New city program finds homes for 45 people living on the street

A new city program that aims to help people sleeping rough or in urban camps find housing is meeting with success.

During its first eight months of operation, the Coordinated Informed Response program (CIR) found homes for 45 individuals.

From April to December2019, the program provided referrals to supports and services, including

• 898 for housing services
• 508 for emergency shelter
• 510 for support services (social/medical, etc.)
• 76 for transfers out of encampment

London's manager of homeless prevention, Craig Cooper, says the numbers give him hope.

"I think it underlines the fact that we can house people directly from the street. It really shows and highlights the work that our outreach teams are doing every day on the ground interacting with people, building the trust with people, and getting people ready to make that leap from the streets to permanent housing.

The program also removed 654 urban camps and recovered more than 15,000 syringes.

Cooper says city employees took down tents and cleaned up garbage that had accumulated.

"A lot of people did go back, but going back into some of those areas allowed our outreach team to continue those conversations and get a number of people housed."

Cooper said the city is meeting the basic necessities for those living on the streets, or getting them connected to organizations that can help.

There were 751 requests for water or food, and the city is looking at how to build partnerships with community agencies that can step up.

"Having only agency to manage [those needs] can be challenging. Having a community response and a coordinated response is going to help us moving forward."

The city is also providing resting spaces for individuals who can't access a shelter and who needa place to relax without fear of having their meagre possessions stolen.

"[The resting spaces] are lower-barrier opportunities for people. It doesn't matter if they're currently under the influence. We do deal with some of the more high-needs individuals in those spaces and so that's why were able to provide that for them," said Cooper.

The city recently opened 10 more resting spaces and now has a total of 20 many of them at Atlohsa Family Healing Services -- that are being used day and night, especially in the cold weather.

A report on the experiences of the Coordinated Informed Response program will be discussed at a meeting of the community and protective services committee next Wednesday.