Homelessness

Counting the numbers

Forty-five individuals identified as being homeless in Prince Edward County, according to figures gleaned from a recent questionnaire. The number could in reality be three to five times higher, and in a population of around 25,000 that may still seem like a tiny percentage, but having just one person without a place to call home in the County is one too many. Data captured through a Point-in-Time Count (PiTC) on homeless enumeration was presented virtually to the Committee of the Whole meeting last Thursday by Prince Edward-Lennox and Addington Social Services (PELASS). PELASS Manager Connor Dorey provided an outline of what homelessness looks like within the service area of Prince Edward and Lennox Addington (PE-L&A), how the PiTC on homeless enumeration was undertaken and the results it revealed. “Housing has been, and will continue to be, a priority for all levels of government and it’s important we have that conversation about housing affordability and what that all looks like,” said Dorey. “We also consider the earlier stages of the housing continuum, that being homelessness.”

A Point-in-Time Count captures the numbers and basic demographics of people experiencing homelessness at a single point in time, in this case on November 15, 2021. In addition to the PiTC, PELASS also implemented a By-Name List which is a real-time list of all known people experiencing homelessness within a given geographic area and community. They also conducted a registry week (from November 16 to 18) to ensure they could connect individuals with the By-Name List component. “Also, through those days, we asked individuals where they were staying on the night of November 15 to ensure that they could be included in the PiTC.”

Dorey explained how the methodology used was two-fold. “First, we had a questionnaire where we asked about demographics and why someone may have lost their most recent housing.” Sixty-eight completed questionnaires were received during the process. They also had a component of observing individuals experiencing homelessness. “Perhaps an individual wasn’t comfortable in completing the questionnaire or we weren’t able to connect with an individual that we were servicing and was experiencing homelessness,” explained Dorey. “In these instances, we were able to observe those individuals or households as experiencing homelessness where 27 additional individuals were observed to be experiencing homelessness.”

The By-Name List was built into the PiT questionnaire as a separate section that asked other questions. “Of the 68 questionnaires completed, 90 percent identified they want to continue engaging with services that may be available to them.” It was identified that 95 individuals were experiencing homelessness, broken down as 50 individuals within Lennox and Addington, 45 within Prince Edward County. “The number could be higher, but that is going to be the strength of the By-Name List as we can continue to add individuals in real-time that are experiencing homelessness to get a better sense of what the numbers look like.”

Forty-seven percent of individuals experiencing homelessness identified to be provisionally accommodated, meaning they may be couch surfing. “It lacks stability and it lacks security, it provides a roof over their head in that time, but it lacks that long-term security.” Nine percent of individuals identified to be unsheltered. “Unsheltered could consist of somebody sleeping in a public place, in a tent or in a vehicle, and in some cases not sure of where they would be sleeping that evening.”

What the enumeration count revealed in terms of the age breakdown of respondents was there is representation of homelessness across all age groups, something Dorey says was anticipated. Over 40 percent fell into the 26 to 45 age bracket; around five percent were aged 65-plus. The under-25s counted for more than 20 percent. “The youth homelessness has been identified as a provincial priority, so it’s important that we capture the age of individuals, especially as they become part of the By-Name List.” Also of note, 21 percent of individuals identified as Indigenous or having Indigenous ancestry. “When we compare that to the most recent Census data which showed five percent of individuals living within PE-L&A identify as Indigenous or having Indigenous ancestry, it’s clear there is an over representation of the homelessness population that are identifying as Indigenous, with approximately one in five individuals.”

Sixty-seven percent of respondents identified they were on their own, the remaining 33 percent may have been living or experiencing homelessness with a spouse, with a family member, and in some instances with children. On a gender breakdown, 53 percent identified as male, 44 percent as female and three percent identified as other. Five percent of respondents identified as veteran status. “We asked if the individual was in foster care or in a youth group home and it was identified that approximately 33 percent had been.” Dorey referred to this figure as a significant over representation in the homeless population within the service area.

Twenty percent of respondents said a financial factor caused their most recent housing loss, but there was a wide range of reasons, such as conflict with a family member, abuse or fleeing abuse, mental health, and renovictions.

“When we asked about the barriers currently present that prevent the individual from accessing housing, as expected the most common responses were related to financial, whether the rent was too high or the individual didn’t have enough income.” He said there are many other barriers outside of financial, such as mental health and addictions issues, housing conditions or the availability of housing, and family conflict.

Of particular note in the PE-L&A area is the higher prevalence of the hidden and shadow homelessness which refers to those experiencing homelessness who are sleeping on couches, who are temporarily housed. “We also identified there are potential social inequalities that may have resulted in an individual experiencing homelessness.” Dorey said during the conversations with homeless persons who agreed to be a part of questionnaire, homelessness was in many cases about an emergency room-type of approach. “We are dealing with individuals who were experiencing homelessness as they are walking in that emergency room where we need to focus on opportunities that may support preventing that individual from getting to that emergency room state,” Dorey said.

The information gathered will be used to set priorities, but also to advocate at the provincial and federal levels of government. “Using that data is important and making sure we understand what homelessness looks like within our area, so that really ties into setting priorities now and working with individuals, but also priorities long-term in working to reduce and eliminate homelessness.” The February 10 Committee of the Whole meeting is available for viewing at bit.ly/LiveStream PEC (presentation materials can be found on the County’s website).

Further information is available at lennox-addington. on.ca/social-services.

Barriers to finding housing: In order to better understand the reason why an individual may be without housing, respondents were asked “What challenges or problems have you experienced when trying to find housing?”. As there are many factors that can create these problems or challenges, respondents provided multiple answers.