[homeles_ot-l] Shelters Overflow - Report Card on Ending Homelessness in Ottawa, Jan–Dec 2008

Mon Mar 30 15:30:30 EDT 2009

Hello everyone,

The 2008 Report Card will be released at a press conference for the media
tomorrow morning and then the full report card will go up on our website
right afterwards.  Perry Rowe’s comments to the media will be posted as well
as graphs on the five year trends in Ottawa. We’ve had several calls already
in response to the media release below (and attached).

As in past years, we couldn’t produce the report card without the generous
contributions from many member agencies who work hard to make it happen! 

Lynne

MEDIA RELEASE March 30, 2009

Media Conference to release fifth Report Card on Ending Homelessness in
Ottawa, Jan–Dec 2008 

Billions for banks while Ottawa shelters overflow: Children and youth
hardest hit

On March 31st, the Alliance to End Homelessness will release its fifth
annual Report Card on Ending Homelessness in Ottawa, covering Jan.-Dec.
2008. The Report Card evaluates the city’s progress in combating the crisis
of homelessness by comparing 2008 with 2007 to provide grades in four areas:
housing, income, homelessness and length of shelter stay. 

How did the city fare in 2008? 

“The 2008 grades won’t be out until tomorrow, but I can tell you these are
grades that no parent – or government – would want to see,” says Perry Rowe,
Chair of the Alliance to End Homelessness. 

The 2008 Report Card will report that the total number of men, women, youth
and children using shelters shot up over the year. Families alone increased
by 15.2%. There were 747 homeless families with 1,179 children under 16
years old in 2008. 

Perry Rowe is particularly concerned that not only were more people homeless
but they stayed in shelters an average of 51 days in 2008, five days longer
than in 2007. The average length of stay in an Ottawa shelter has been
increasing since 2006.

Where will people go when there’s no room at the ‘inn’? 

Since mid-2008, the demand for shelter beds has been surging and Ottawa
emergency shelters have been running out of beds every night. 

“Up to 100 people are sleeping on the floor every night. For instance, we
have up to 10 women a night show up at the women’s shelter and we’re not
able to accommodate them there," says Rowe. "Likewise, every month young
people go to the youth shelter but we’re not able to accommodate them there.
We have a severe shortage of supportive housing in the city for those
homeless people with the highest needs so they have no place to move to. Our
fear is that some people will fall through the cracks, especially now in a
faltering economy, despite the best efforts of our agencies to coordinate
and make sure everyone is helped.”

“The number of times shelter beds were used increased dramatically to
386,506 last year up from 341,212 in 2007. That’s an increase of 13%,”
reports Dr. Tim Aubry of the Centre for Research on Educational and
Community Services at the University of Ottawa. “The increase in ‘bed use’
in 2008 was mainly fueled by the larger number of families using shelters
and they stayed longer than in 2007. Another factor was that youth stayed in
shelters 70% longer than in 2007.”

He points to the Report Card’s housing market indicators which showed that
the vacancy rate for rental units went down to 1.4% in Ottawa in 2008, while
the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment went up by 3.6% to $827 a
month. There were only 134 new units of affordable housing in 2008. In 2007
only 74 units were created in total so 134 is moving in the right direction,
but the small growth does not offer much hope to the large number of people
who are homeless or at risk of losing their housing. The City of Ottawa
target to increase affordable housing is 500 units a year. 

Call for a formal investigation 

Dr. Aubry notes that the trend analysis after five years of tracking shows
that Ottawa’s shelter use has increased over the last three years in spite
of nonstop efforts by local agencies and community volunteers. 

Perry Rowe agrees, “Homelessness keeps growing and it remains a major issue
in this community. It’s time to name where the responsibility lies for the
failure to end homelessness.” 

Rowe is calling for a formal investigation at the federal and Ontario level
into the lack of progress: “Shelter use in Ottawa has increased over the
2004-2008 period we’ve issued the Report Card and the five-year homelessness
trend makes it clear that now is the time to initiate such an
investigation.” 

“It’s an appalling, shameful situation, but so far government responses have
failed. Only a major shift in policies on affordable housing, income levels
and supports can end homelessness. Last October, the federal government
announced plans to buy up to $25 billion in insured mortgage pools through
the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation*. If we can find $25 billion to
help our banks, why haven’t we acted more decisively to end homelessness?”

*                     The 2008 Report Card‘s final grades for housing,
income, homelessness and length of shelter stay and additional 2008 findings
and data will be announced at the Media Conference. 

*                     The Report Card will include a section on
“Made-in-Ottawa Solutions” with information on a number of innovative
housing solutions for homeless people developed in Ottawa. 

*                     It also includes a section on the role the three tiers
of government play in ending homelessness with a breakdown of their share of
funding for homelessness and housing.

The Report card is produced by The Alliance to End Homelessness, a non
partisan coalition of community agencies and concerned organizations and
individuals in Ottawa committed to working collaboratively to end
homelessness by gaining and promoting a better understanding of homelessness
and advocating for strategies to end it.

-30-

Media Conference to release The Report Card on Ending Homelessness in
Ottawa, Jan-Dec 2008

Date:         Tuesday, March 31, 10:00 a.m.

Location:  Salvation Army Booth Centre, 141 George Street (at Cumberland),
in the multipurpose room (Chapel)

To arrange interviews or for more information:

Lynne Browne, Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness

Cell 613-513-6647,  613-241-7913 ext 205, HYPERLINK
"mailto:lbrowne at ysb.on.ca"lbrowne at ysb.on.ca 

The Report Card will be presented by:

Perry Rowe, Chair, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH) and Executive
Director, The Salvation Army Ottawa Booth Centre    

Tim Aubry, ATEH Research and Evaluation Working Group and Senior Researcher,
Centre for Research on Educational & Community Services, University of
Ottawa 

Sue Garvey, Steering Committee, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH) and
Director, Cornerstone/Le Pilier, the women’s shelter

Sophia, a formerly homelessness youth 

Other members of the ATEH Steering Committee will be available for comment.

An additional community spokesperson affected by homelessness will be
available for interviews

Hard copies of the full Report Card and the Highlights from it will be
available at the Media Conference. 

English and French PDF versions of the Report Card will be posted later in
the day on March 31st on the ATEH website at HYPERLINK
"http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/"www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca 

* HYPERLINK
"http://www.fin.gc.ca/n08/08-075-eng.asp"http://www.fin.gc.ca/n08/08-075-eng
.asp “Last October, the federal government took steps to maintain the
availability of longer-term credit in Canada by purchasing up to $25 billion
in insured mortgage pools through the Canada Mortgage and Housing
Corporation (CMHC) to act to address the scarcity of private sector lending
to Canadian mortgage markets and lending markets overall in an effort to
make loans and mortgages more available and more affordable for ordinary
Canadians and businesses.”

Lynne Browne

Coordinator, Alliance to End Homelessness (ATEH)

147 Besserer St., Ottawa, ON K1N 6A7

613-241-7913, ext. 205, Cell 613-513-6647

HYPERLINK "http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca"www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca

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