Shared shelters, underlying health conditions and lack of access to health care place Canada’s homeless population at a greater risk of contracting COVID-19, according to … A homeless person lies in a tent pitched in a centre reservation in downtown in Toronto on Saturday, April 18, 2020. In December, Ottawa Councillor Catherine McKenney started a petition to declare an affordable housing and homelessness emergency, which she plans to present to council in early 2020. Tents and tarps are now high on the wish lists of outreach and shelter workers — and these supplies must be distributed surreptitiously so agencies do not lose their city funding.In Windsor, Christine Wilson-Furlonger, a long-time outreach worker with a local outreach organization called Moncton has taken a zero tolerance policy toward tenting. “It isn’t appropriate for people to be living on the street when businesses that they use on a daily basis for washing their hands on a regular basis or using the toilet facilities are no longer open.”In April, several cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where hundreds of people live in close proximity on the street, in camps like Oppenheimer or in crowded shelters. The Vancity Community Foundation, the Interim CE for Reaching Home, and the Community Advisory Board (CAB) would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to each and every volunteer for making the count possible. Or are we ready to accept that we have the solution to homelessness in our hands?
Similar moves were made for long-standing encampments in Victoria as well. We made the decision to cancel out of concern for our CSG volunteers and the public during this Covid-19 situation. The city removed an encampment this spring, displacing approximately 80 people who dispersed and are now living outside, less protected from violence or injury. Housing to provide shelter, meals and harm-reduction services related to drug use. Please attribute the author(s) and mention that the article was originally published by This article first appeared on Policy Options and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. We shrug: “The poor will always be with us.” We forget that the current plague of homelessness is relatively new, the result of policy decisions governments have made over the last half-century.It turns out that when somebody has a reliable roof over their head, it is a lot easier to deliver these services with success. It’s been a brutal decade for homeless people in Canada.In Toronto alone, approximately 3,000 more people are homeless than 10 years ago.Shelters are full across the country. Some Canadians lived through periods of homelessness prior to that time. “We're really thrilled to see the strength of support for investing in housing,” Richter said. Poll shows Canadians favour national response to climate change despite Alberta’s carbon tax objections “We are in crisis mode as individuals and organizations, but we also are looking to a better future. Listen and subscribe to get a daily fix on the latest political news and issues. “We intend to serve this vulnerable population with dignity,” Grant McKenzie, Our Place spokesperson, said in a statement.In early April, Trudeau’s government also announced $157 million in funding to shelters and other homeless relief efforts, with specific money going to women’s and Indigenous-focused services.“It’s not just an issue of giving a safe place for people to escape violence or to give them shelter when they don’t have a home,” Trudeau said at the time. Similar reports are common across the Maritimes.Shelters face overcrowding and the new norm is a second tier of shelters with lower standards.
How the 2020 Census Counts People Experiencing Homelessness [<1.0 MB] How the 2020 Census Counts People Experiencing Homelessness [1.1 MB] However, the experience was not as common as it is today, and there were different government policies and programs in place to address it. The pandemic has thrown that number into sharp relief, as the disease has threatened a population already at higher risk of mental and physical health complications. ©2020 Verizon Media. The city has not opened more warming centres, nor have city leaders put an end to the removal of outdoor encampments or invited the Red Cross to assist with warming centre operations.Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.This would have been our 10th year raising funds for our PECI Student Environmental Bursary in honour of Fred Holtz and the Young PEC Organic Farmer bursary. In 2016, an estimated 129,000 people experienced homelessness at an emergency shelter. These short-term measures to make self-isolation and recovery possible do not address gaps in the current shelter system. It will be operated by Our Place Society, a local organization that already offers support to the homeless, in partnership with B.C. Thank you from all of us in CSG. And monthly shelter data for Toronto’s system, showing occupancy from 2016 to 2020, shows that numbers have worsened again.
Similar moves were made for long-standing encampments in Victoria as well. We made the decision to cancel out of concern for our CSG volunteers and the public during this Covid-19 situation. The city removed an encampment this spring, displacing approximately 80 people who dispersed and are now living outside, less protected from violence or injury. Housing to provide shelter, meals and harm-reduction services related to drug use. Please attribute the author(s) and mention that the article was originally published by This article first appeared on Policy Options and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. We shrug: “The poor will always be with us.” We forget that the current plague of homelessness is relatively new, the result of policy decisions governments have made over the last half-century.It turns out that when somebody has a reliable roof over their head, it is a lot easier to deliver these services with success. It’s been a brutal decade for homeless people in Canada.In Toronto alone, approximately 3,000 more people are homeless than 10 years ago.Shelters are full across the country. Some Canadians lived through periods of homelessness prior to that time. “We're really thrilled to see the strength of support for investing in housing,” Richter said. Poll shows Canadians favour national response to climate change despite Alberta’s carbon tax objections “We are in crisis mode as individuals and organizations, but we also are looking to a better future. Listen and subscribe to get a daily fix on the latest political news and issues. “We intend to serve this vulnerable population with dignity,” Grant McKenzie, Our Place spokesperson, said in a statement.In early April, Trudeau’s government also announced $157 million in funding to shelters and other homeless relief efforts, with specific money going to women’s and Indigenous-focused services.“It’s not just an issue of giving a safe place for people to escape violence or to give them shelter when they don’t have a home,” Trudeau said at the time. Similar reports are common across the Maritimes.Shelters face overcrowding and the new norm is a second tier of shelters with lower standards.
How the 2020 Census Counts People Experiencing Homelessness [<1.0 MB] How the 2020 Census Counts People Experiencing Homelessness [1.1 MB] However, the experience was not as common as it is today, and there were different government policies and programs in place to address it. The pandemic has thrown that number into sharp relief, as the disease has threatened a population already at higher risk of mental and physical health complications. ©2020 Verizon Media. The city has not opened more warming centres, nor have city leaders put an end to the removal of outdoor encampments or invited the Red Cross to assist with warming centre operations.Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.This would have been our 10th year raising funds for our PECI Student Environmental Bursary in honour of Fred Holtz and the Young PEC Organic Farmer bursary. In 2016, an estimated 129,000 people experienced homelessness at an emergency shelter. These short-term measures to make self-isolation and recovery possible do not address gaps in the current shelter system. It will be operated by Our Place Society, a local organization that already offers support to the homeless, in partnership with B.C. Thank you from all of us in CSG. And monthly shelter data for Toronto’s system, showing occupancy from 2016 to 2020, shows that numbers have worsened again.