BY COLETTE DERWORIZ; WITH FILES FROM KIM GUTTORMSON, CALGARY HERALD MARCH 17, 2009
Ending homelessness in Alberta will cost taxpayers more than $3.3 billion over the next decade,
according to a report released Monday that suggests it could cost twice as much to simply manage
the growing problem.
The 10-year plan to end homelessness, prepared by the Alberta Secretariat for Action on
Homelessness, focuses on moving the province's home-less population into homes with supports,
rather than providing more emergency shelters.
Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Yvonne Fritz said the province is committed to the plan but won't
outline funding before the April 7 budget.
The first year of the plan, she said, will target Alberta's largest homeless populations -- including the
estimated 4,060 homeless people in Calgary--since it aligns with municipal plans.
The Calgary Homeless Foundation is overseeing the city's own 10-year plan.
Mayor Dave Bronconnier said it's critical the federal government lend its support to the provincial and
municipal strategies.
"It's where we need to go,"he said. "Assisting the homeless is not throwing a mat on the floor and
leaving them in a cavernous room with a few hundred other people. We have to address the needs of
those with mental illness, addictions."
Steve Snyder, chairman of the secretariat, said widespread change is required at every level.
"It's going to need change by the organizations who deliver services for the homeless,"he said. "It's
going to need a change in policies; it's going to need a change in how we fund it.
"It's a lot of change, but it's not earth-shattering change; it's common-sense-type change."
A national expert on homelessness said Alberta's strategy --Canada's first provincial plan--is an
example for other governments to follow.
"When provincial governments and the federal government withdrew from investing in housing in the
'90s, there was this belief in the magical solutions of the marketplace, that the private sector would
step in and build affordable housing,"said Stephen Gaetz, associate dean in the faculty of education
at York University.
"That just didn't happen," said Gaetz, who set up the Canadian Homelessness Research Network.
The provincial report suggests it would cost the province about $6.65 billion to manage homelessness
over the next decade. Those costs include emergency shelters and services in addition to indirect
costs such as the use of health, corrections and justice systems by homeless people.
Surveys in 2006 counted 8,400 homeless people in Alberta, although the province estimates the
population has grown to 11,000.
