New report outlines homeless count in rural Alberta

By Janet Kanters, Editor

A severe lack of data on homelessness in rural areas across Canada presents a challenge.

But a recently released report from the Alberta Rural Development Network (ARDN) has provided a provincial snapshot of homelessness and housing instability specific to rural Alberta.

The report presents data collected during the Rural Homelessness Estimation Project held in fall 2018 across 20 communities with a total population of 291,531 (StatsCan 2016). A total of 1,771 individuals were surveyed on location at 185 service providers across 20 communities. Of those surveyed, 1,098 declared they did not have stable housing and/or they were at-risk of losing their housing.

The survey found almost 0.37 per cent of the total population are currently facing housing instability and may be at risk of homelessness. This rate would be pushed to just over one per cent of the population if the 905 children and 994 additional adults which respondents noted as sharing their living situation were taken into account. This would bring the potential number of individuals without stable housing in the 20 participating communities to 2,997.

And some of those homeless people are right here in the community of Strathmore and area.

Strathmore’s Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) led the Rural Homelessness Estimation Project for Strathmore and area.

Linda Bernicki, social services coordinator with the Town of Strathmore, said the project allowed FCSS to gather good data on homelessness in the region.

“We completed 55 surveys in Strathmore and area,” said Bernicki during a town council presentation in March 2019. “Out of the 55, 35 stated that they lived in town in Strathmore, nine stated that they lived in rural Wheatland County, seven stated that they lived in Siksika Nation, and seven stated that they had no fixed community, which means they were either transient or going through town and didn’t really have a place to identify.”

Out of the 55 surveys, 21 people identified as being Caucasian, 19 identified as being First Nation and specifically Blackfoot, eight identified as new Canadians or refugees, and seven people preferred not to respond.

Survey results showed the main reason for housing instability was low income, followed by addiction and abuse. “There are other reasons for housing instabilities, but those are the ones that we kind of wanted to focus on because they were the top three in the area,” said Bernicki.

The survey asked specifically what kind of service needs people required, what kind of service needs FCSS could help with and what kind of service needs were required in the past.

“The main service needs that people were needing access to were basic needs, which of course covers food, shelter and clothing,” noted Bernicki. “Financial and general support services were the next on the list, followed by family and parenting supports.”

Bernicki emphasized the issue is not just about homelessness, it is about the level of risk of becoming homeless.

“One of the reasons we wanted to become involved in this project was looking at more of the prevention of homelessness,” she said. “So those people that are at risk, they may say that their housing is stable but in the next sentence they may also say that they don’t have enough money for food because they’ve used that money for their rent. So, their understanding of their housing stability is different than our interpretation of what that would be.”

In the overall provincial survey report, respondents identified low income, (inability) to pay rent/mortgage, inadequate housing and job loss as top reasons for why their housing situation was unstable when data was collected in late 2018.

According to Dee Ann Benard, executive director of ARDN, these inequities could now be exacerbated since the pandemic and the global recession, and ARDN hopes to gather this information in the second rural homelessness estimation count slated for this fall.

“Rural homelessness is hidden,” said Benard. “It’s not just about having four walls and a roof over your head. Is there proper heating and electricity? Is there consistent running water? Are there too many people in one house? And now, in the midst of a global pandemic and economic recession, those who were precariously housed may be pushed over the edge into absolute homelessness.”

Scott Travis, director of research and programs at ARDN, said the data provided by local respondents will help service providers’ advocate for much-needed funding, and will help rural municipalities understand how to address housing needs.

“If vulnerable locals are able to stay in their community, it will benefit the local economy and prevent movement to the cities where people are removed from their familial support system,” said Travis.