Take a stroll through almost any city park and you鈥檒l see the sure signs of spring: Flowers blooming, birds in the trees - and an ever increasing number of tents springing up across the expanse.
In fact, by March 15, outreach workers counted 202 tents, more than double the number present at the same time last year.
Not so coincidentally, saw a similar, though not quite so dramatic rise: A daily average of 178 people were 鈥渦nmatched鈥 with shelters this March, compared to 119 last year and just 64 in March, 2022.
These stark statistics reveal two things. First, our efforts to help people exit homelessness aren鈥檛 working — or at least aren鈥檛 working yet. Grandiose plans to develop millions of homes by some far off date — usually in the 2030s - -might give us hope for the future, but they won’t provide a roof over anyone’s head today.
Second, we鈥檙e not just failing to ensure that currently unhoused people find permanent shelter. Instead, as the increasing encampments demonstrate, we’re seeing more precariously housed people losing theirs. We are, therefore, moving in reverse, with more people entering homelessness than exiting it.
To get things headed in the right direction, we need to do more than build affordable housing. New housing is essential, but that is a solution for the years to come. And as we fix our gaze upon the future, we must not lose sight of the present, of the people currently at risk of losing their homes, and of those whose homes are already a distant or not-so-distant memory.
In a聽聽the federal housing advocate said that what was lacking to deal with encampments was “sufficient political will, resources and coordination.” Marie-Jos茅e Houle urged the the federal government to establish what she called a “National Encampments Response plan” that provide immediate aid for those in encampments, an end to forced evictions and the urgent聽funding of adequate housing and supports to provide get people re-housed quickly.
“A growing number of people in 91原创 are having to live in tents or informal shelters to survive due to a lack of affordable housing, limited support services, and nowhere safe to go,” she wrote.
The offers hope for both now and the future. Its grandiose plan promises to unlock 3.87 million homes by 2031 through a variety of measures, including by building homes on public lands, 91原创 Post properties, National Defence lands and federal office buildings.
But Ottawa also has its feet planted firmly in the present, as the budget includes multiple measures designed to address homelessness and encampments, and to protect those currently living in precarious housing situations.
Key among these measures is Reaching 91原创: 91原创鈥檚 91原创lessness Strategy, a community-based program that supports organizations working to reduce and prevent homelessness.
The 2024 budget earmarks $1 billion over four years to stabilize funding for the program. A further $250 million, spread over two years, will be directed toward renovating and building more shelters and transitional housing and responding 鈥渢o the unique experiences of those affected by unsheltered homelessness, including those living in encampments.鈥
The stresses the significance of this language, as it represents an acknowledgment that governments have a responsibility to support people living in encampments, rather than merely forcing them out of parks.
And in recognition that all governments have a role to play, the funds are contingent on matching buy-in from the provinces.
Similarly, the budget includes $1.1 billion for sheltering asylum claimants, conditional on provincial and municipal funding for permanent shelters. As the influx of migrants has placed undue stress on the municipal shelter system, these funds could not only free up room in the shelters, but also smooth federal-municipal relations.
For people at risk of losing their homes, the budget proposes the creation of a new $1.5 billion 91原创 Rental Protection Fund, which will enable affordable housing providers to acquire units and maintain rents at stable levels.
And to protect tenants and crack down on renovictions, Ottawa is proposing a Canadian Renters鈥 Bill of Rights, and is launching a new, $15 million Tenant Protection Fund which will support organizations that provide legal services to renters.
For those renters who still can鈥檛 make ends meet, Ottawa and the provinces provide the 91原创 Housing Benefit, which subsidizes the rent of low-income tenants. However, as increasing encampment numbers suggest the benefit is insufficient, governments need to consider enhancing it.
Overall, though, the budget represents a significant advance in Ottawa鈥檚 approach toward, and support for, unhoused people. And with the support of other levels of government, it could help encampment dwellers to pack up and, finally, to go home.
