The 48-page Alberta Plan has been posted on Blackboard:
A Plan for Alberta was developed by the Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness. Established in January 2008 by Premier Ed Stelmach, Secretariat members include: Stephen G. Snyder (Chair), Jean Wilkinson (Vice-Chair), Linda Black, Q.C., Leonard Blumenthal, Gary R. Keen, Jane Manning, Murray Prokosch, Pam Ralston, Dr. Gayla Rogers, Dr. Pam Thompson, Chief Charles Weasel Head and Robin Wigston (Ex-Officio). The Secretariat worked with municipalities and agencies serving the homeless and conducted extensive research on successful initiatives in other North American jurisdictions. The result is a 10-year strategic plan to end homelessness in Alberta by 2019.
Defining the challenge
A Plan for Alberta recognizes that there is no single reason for the growing number of homeless. Every homeless individual or family can point to a unique set of circumstances that contributed to their homelessness. The plan is based on the belief that continuing to manage homelessness through the current mix of emergency shelters and social programs will never result in an end to homelessness.
Shift in direction
A Plan for Alberta changes the way homelessness is addressed. It focuses on providing permanent housing and moving the homeless to more self-reliance by connecting them with the supports they need to restore stability in their lives, rather than providing more emergency shelter.
Housing First
A Plan for Alberta is based on the ‘Housing First’ approach which is being used across North America to break the cycle of homelessness. The overall goal is to move a homeless client quickly into permanent housing and provide them with supports tailored to their needs. Using this approach, the plan focuses on three key areas:
Rapid re-housing of homeless Albertans into permanent housing. The role of shelters becomes one of facilitating a rapid exit from homelessness into permanent housing.
Providing client-centred supports to re-housed clients to give them the assistance they need to restore stability in their lives and maintain their housing.
Preventing homelessness through emergency assistance and providing adequate and accessible government programs and services to Albertans.
The plan
The plan outlines the need to undertake integrated province-wide actions that will help communities achieve success in their efforts to end homelessness. The province can do this directly by coordinating appropriate funding and resources and indirectly by ensuring government policies and practices to do not contribute to further homelessness.
The plan calls for province-wide initiatives that will coordinate and fund homeless-serving systems based on the ‘Housing First’ approach. It sets out new expectations for governments, communities and agencies, requiring all partners to re-tool their operations and goal setting. It also focuses on achieving outcomes that will shift thinking from managing homelessness to ending homelessness.
Overall it establishes a roadmap that sets out five priority areas for action and 17 specific strategies and timelines.
