Location: Waterloo, Ontario
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Homeless census met with criticism...
Quote:
City to survey the homeless
One-night count set for Wednesday, as activists question council's intentions
A controversial one-night city survey of the homeless is set to go ahead this week, despite opposition from some activists and a shortage of volunteers to walk the streets of suburban areas looking for homeless people.
Most of the 1,700 volunteers for what the city calls its "street-needs assessment" have signed up to work downtown, or in the city's shelters, for the Wednesday night survey.
Iain De Jong, the director of the city's Streets into Homes initiative, says officials could still use another 100 to 150 volunteers for the project, in order to cover the wide boulevards of the former cities of North York, Etobicoke and Scarborough.
"The more people we have for the outlying areas . . . the better," Mr. De Jong said yesterday. ". . . Homelessness isn't just a downtown issue."
While the city knows that more than 30,000 individuals cycle through its 4,800 shelter spaces each year, there are no reliable estimates of how many homeless people live outside the shelter system, sleeping on the streets and in ravines or squatting in abandoned buildings.
But the idea of surveying and counting Toronto's homeless -- something already tried in New York as well as several other Canadian cities, including Calgary and Vancouver -- has been controversial ever since it was included as part of Mayor David Miller's homelessness strategy, which was approved by city council last year.
Activist Cathy Crowe, the street nurse who co-founded the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee, said those who work with the street homeless already know how many there are.
She said the half-dozen or so city-funded street outreach agencies, members of which drive around and offer assistance to homeless people, agree with her group's long-standing estimate that there are at least 1,000 street homeless in Toronto at any one time, in addition to those in shelters.
Ms. Crowe, who is urging those who support the TDRC not to volunteer for the survey, said the count plays to "right-wingers" on city council that she says see street homelessness mainly as a "nuisance" that affects tourism.
She warned that the results -- to be made public in July -- will inevitably lowball the homeless problem, and won't include the "hidden homeless" who sleep in cramped apartments or on friends' couches.
"It's as if city council has just found out about this alien creature called a homeless person," Ms. Crowe said.
Mr. De Jong said the survey will produce a valuable baseline number of homeless people living on the street and inside shelters. It will also produce demographic data and information about what these people say they need, which will be used to "tweak" city programs.
"This is a survey about giving homeless people a voice," Mr. De Jong said. "It allows homeless people to state what their needs are."
It will cost at least $90,000, but Mr. De Jong said that figure does not include staff time spent working on the project.
Teams of two or three volunteers, led by professionals who work with the homeless, will approach people who look homeless between 7 p.m. and 12 a.m. and ask them to participate in a five- or 10-minute survey. Those who do will receive a $5 fast-food voucher.
Those who refuse, or are sleeping and unable to participate, will still be counted, using a shorter survey based only on observations by the team leader. Teams will also ask homeless people in the shelter system around the dinner hour to participate. City or community agency staff will handle approaching homeless people in ravines, abandoned buildings or other potentially dangerous areas.
The seven-page survey asks for demographic information such as age and gender.
Homeless people will also be asked if they think more money, help getting ID, alcohol or drug treatment, "mental health supports," or "harm reduction supports, e.g. methadone, safer crack kit, needle exchange," among other things, would help them find a place to live.
Volunteers for the survey, who must be 18 or older, will receive training on the night of the count, and can apply on-line at http://www.toronto.ca/housing/sna.
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I first heard a version of this new article on a local TV newscast and found the opposition to it interesting. $90,000 really isn't a lot of money and I was raised on the creed "knowledge is power." I don't understand why people don't think this effort is useful. It's not just a count of how many are homeless, although that would still be useful, it's a demographic survey. How can you solve a problem without understanding it?
Besides, spending the money to feed them for another day won't solve their problems any sooner... |