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CMHA and University of Manitoba conduct point-in-time homelessness survey

The Thompson branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, along with the University of Manitoba Faculty of Social Work and various volunteers were out Feb. 23-24 conducting a point-in-time (PIT) count of Thompson’s homeless population.
point in time homelessness survey feb 2016
The Thompson branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, along with the University of Manitoba Faculty of Social Work and various volunteers were out Feb. 23-24 conducting a point-in-time (PIT) count of Thompson’s homeless population.

The Thompson branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, along with the University of Manitoba Faculty of Social Work and various volunteers were out Feb. 23-24 conducting a point-in-time (PIT) count of Thompson’s homeless population. This year’s count is part of a federally co-ordinated survey taking place across multiple Canadian communities over six months in order to determine federal funding and service priorities in the future.

Surveyors collect people’s demographic data such as age, gender, education, community of origin, and how long they’ve been homeless. The survey also featured questions surrounding an issue which has been garnering increasing attention among social workers, though has rarely been asked in a general context: individual histories of military service.

The survey is not the first of its kind to take place in Thompson: an independent count was conducted in the spring of 2015. Marleny Bonnycastle, assistant professor with the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Social Work, says that organizers are keen to expand on the information which they procured during the first “The number was quite high last year – 139 – and there’s a question mark surrounding whether that number is accurate.” Based on last year’s count, Thompson has one of the highest per capita rates of homelessness in Canada.

Conducting the new count is a collaborative effort, featuring the involvement of a few different local agencies, including staff workers, social work students, and individuals who have lived the experience of homelessness. Elder Jack Robinson was one of those individuals: Robinson was the manager of Thompson’s first homeless shelter for over three years, and has been involved with social advocacy in Thompson since then. Robinson has had his own experiences struggling with alcohol and rehabilitation, and knows firsthand the difficulties of the transition from an inpatient treatment centre. “When they go home, there’s no support, nowhere to go. They go back to the same environment; their friends are still drinking, and they end up getting stuck.” Robinson believes increasing support for lifestyle and addictions recovery in outlying communities would have a significant impact on the success of treatment administered in centres like Thompson.

Leanne Grenier, co-ordinator with the Thompson Housing Agency as well as the Homelessness Partnering Strategy, noted that information gathered through the PIT count will aid with the development of just such programs: “We want to share this information with KTC [Keewatin Tribal Council] and MKO [Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak], since we’ll be able to identify what communities our homeless population is stemming from. If we find that a proportion of individuals are coming from certain communities, we can potentially work with them to provide more housing opportunities.”

Grenier notes that along with formulating policy, “We hope the results from this point-in-time count show the city of Thompson the need to develop more housing in Thompson, whether it’s transient housing, secondary suites, etc. We don’t get a lot of funding to undertake capital projects, like increasing housing. It’s also going to help lobby the government for more funding. Living in the north is pretty expensive, so it’s hard for a homeless person to live alone in an apartment, since the per diem they get from employment income services really doesn’t cover the cost of rent.”

“We want to get people to start thinking differently about homelessness,” Bonnycastle said, “to reduce the stereotypes and make people think, ‘we need to do more,’ especially with our weather. It’s a human rights issue.”

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