Report
to/Rapport au :
Community and Protective Services
Comité des services communautaires
et de protection
7 November 2007/le 7 novembre 2007
Submitted by/Soumis par : Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal
adjoint,
Community and Protective
Services/Services communautaires et de protection
Contact
Person/Personne ressource : Russell Mawby, Director
Housing/Logement
(613) 580-2424 x 44162, russell.mawby@ottawa.ca
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REPORT RECOMMENDATION
That Community and Protective Services Committee receive this report for information.
RECOMMANDATION DU
RAPPORT
Que le Comité des services
communautaires et de protection reçoive le présent rapport à titre
d’information
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In February 2007, Community and
Protective Services Committee (CPSC) adopted a report entitled Streets to
Homes Initiative for Addressing Homelessness. The report disposition directed staff to provide an analysis of
current costs of municipal services provided to the homeless population in
Ottawa in order to build a business case for investment in housing with supports;
to identify where to maximize the value of the current community investments to
directly contribute to the achievement of the objectives of a housing first
strategy; and to provide a progress report back to CPSC by fall 2007.
The City of Ottawa’s Housing Branch
commissioned Focus Consulting to conduct research in order to build a business
case for investment in housing with supports.
The objective is to present the relative cost to provide services across
a range of existing responses to homelessness within the City of Ottawa. A summary of findings is below.
RÉSUMÉ
En février 2007, le Comité des services communautaires et de protection
(CSCP) a approuvé un rapport intitulé Initiatives
« De la rue à un logement » pour atténuer le problème des sans-abri. Ce
document donnait instruction au personnel de préparer une analyse du coût des
services municipaux actuellement offerts à la population de sans-abri d’Ottawa,
cette analyse devant permettre d’élaborer un dossier d’analyse pour
l’investissement dans des logements avec services de soutien et de déterminer
les domaines où l’on pourrait optimiser les investissements communautaires afin
de réaliser les objectifs de la stratégie de priorité au logement. Un rapport
d’étape à ce propos devra être soumis au Comité d’ici à l’automne 2007.
La Direction du logement de la Ville d’Ottawa a donc demandé à la société
Focus Consulting d’effectuer une étude qui servirait de base à l’élaboration du
dossier d’analyse et qui indiquerait les coûts relatifs afférents à la gamme de
services présentement offerts pour répondre aux besoins des sans-abri de la
ville d’Ottawa. Un résumé des conclusions du rapport figure ci-dessous.
BACKGROUND
In February 2007, Community and
Protective Services Committee (CPSC) adopted a report entitled Streets to
Homes Initiative for Addressing Homelessness. The report disposition directed staff to provide an analysis of
current costs of municipal services provided to the homeless population in
Ottawa in order to build a business case for investment in housing with
supports; to identify where to maximize the value of the current community
investments to directly contribute to the achievement of the objectives of a
housing first strategy; and to provide a progress report back to CPSC by fall
2007.
DISCUSSION
Costs of Various Responses to Homelessness
Homelessness is a complex and
interrelated issue that involves a range of conditions and contextual
variables. For many, the causes of
homelessness are structural – unemployment, deinstitutionalization and
associated mental health problems, rising costs of housing and the cancellation
of government sponsored affordable housing programs.
The chart below identifies the
costs associated with various responses to homelessness in the city of
Ottawa. The chart below clearly
illustrates that institutional and emergency responses are much more costly
than long-term housing options, even when including the costs associated with
providing client support services with the housing. The costs in this chart reflect the public subsidy
expenditure. Actual costs incurred by
the service provider may be higher and augmented by fund-raising or tenant
payments.
The continuum of homelessness often takes individuals or families through various forms of institutional and emergency responses. While few homeless persons actually access the full spectrum of responses, some, and especially those defined as chronically homeless (e.g., recurrent and ongoing use of emergency shelters) re-circulate through various emergency and institutional facilities.
In the past year, 859 single men and women used the emergency shelter services in Ottawa for over sixty days. This represents 30% of the single homeless population in the shelters. Chronic shelter use in the family shelters is not an issue.
Use of various emergency services (policing, detention, ambulance and emergency hospital care) is up to ten times more expensive than permanent supportive housing. For severely mentally ill and addicted persons that require more intense levels of service, the cost of institutional care is four times that of residentially-based responses, even when supplemented by more intense professional medical/psychiatric teams. These comparisons reflect the cost of operating/providing a particular service for a single day. The comparisons do not take into consideration frequency or duration of service utilization and such measurement is outside the scope of the current study. The next phases of research will look at actual usage of services by homeless people, and staff and community agencies are working with the University of Ottawa and others to develop and secure funding for this longitudinal research.
These findings from Focus Consulting are consistent with research they have conducted in other Canadian cities (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax). A summary of costs from these 4 cities is below:
Investment in Housing with Supports
It is far more cost effective to provide affordable, supportive housing than to treat the daily crisis caused by the lack of supportive housing. The current system is mainly geared to dealing with the crisis. The main gap is lack of adequate supports to help people stay in their homes and out of emergency rooms, shelters. The responsibility for the funding of supports to housing lies with the provincial government.
While community supportive housing is roughly equivalent in cost compared to the public expenditures incurred in the institutionalized emergency shelter system, supportive housing provides a much more stabilizing environment which likely reduces incidence of emergency service use (i.e. emergency hospitals, policing services, etc.) It also provides a more stable and higher quality of life for the formerly homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless.
An example of a current program aimed at helping to prevent homelessness is the recently funded “Aging in Place” program for seniors in social housing. Located in five apartment buildings, this program provides immediate access to supports for over 1,200 seniors, and has already reduced or eliminated chronic use of emergency room medical services. Annual funding for this program is $700,000, from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. While not specifically about chronic homelessness, it is a good demonstration of the importance and value of funding preventative supports to housing.
Update on Ottawa’s Community Action Plan to Prevent and End
Homelessness
There is a commitment in the Ottawa community of stakeholders in homeless services to a housing first approach, whether it is moving directly from the street or moving as quickly as possible from emergency shelters. In other words, no one wants homeless individuals and clients to wait until employment, sheltered workshops, etc, are in place before placing them in housing.
Some examples of projects include:
§ In 2006, there were 57 individuals moved directly from the streets to housing with the assistance of outreach workers and housing search agencies that the City funds
§ The Housing Loss Prevention Network (HLPN) is made up of 6 agencies working together to provide a broad range of comprehensive housing support services for tenants in Ottawa who are at risk of losing their housing. The total budget is $928,877 (a combination of funds from all three orders of government). In 2006, the HLPN served 3000 households at risk of losing their housing, and over 85% retained their housing and did not become homeless.
§ Homeless people are given priority for social housing. On average, over 2 out of every 10 social housing units are assigned to homeless people, but dedicated supports are lacking. Housing Branch is currently reviewing this priority as part of a review of local policies for social housing.
The homelessness Community Capacity Building (CCB) Steering Committee is a group of funders, representatives of networks of service providers, the business community and the general public that formed in 2004 to monitor and support the implementation of the Community Action Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness in Ottawa (CAP). The elements of the Community Action Plan are comprehensive in scope, dealing with longer-term strategies as well as immediate priority projects.
§ Key Result Area 1: Prevent People from Becoming Homeless
§ Key Result Area 2: Ensure people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness have a full range of affordable housing options and appropriate supports
§ Key Result Area 3: Support people when they are homeless.
§ Key Result Area 4: Create opportunities for people to move out of homelessness
§ Key Result Area 5: Advocate for Public Investment in Long-Term Solutions to Homelessness
§ Key Result Area 6: Strengthen the Service System for Homelessness
Next Steps in Ottawa
The Housing Branch is working with university researchers to undertake further longitudinal research to follow a representative sample of homeless individuals and families to determine the actual costs of support services they access, and also a long-term study to monitor the impacts of providing housing with supports in reducing emergency shelter use.
Efforts to build strong community support to the "Housing First" model described in the original report are on-going, with strong interest being shown from a number of sectors of the community, including businesses, service agencies and advocates. The focus of these efforts is to get the federal and provincial governments to invest in long-term, stable funding for supports and permanent places to live for the up to 900 people in Ottawa who are chronic users of shelters and emergency services. The model is based on over 200 similar initiatives in the United States, as well as Calgary and Red Deer.
CONSULTATION
N/A
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are no financial implications associated with this report.
CITY STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS
This report supports the City Strategic Direction: In cooperation with federal and provincial partners, end homelessness in Ottawa in 10 years.
DISPOSITION
Community and Protective Services Department, Housing Branch to action any direction received as part of consideration of this report.