A National Dialogue Begins
Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada
By John R. Graham and Jeannette Waegemakers Schiff

Homelessness is not just an urban issue facing single persons. It affects people of all ages and walks of life, and for many Canadians, its threat is only a paycheque or two away from reality.

In order to address the surge in housing and homelessness-related issues facing Canadians, the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary recently hosted “Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada,” from February 18 through 20, 2009.
This second national conference attracted a broad spectrum of over 650 attendees, including those who are experiencing or have experienced homelessness, policy analysts, political activists, politicians, professionals, students, scholars, those in the home building community and concerned individuals from the corporate sector.

There were practitioners from the major homeless-serving professions – social work, nursing, psychology, psychiatry and medicine, among others; academic disciplines such as anthropology, economics, education, geography, political science, sociology and urban planning; senior civil servants at the national and provincial levels; local, provincial and federal policiticians, as well as senior administrators from the Canada Housing and Mortgage Company.

Over 140 academic papers and workshops were delivered by the country’s leading researchers and homelessness-serving practitioners. Daily keynotes were given by people who had experienced homelessness, those who had written on it in the popular media, and those who had researched it as scholars. There were roundtables involving innovative solutions at the provincial and national levels, and a cross-section of 10-Year Plans to End Homelessness from across the country. Senator Art Eggleton presented findings of the Committee of Social Affairs, Science and Technology, a major senate committee whose report, integrating input from the conference, will be published late this year.
We learned six things from this national dialogue.

First, there are a lot of homeless people in Canada, between 150,000 to 300,000, depending on the calculation, and up to five times more who are invisible, doubled up or “couch surfing” – living temporarily with friends or acquaintances but paying no rent. Various governments commit between $4 and $6 billion yearly to support those on the streets. In comparison, the recently-announced national commitment to new social housing is only $2 billion.
Next, the major causes of homelessness are two-fold. There are structural issues that can increase the risk of homelessness, including threats to income such as a rise in unemployment; low assistance levels for those with disabilities and seniors; lack of social housing and rent supports; insufficient affordable housing; and too many precarious jobs (involving job insecurity, low wages or high risks of ill health).

Then there are events in a person’s life that under the worst circumstances may lead to homelessness. These personal triggers include such crises as leaving the parental home because of conflict and abuse, marital or relationship breakdown, family violence, death of a spouse, leaving prison, leaving some form of social- or health-sector care, sharp deterioration in mental health, increase in alcohol or drug abuse, mounting debts or eviction from a rented or owned home. In this time of economic uncertainty, these issues have become urgent and threatening.

Third, “homelessness” is a term that emerged in the media during the 1980s, a time when the phenomenon itself came to the fore; it is a people-made problem, coinciding with decreases in public income security and social service programs to prevent homelessness, the discharge of many thousands out of mental health facilities and into the community, and broad structures of retrenchment and downloading from national to provincial to municipal governments and ultimately to civil society. Ultimately, the  solutions to the problem of homelessness are also going to be people-made.

Fourth, there are solutions to the crisis of homelessness. If the proper supports are in place, and the appropriate accommodations secured, 80 percent or more who are homeless can successfully transition to stable housing. Government funding is not the only answer, but is a large and essential part of any solution. Innovations occur locally, but a coordinated, sufficiently funded and accountable national strategy is essential. Until recently, the government had been out of the social housing sector for over 20 years; it is back in, as it used to be; and its role needs to be first among other stakeholders in the public, private, and third sector areas.

Fifth, new forms of political activism and consciousness-raising are needed: community cafes where all those interested can discuss and debate the issues, more involvement of non-experts, and tearing down artificial silos through the use of Internet opportunities such as Wikis, blogs and Facebook. Consciousness-raising is key, and while much good work happens locally, the momentum needs to be grown across jurisdictions – provincial, national and even international.

Finally, one of the most striking moments at last week’s conference was the dissolving of roles, titles, and assumptions – so much so that by mid-conference, it was difficult to tell the difference between a homeless person, an academic, a senior government person, a politician, or a business community member. Everyone worked together, generating ideas and learning from each other’s valuable perspectives.

The consensus? Homelessness is solvable but it will take all of us to make it happen.

John R. Graham and Jeannette Waegemakers Schiff are professors at the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary, and co-organizers of Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada (nhc2009.ca).