Home » Ending Homelessness

Ending Homelessness

About Homelessness

Homelessness is an extreme form of poverty and social exclusion. Simply put, people who are homeless do not have safe, affordable, appropriate, permanent housing to which they can return whenever they choose. This includes people who are absolutely homeless and are living on the streets or in shelters, the ‘hidden homeless’ who are staying with friends, relatives or in institutional settings, and those ‘at risk’ of homelessness, whose current economic and housing situation is precarious.

Homelessness can result from a combination of individual and structural factors.

Individual factors that can contribute to homelessness include: deep poverty, mental or physical illness, addiction, trauma, abuse, lack of education and a lack of supportive relationships.

Structural causes of homelessness are social and economic in nature, and are often outside the control of the individual or family concerned. These may include: poverty; a lack of affordable housing; housing policies; the structure and administration of government support; and wider policy developments, such as the closure of psychiatric hospitals.

For more information visit The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness or visit our Resources page.

Source – Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness

PAEH - The Average Monthly Cost of Housing Someone While Homeless

The Cost of Homelessness

As of 2013, Homelessness cost the Canadian economy over 7 Billion Dollars annually. This figure is largely driven by the cost of emergency shelters, social services, health care and corrections. Homelessness is costly because we cycle people through expensive public systems and increasingly costly and uncoordinated emergency services systems. With a shift to permanent and preventative solutions we can reduce the long-term costs of homelessness and make more efficient and effective use of public resources.
Significant research has been done that explores the cost of housing someone in jail, hospitals or the shelter system compared to housing them in social or supportive housing. The difference is quite shocking. In a 2005 study by Pomeroy which looked at costs in four Canadian cities, institutional responses (jails, hospitals etc.) cost $66,000-$120,000 annually, emergency shelters cost $13,000-$42,000 annually whereas supportive and transitional housing cost $13,000-$18,000 and affordable housing without supports was a mere $5,000-$8,000.
This cost analysis doesn’t look at the social and human costs. Not only is putting someone in housing cheaper, it is also much more humane. The longer someone remains homeless the greater likelihood that their physical and mental health will deteriorate and there is an increased chance of an early death.

We can end homelessness in Peel

The words “ending homelessness” often bring to mind a vision of a day when no person will ever experience homelessness – the ideal Absolute Zero concept. The goal of a Functional Zero end to homelessness, is to achieve a point where there are enough services, housing and shelter beds for anyone who needs them. This ensures that anyone who experiences homelessness does so only briefly, is rehoused successfully, and therefore unlikely to return to homelessness. Through a focus on enumeration, coordinated access and common assessment, PAEH aims to improve coordination of the homelessness system of care in Peel and work towards a functional zero.

Learn more at HomelessHub.ca.