Overview
This position paper highlights the urgent need for transformative, systems-level strategies to address a “new homelessness” emerging post-COVID. It argues that conventional approaches are insufficient and calls for multifaceted solutions rooted in data, equity, and community-led innovation.
Key Themes and Insights
1. The New Homelessness Post-COVID
- Rise in chronic homelessness, visible encampments, and public health risks.
- New demographics impacted: working families, immigrants, and the previously housed.
- Pandemic intensified housing pressures, mental health crises, and addiction issues.
2. Core Drivers of Homelessness
- Interconnected issues: lack of affordable housing, poverty, systemic racism, trauma, climate risks, and service fragmentation.
- Emphasis on viewing homelessness as a symptom of deeper societal gaps.
3. Forecast to 2030
- Without intervention, absolute and hidden homelessness is projected to steadily rise.
- Canada will need 1.3 million non-market housing units and 103,000 supportive care beds.
- Wraparound supports and housing loss prevention measures are equally critical.
Strategic Gamechangers
A. Systems Planner Organizations (SPOs)
- Example: Homeward Trust Edmonton – leading in integrated, data-driven planning.
- Need for SPOs to adopt real-time analytics, AI tools, and community engagement practices.
- Focus on inflow (prevention), optimization (system design), and outflow (sustained housing).
B. Truly Smart Cities
- Case Study: Penticton, BC’s integrated systems planning and safety officer program.
- Cross-sector collaboration and lived experience data are essential for responsive city systems.
Priority Areas for Action
1. Recalibrating the Social Safety Net
- Canada invests over $1 trillion annually in social services, yet systems remain fragmented.
- Calls for a national integrated digital platform and regional community hubs.
2. Justice and Health System Reforms
- Need for better discharge planning and health-based interventions, not punitive responses.
- Promote complex care centers and early interventions for at-risk individuals.
3. Education and Early Intervention
- Position schools as front-line identification and support systems.
- Encourage school-based family hubs and educator training.
4. Personalized & Equitable Systems
- Services must reflect intersectional realities: gender, race, trauma, rurality.
- Prioritize culturally safe, trauma-informed care especially in smaller communities.
5. Reconciliation and Indigenous Housing
- Fund and empower Indigenous-led solutions, expand land rights and self-governance.
- Address systemic underfunding of small reserves and remote Indigenous communities.
6. Addressing the Housing Supply Gap
- Embrace social enterprise development models and public-private-community partnerships.
- Innovate using modular builds, 3D printing, and sustainability practices.
7. Supporting the Frontline
- Invest in workforce development, mental health supports, and value-based funding models.
Vision for 2030
To end the new homelessness, Canada must:
- Build 1.3M non-market housing units
- Invest $165B in social housing and $10B/year in supports
- Close gaps in emergency shelters, transitional housing, and case management
- Embrace ESG principles in business and urban planning
- Coordinate globally to address migration, conflict, and climate pressures
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