Calgary conducts first count of homelessness in 4 years – Calgary

On Tuesday night, a small army arrived in Calgary to gather a clearer picture of homelessness in the city.

Patricia Jones, president and chief executive officer of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, said: “The score in time – or, as we like to call it ‘the number of pits’ – provides an overall picture of homelessness. housing on any particular night.

“It’s just one of the tools we use to measure homelessness in Calgary and, therefore, to manage and design systems and support for people experiencing homelessness. .”

While Calgary has conducted annual counts since 1992, the last time was done in 2018. The outbreak of the pandemic canceled the 2020 count.

On Tuesday night, time counting was done simultaneously in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer and the Regional Town of Wood Buffalo.

Census ersatz collects three types of data: housing and shelter management; systems such as social services, health and justice; and data are collected from direct surveys.

“It’s not an intrusive or less intrusive process as we could be. It’s relational, it’s respectful, and it protects people’s privacy,” Jones said.

“They’re going to ask very specific questions so we can collect data to get a specific point in time on how many people are homeless and what some of the key issues are.”

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Data collection also allows civil society organizations to work with people experiencing homelessness to better understand “what is the current situation in the community, any progress being made in the community.” present in our efforts to end homelessness, where there may be some gaps or challenges, where we Elaine Wilson at CUPS Calgary said there is a need to be able to refocus energy, that there are certain small populations in that group that may need extra support to get out of homelessness,” says Elaine Wilson at CUPS Calgary.

Jones said keeping up to date with the data, especially after the pandemic has impacted the health and work of many Albertans, is important for those living on the brink of homelessness. .

“There are a lot of people who are still falling between the cracks.

“I believe we have a vacancy rate in Calgary. I think inflation has increased by 20%. So there’s a lot of people on the edge of the wedge and we need to make sure we have that safety net in place because I think that’s the hallmark of a healthy community: the way they support those people. most vulnerable,” Jones said.

Wilson said CUPS services, like its basic needs funds, have seen increased demand since COVID-19.

“Those basic needs that individuals (people) who may have pre-COVID have had a steady job or have some kind of income that they may have lost or been challenged by due to COVID being unable to work, I think a lot of that contributed to what she said.

“I think one of the benefits of COVID is a real sense of collaboration across industries.

“But we are still, even now as we slowly begin to come out to the other side, seeing the long-term effects that COVID has had on so many individuals who may not have had as many resources. other that they had access to. “