10-year plan to address homelessness targets Aboriginal population

As Calgary’s 10-year plan to end homelessness marks its third anniversary, officials are looking at how to specifically address the needs of Aboriginal people who are homeless.

Tim Richter, president of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, said the Aboriginal community needs special attention as approximately a quarter of Calgary’s homeless people are Aboriginal.

“Aboriginal people have a unique experience of homelessness and unique needs to end their homelessness,” he said.

Colonization and the residential school system are contributing factors to homelessness for Aboriginal people, said Richter.

That is why a specific Aboriginal homelessness strategy will be part of Calgary’s 10-year plan to eradicate homelessness.

For the better part of the last decade, and during the peak of the province’s boom, Calgary had the fastest growing homeless population.

Richter said that statistic is no longer valid since government and community have stepped up to address the issue.

For example, the municipal government built more affordable housing units and the foundation has been able to find homes for more than 2,000 people.
Still at any given time, Richter said, approximately 4,000 people are either in shelters or on the streets of Calgary.

“The first step is recognizing a problem, building a plan, and acting on it.”

According to Richter, homelessness can come in many different forms. Some may have an unstable housing situation which could lead to couch-surfing, living with friends, in a car, or outside. Others may be in jail or in hospital. Even those fleeing cases of domestic violence can be considered homeless, he said.

The foundation’s Aboriginal strategy is just in the beginning stages, but the number one priority is to start meeting with members of the Aboriginal community.

“It is important to us that we address the unique needs of Aboriginal people and have them at the centre of developing a plan to end Aboriginal homelessness,” he said.

Richter added the foundation needs to determine where Aboriginal people are coming from so they can build relationships with their home communities.

“They could be coming from surrounding First Nations or they might be coming from BC and Saskatchewan,” he said.

From there, Richter wants to examine an array of issues such as what happens to Aboriginal children once they leave the foster care system. He also wants to find out what support is in place for Aboriginal people once they are discharged from hospital or from jail.

He said attention also needs to be given to the housing situation on reserves, as many people leave overcrowded and run down homes.

Richter said the goal is to have no person spend more than seven days in an emergency shelter. But the ultimate goal is to have no homeless Aboriginal people.
Incorporating traditional Aboriginal cultural and spiritual practices into the foundation’s work will help make this happen, he said.

He also said mental health, addictions counseling, and support for people with FASD, are all services that need to be made available to Aboriginal people who are without a stable home.