Casting a Spotlight on Homelessness

​National Housing Day on November 22 has raised public consciousness about homelessness, but the issue for organizations like Green Wood Coalition remains – how do we sustain and leverage this awareness into a movement for greater change?

On November 15th, almost a year to the day after the 20,000 Homes Campaign surveyed Northumberland County’s homeless and risk of homeless population, County Council reviewed a “one year later” report. It showed the steps being taken to coordinate faster and more integrated planning, housing placement and critical response among support agencies. Through a real-time “by name” registry that tracks those in need of housing, it shone a clearer light on the problem.

What we know is that 58 individuals and 17 families (including 26 children) were identified a year ago as homeless; another 179 individuals and 49 families (including 65 more children) were at risk of homelessness. Between January and June 2017, 36 individuals and 13 families had been found housing, although 17 per cent were placed in temporary settings at best. But by July of this year, most of the gains had been lost: 31 more individuals and 11 families were placed on the homeless registry

David Sheffield, Green Wood’s Community Director, says the survey helped to clarify and quantify the problem, “but with clarity comes recognition that we don’t have the services or the physical housing spaces to adequately serve the people who are most risk.

“The unfortunate reality is that for every one of the success stories, their spot on the list of people who are homeless has been filled by one or two other names.”

On November 22, the federal government released Canada’s first National Housing Strategy, which promises more affordable housing over the next decade. In Northumberland, a second homelessness survey will be conducted in April 2018, greater engagement with Indigenous organizations will try to address disproportionate homelessness among the county’s First Nations, and new housing support programs are in the works. Enhanced agency and county partnerships could help to remind local political leaders there’s still a lot of work to do.

For now, Northumberland’s homeless are still sleeping rough on the street, in cars or hunting for a last-minute couch to crash. The area’s shelters remain full most nights, and the Cobourg Police Service’s warming room offers a last, albeit safe, resort.