Café dialogue this Wednesday at Vendome and synopsis of a book on homelessness in Canada

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” - Helen Keller

This past Wednesday, with newcomer Veronica, we touched upon several topics including some inspiring recent news from the United States https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/watch-billionaire-tell-college-grads-he-will-pay-off-student-loan-debt/ and from Finland https://bit.ly/2FjSrAg and from Calgary http://www.humainologie.com/empathyweek/ as well as the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi Two of us shared challenges we are facing at this time in our lives.

We’ll be at Vendome for another dialogue evening starting at 6 PM this coming Wednesday May 29. I've appended here a book synopsis as part of my contribution. However, I suggest that we do an empathic listening circle as the main focus. We've discussed this idea in the past, but haven't actually done it yet.

We’ll create something, guaranteed. We can always improvise. We’re very good at improvisation!

Arthur

“Improvisation is the heart of field work.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger, “Eraser”

Book: (edited by James Hughes) Beyond Shelters: Solutions to Homelessness in Canada from the Front Lines (2018)

Homelessness can affect people of any age https://bit.ly/2QfmHAa even in rich countries such as the USA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States and Canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_Canada. According to a 2018 report https://bit.ly/2L9OUsR Calgary accounts for just over half of the homeless population in Alberta, yet our city has reduced chronic homelessness by about 19% since 2008. That progress is not easy to achieve. The success of Medicine Hat with ending chronic homelessness was reported in the New York Times https://nyti.ms/2lOQz7d in 2017.

In his Introduction the editor makes note of cuts to social services by the provinces in the mid-1980s to mid 1990s; and, after 2001, enhanced support from the Canadian government for shelters and other community agencies, as well as a very recent increase in funding for social and affordable housing from the Trudeau government. He emphasizes the “Housing First” approach in which priority is placed on getting the homeless person into permanent housing, rather than first requiring them to sober up or meet some other precondition. The Housing First strategy has profoundly influenced the vision and work of Canadian shelters over the past decade.

“Finland is the first member nation in Europe that has essentially ended homelessness using Housing First,” writes international author Dr. Sam Tsemberis (a clinical-community psychologist who developed the Housing First model) in Chapter 1, Shelters and Housing First. Not only did the Finnish government use innovative and relentless methods to provide housing for the homeless, they also identified individuals and families whose rent burden put them at risk of becoming homeless, and provided them with a rent supplement to prevent their eviction. The spectacular success of Finland, according to one of those who helped with the process, was due to two things: 1) consensus (from the national government, local governments, the business community, and providers) on the Housing First model and how to achieve it; and 2) cultural values – housing as a right, social inclusion, and a commitment to helping those who are less fortunate by asking those who are more fortunate to contribute more. Concluding Chapter 1, Tsemberis writes, “So what will it take for other cities and countries to get to the ‘Finnish line’ on homelessness?”

The editor provides a succinct synopsis of the richly diverse contributions to the book in his Conclusion, The Way Forward for Homeless Shelters in Canada. Partnering with their community and agencies that serve that community is a prerequisite for success of homeless shelters. Homelessness, poverty, and violence are heavily gendered issues, as emphasized by Heather Davis (from Corner Brook, Newfoundland) in Chapter 2 (Mitigating Harm to Women). Violence is – particularly for women – often a cause of homelessness and crisis. This theme is also developed by Arlene Haché (Yellowknife, NT) in Chapter 11, Decolonizing the North; and by Trudi Shymko (Vancouver, BC) in Chapter 12, Addressing Crisis. There must be attention to Canadian youth who are at risk of drifting into homelessness as a way of life. In Chapter 3, Advocacy Centre, Brian Duplessis (Fredericton, NB) emphasizes the importance of advocacy from shelter leaders for government policies and professional practices that specifically address homelessness. This makes perfect sense, as such leaders combine the relevant first-hand experience and the ability to articulate that experience. Other authors describe alternative approaches that small shelters can use; and a “community hub” approach in which resources and skill sets that enhance clients’ self-help ability to escape homelessness. In some settings one of the most important things a shelter can do is become “Indigenous in their very DNA in order to credibly and successfully …accompany homeless Indigenous people on their journeys to a better place.” Several authors in the book also emphasize the need to prevent homelessness in the first place, in accord with the Finnish precedent. The book also features many stories of individuals and their diverse paths to homelessness. Related to those narratives is a recognition throughout the book that shelters must know their clients by name and by history, including the unique challenges that each client faces.

A diversity of approaches among different shelters is both necessary and desirable, the editor explains, providing several reasons for this. However, “all shelters must work on reducing and eliminating homelessness in their community.” The evidence supports the effectiveness, including cost-effectiveness, of the Housing First model. This makes the contemporary homeless shelter radically different from its predecessors of a century ago, when faith, hope, and charity were the definitive mindset.

Governments have a major responsibility both to support the work of shelters and to implement public policy directed toward ending homelessness. The editor also mentions some of the initiatives in Canada that have begun to focus on homelessness prevention, and he predicts that this will be an area of increasing activity in the future.

The breadth and details of the book, including a chapter from Calgary, gave me a more nuanced, substantive view of homelessness. Ending homelessness in Canada cannot simply imitate the details of the Finnish model because of differences in the two contexts. Yet the two things cited as reasons for the success of Finland, consensus on the Housing First Model and cultural values that recognize housing as a right, and a responsibility of the more fortunate to help achieve it for all, are probably essential to Canada’s success as well.