Homelessness in Canada

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Homelessness in Canada

Homelessness in Canada continues to be a serious issue, particularly in major urban centres such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

History

There has always been a certain population of homeless in Canada, however in Canada's earliest history both land and building materials were abundant and cheap. Many settlers were forced to at first live in tents or other poor shelters, but in time more permanent structures were usually constructed. Strong community and family networks ensured a modicum of care for the mentally ill and others who could not attain their own shelter, and religious institutions provided other housing services.

In the Great Depression of the 1930s homelessness became an important issue as migrant workers traveled by freighthopping to try and find some employment. However, with the Second World War homelessness virtually disappeared due to the acute labour shortage. In the years after the war homelessness remained a minor concern as extremely cheap accommodation was available in rooming houses located in the poorest parts of most major cities. Even the most destitute could find some form of housing, even if its quality was abysmal.

While accurate statistics on the homelessness population are hard to gather, it is the general consensus that the number of homeless increased considerably beginning in the 1970s. Despite Canada's booming economy this trend continued, and perhaps even accelerated in the 1990s. In Toronto, for instance, admissions to homeless shelters increase by 75% between 1988 and 1998 In recent years homelessness has thus become a major political issue in Canada.

Causes

Lack of low income housing

One of the most important causes is the unavailability of low income housing. The 1970s saw a transformation in Canadian cities. The previous two decades had seen a steady middle class exodus to the suburbs. While this had several negative effects on urban centres, it also meant that there was plenty of cheap accommodation. Large houses that had once been home to prosperous families were turned into rental apartments or rooming houses that held up to a dozen people. However, around 1970 this trend reversed itself and prosperous urban professionals became increasingly interested in living near downtown. Rapid gentrification occurred in many neighborhoods. Areas such as The Annex in Toronto, False Creek in Vancouver, and The Glebe in Ottawa turned from poorer working class areas to upper middle class bastions in only two decades. No new lower income areas developed, and the amount of low income housing shrank dramatically. The overall amount of downtown housing also shrank during this period as the increase in wealth led to a decrease in density. Lower income workers, who cannot afford transportation, must live in urban centres but the population of urban cores shrank during this period as multi unit buildings were converted back into single homes. Between 1971 and 1996 the central portion of Toronto lost more than 50,000 units of housing, while the city as a whole grew by more than a million people. Across Canada the rooming houses that had provided extremely cheap accommodation almost disappeared, as did the single room occupancy hotels that had provided temporary and emergency accommodation to the destitute.

While large amounts of lower income housing across Canada was being gentrified, both the government and the private sector failed to provide a new supply of such housing. In the 1950s and 1960s the federal government had been committed to destroying slums and building modern housing projects. This program had many ill effects, the destruction of historic communities, such as Africville near Halifax, and the construction of dramatic failures, such as Regent Park in Toronto, but it did guarantee a steady supply of lower income housing. In 1969, increasingly aware of the problems of this approach, the federal government suspended all slum clearance programs. They were replaced by government funding for non-profit and cooperative housing. These were generally mixed income cooperative apartments. By most measures these were a success in creating housing for lower income Canadians of a reasonable quality, while avoiding most of the poor social effects of the earlier housing projects. This was in part a result of only 25% of units in the mixed income structures going to income tested residents. This meant that while a similar number of units were being built through government programs each year, only 25% of these units went to lower income Canadians. This 75% decrease in government funded housing led perennial shortages and years long waiting lists for apartments. The mixed income approach also led to controversy as some objected to governments helping build accommodations for those that could afford to live elsewhere these housing initiatives were also quite expensive.

Over the course of the 1980s the government of Brian Mulroney significantly reduced the number of units built each year. In the 1994 federal budget brought in by the new government of Jean Chrétien almost completely halted these federal housing programs. In 1995 the Ontario government of Mike Harris did the same, ensuring that in Ontario virtually no subsidized housing would be constructed for the next decade.

While governments were exiting the business of providing lower income housing, the private sector was also not providing it. In this same era cities and provinces across Canada significantly tightened building codes. While this ensured that all Canadians could expect their home to meet basic health and safety standards, it also made accommodation more expensive. Minto Developments, one of the largest property developers estimated that the new rules increased building costs by some $8000 per house and landlords would need to charge an extra $70 per month for each rental unit. Other regulatory changes also reduced private investment in low income housing. In 1970 the federal government changed the tax code so that real estate investments were no longer exempt from the capital gains tax. This made investing in rental properties far less attractive. Over the course of the 1970s most provinces brought in rent control to cope with rampant inflation, this also made the construction of rental properties less attractive to developers. The 1990s saw significant downloading of responsibilities from the federal and provincial governments to the municipal level. In Canada municipal governments are largely funded through property taxes, and as these increased so did housing costs. This led to a nationwide fall in the number of rental units produced. While in 1986 30,000 new units had been built across Canada this had fallen to 7,000 in 1999. In the city of Calgary, with one of the most acute housing shortages, only 16 new units of rental housing were built in 1996.

Homelessness is a problem that largely affects white native born Canadians. Immigrants and visible minorities are far less likely to be homeless. Immigrants are also less likely to receive any form of subsidized housing than native Canadians, with the exception of very recently arrived immigrants.

Deinstitutionalization

The 1960s and 1970s also saw an international movement to deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill. Studies found that the vast majority of those who had been placed in asylums could be healthy and productive members of society if placed in the community and provided with the proper care and medication. Thus over these decades the number of people confined to mental institutions fell dramatically from just under 70,000 to about 20,000. However, while great savings were made by shutting down empty institutions much of this money was absorbed by general government funds, and did not make it into community care. No assurances were made that those discharged had access and were taking the medication they needed. While some of those discharged did integrate with the community, a significant number estimated at around 75% did not. Many of these individuals became homeless. Today up to 40% of homeless have some sort of mental illness.

Poverty in Canada

See related article, Poverty in Canada

Poverty in Canada remains prevalent with certain groups in Canada. The measurement of poverty has been a challenge as there is no official government measure. Some groups and experts like the Canadian Council on Social Development and the National Anti-Poverty Organization believe the low-income cut off published by Statistics Canada is applicable as a poverty measure regardless of whether its intent or designation is to be one. They have argued, that as it stands, the LICO is the best measure available that accurately measures a relative poverty rate. According to the basic needs poverty measure, calculated by the Fraser Institute, poverty has declined dramatically over the past 60 years. In recent years, progress against poverty has been made, but some of this progress has been offset by the impact of immigration. According to a 2003 study by Statistics Canada "The rise in the low-income rates in the three major Canadian cities, and in Ontario and B.C. during the 1990s in particular, was largely concentrated among the immigrant population. Basically, low-income rates have been falling over the past two decades among the Canadian born, and rising among immigrants." A more recent January 2007 study by Statistics Canada explains that the low-income rates of new immigrants has deteriorated by yet another significant amount from 2000 to 2004. See related article, Economic impact of immigration to Canada.

Data Collection

The Homeless Individuals and Families Information System HIFIS is a records management system used by hundreds of homeless shelters and transition homes in Canada. It provides shelter operators with a user-friendly method of collecting important information on the shelter-using community.

The software, training and technical support are available free-of-charge for the system. Computers and Microsoft software are also available to shelters free-of-charge.

References

Hwang, Stephen W. " Homelessness and Health" CMAJ, January 23, 2001; 164 (2)
Layton, Jack, Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis ISBN 0-14-028888-0
Murphy, Barbara. On the Street: How We Created the Homeless. Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford, c2000.