Certainly too, one can add in the chaotic nature of Canada’s affordable housing market that continues to shut people out — not to mention the ongoing pandemic’s influence.

This brings us back to Houston and Helsinki, which offer very important but distinct approaches. In the broadest sense, Helsinki is much more aligned with the initial AHCS model, with Finland taking a more nationally supported and funded model, while Houston is much more locally driven and supported at the city and state level. However, both models fundamentally work because there is buy-in that Housing First is an evidence-based model that remains the only proven intervention to significantly reduce homelessness.

Overall, HF is straightforward in principle but highly effective when teams adhere to established approaches. In the case of the AHCS project, a critical component that allowed teams to keep focused and deliver supports to the highest standards, included ongoing training and engagement, owing to the fact that staff transition can impact delivery.

The other strength of AHCS which is evident in Houston and Helsinki is the focus on co-ordination among the service providers and local leaders who focus on the task of keeping people in stable housing. AHCS also worked effectively because all who were at the table shared this goal. There was not a sense of competition for funding but a more co-ordinated effort to pool the resources necessary to promote wellness, recovery and housing stability.

If Winnipeg wants to be even more effective in supporting persons experiencing homelessness, we need a much more comprehensive plan in place that reflects our needs. While Houston and elsewhere offer great lessons, there is much more to be gained from investing the time and funds to address issues locally through a comprehensive plan that brings organizations together with a common goal.

Jino Distasio is a Professor of Geography at the University of Winnipeg and was a principal investigator on the AHCS Winnipeg and National team and has published extensively on Housing First.