Responses to Homelessness – A Mini-Series About the Evolution of Alberta’s Response – Part Four
After a long hiatus, we are back! This article is the fourth in The NEWS’ mini-series about Housing First in Alberta. For a recap on part three, click here.
What Is Housing First
The Housing First philosophy is a preventative housing model based on the Houselink program that began in Toronto in the 1970s. Building from this principle, the Housing First philosophy is built on five key principles (taken from Gaetz, et al, 2013):
“Immediate access to permanent housing with no housing readiness requirements.” The whole idea behind Housing First is to meet participants where they are at; participants are given immediate access to housing, with no housing readiness requirements attached to the housing access.
“Consumer choice and self-determination.” Participants are entitled to have a say in the type of housing they access, and the location of housing. Furthermore, any form of treatment accessed must be driven by the participant.
“Individualized, recovery-oriented, & client-driven supports.” Every participant will have specific, personal goals, and supports must be personalized to fit the goals specified by the participant.
“Harm reduction.” In conjunction with the first three principles, Housing First emphasizes the harm reduction approach, which aims “to reduce both the risk and effects associated with substance abuse and addiction at the level of the individual, community and society without requiring abstinence.”
“Social & community integration.” Participants in Housing First “should be given opportunities for meaningful participation in their communities. Community integration is important in terms of preventing social isolation, which can undermine housing stability.”
The Housing First principle denotes a significant shift from traditional housing program models in that it does not place specific requirements or stipulations prescribing participant housing access. Often these requirements come in the form of maintaining sobriety or accessing mental health treatment. The Housing First principle, on the other hand, acknowledges housing to be a social determinant of health, and that once the basic need of shelter has been met, acquiring services and/or mental health or addictions treatment is easier and leads to greater success in remaining housed.
How Did Housing First Come to Be
While initially introduced in the 1970s, the Housing First principle would not take hold until the concept became “popularized by Sam Tsemberis through his work with Pathways to Housing (New York) [beginning in 1992]” (Gaetz, et al, 2013). The Pathways program, while adhering primarily to the five principles listed above, focused on working with people who were experiencing mental health and/or addictions. The Housing First philosophy continued to spread throughout the U.S. and Europe, and it wasn’t until 2008 that Alberta, the first province in Canada, adopted Housing First. The federal government followed in 2013, after the Mental Health Commission of Canada completed the At Home/Chez Soi study. In what remains the world’s largest trial of the Housing First model, At Home/Chez Soi demonstrated Housing First’s significant financial advantages and improved program responses for clients in various Canadian cities.
In the mid-2000’s, Alberta experienced a large and rapid provincial population increase, in conjunction with an economic boom driven by heightened oil sands production. This placed increased pressure on both the housing markets and public markets, bringing with it a spike in homeless rates. This trend caught the attention of policy makers who sought to contain the problem (Doberstein, 2016). Policy makers quickly identified the complexities of homelessness while noting that the issue demanded “a fundamental shift in direction in how they [policy makers] viewed homelessness and responded to it—namely integrated cross-sectoral solutions in order to actually reduce homelessness over time instead of simply managing it” (Doberstein, 2016, p. 470). Thus, Alberta adopted Housing First, making the philosophy and systems coordination across sectors a fundamental component of their strategy.
Next Time:
We didn’t have room to delve into the three schools of thoughts in this article, so we’ll tackle that next time. In the meantime, should you have any comments or questions, please share them through email at a.burke@albertacounsel.com.
