A report coming forward to Hastings County council next week highlights a snapshot of the local homeless crisis.
The report highlights a survey conducted on November 15 in Belleville, Quinte West, Madoc and Bancroft.
There were 237 people spoken to, including 10 families with 26 dependent children. Of those, 95% stated they want to get into permanent housing but housing affordability was listed as the top barrier.
Director of Community and Human Services Suzanne Ritchie Raymond says the enumeration report wasn’t surprising but gave staff a couple of starting points.
“We’re certainly, you know, concerned with the disproportionate representation of Indigenous peoples, concerned about the number of people, 41%, indicated they had experienced homelessness for the first time as a child or a youth. Which is concerning and speaks to kind of the root causes with poverty.”
The survey also found of those who were homeless, 76% rely on social assistance as their primary source of income.
The largest demographic represented in the Point in Time (PiT) survey were those 30-49.
Ritchie Raymond said the enumeration supported the information gathered by the PiT survey conducted last April in Belleville.
She says Hastings County has a ten year housing and homelessness plan which was renewed in 2019, but the pandemic exacerbated the needs in the community.
“COVID has really amplified the needs of our community and so we need to revisit the data that is there and the new information that we will be capturing through these reviews, to really look at what are the steps that need to be taken to support people and how do we create those measures that are going to have a long term impact.”
The report highlights several recommendations for action going forward including a targeted strategy to prevent and reduce youth homelessness, addressing chronic homelessness, preventing and reducing hidden homeless and addressing housing affordability.
Ritchie Raymond also spoke about the hidden homeless, something staff knew but the data is confirming.
“You know, they’ve arranged something temporary and people are helping them out; but they don’t realize that it’s not a matter of they’re helping them out for a couple of weeks, like people are now actually temporarily residing with family and friends for extended periods of time.”
She said it often makes it unclear how many people in the community are truly homeless, while also amplifying the challenge of overcrowding in households.
Council will also vote on the development of a Housing and Homelessness Action Plan covering 2022 into 2024 which includes a housing master plan as well as Indigenous and youth homelessness reviews.
County council will also vote on implementing the Government of Canada’s mandated Homeless Individuals and Families Information System software that meets reporting requirements at a cost of $24,000 annually plus $15,000 for the implementation training and legal costs.
Ritchie Raymond says she was very glad to hear 127 people agreed to be added to the By-Name List, which will allow Hastings County staff and volunteers to stay in contact with those individuals and connect them to services and supports.
Hastings County’s Community and Human Services Committee meets on February 9 at 9:30 a.m.
See the enumeration report here.
