COVID-19 and homelessness planning in Canada

La version française de ce billet se trouve ici.

I’ve written a book chapter focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and homelessness in the Canadian context. It provides an overview of homelessness in Canada during the pandemic, discussing policy responses and innovations (the book itself is available for purchase here).

Here are 10 things to know:

1. During the pandemic, Canada’s federal government provided important increases in income support. These pertained to Employment Insurance, the Goods and Services Tax credit, the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, and Old Age Security. Meanwhile, provincial and territorial governments implemented various measures to support renters and limit or ban evictions.

2. Several one-time enhancements were announced for Reaching Home. The Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, announced on 18 March 2020, included $157.5 million in one-time funding for Reaching Home (the Government of Canada’s main funding vehicle for homelessness), representing a 74% increase in Reaching Home funding for the 2020-21 fiscal year. On 21 September 2020, the Government of Canada announced an additional one-time increase of $236.7 million for Reaching Home.

3. Rules governing Reaching Home became more flexible. In April 2020, revisions were made to the Reaching Home Directives. For the first time, the Government of Canada allowed Reaching Home funds to cover health and medical services. Geographical restrictions were also relaxed, allowing Designated Communities (which receive the funding) to target some of their funding outside of their traditional catchment areas, especially if such a move was deemed likely to reduce the inflow of homelessness into the Designated Community in question.

4. On 21 September 2020, the Government of Canada unveiled the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI). Initially, $1 billion was announced for modular housing, the acquisition of land, and the conversion of existing buildings into affordable housing. The 2021 federal budget announced an additional $1.5 billion for the RHI for 2021-22, while the 2022-23 federal budget announced another $1.5 billion over two years for RHI. Relative to other federal housing initiatives, the RHI has a fast grant application process and provides generous assistance in the form of grants—in fact, grants can fully cover capital costs. Many of the tenants being housed via the RHI have been experiencing homelessness.

5. Regrettably, a lack of operating funding will make it challenging for RHI to support persons who have experienced chronic homelessness. Operators are hoping that provincial governments will come forward with much-needed operating support (including for wraparound supports for vulnerable tenants). So far, most provincial governments have been reluctant to explicitly commit to long-term operating subsidies.

6. Local officials in the homelessness sector responded to the pandemic in various ways. Activities included the creation of more physical distancing at existing emergency shelters, opening new facilities, leasing hotel rooms, and creating facilities for both isolation and quarantine. Measures have included improvements at existing facilities, the addition of new buildings (typically repurposed), the separation of persons without symptoms from those who were symptomatic, and the isolation of persons who tested positive.

7. During the pandemic, several major cities expanded existing eviction prevention programs. They did this largely by using short-term financial assistance to pay a variety of costs allowing households at risk of homelessness to either remain housed or quickly get rehoused. Such costs often included rental arrears, utility arrears, first month’s rent, the securing of damage deposits, and moving costs.

8. During COVID-19, several communities saw healthcare innovations for persons experiencing homelessness. Historically in many Canadian cities, health officials have not regarded homelessness as a ‘health issue’ and have therefore not fully engaged with the homelessness sector. This changed somewhat during the pandemic.

 9. New partnerships emerged between the health and homelessness officials across Canada. Examples include:

• • Toronto’s Quality Assurance Team, which visited all local emergency shelters to ensure proper physical distancing and good public health practices.
  • Pharmacists going to Toronto emergency facilities to fill prescriptions; some kept regular hours at emergency shelters.
  • The creation of Indigenous-led vaccine clinics.
  • A major increase in the use of licensed practical nurses and paramedics at Calgary’s largest emergency facility.
  • Supervised consumption services and a safe supply of cannabis offered at an isolation site for persons experiencing homelessness in Ottawa.
  • Complimentary cannabis after each vaccine dose for some persons experiencing homelessness in Ottawa.
  • The distribution of alcohol by territorial officials in Yellowknife at the city’s isolation centre for persons experiencing homelessness.

10. Outstanding challenges remain in Canada’s homelessness sector. These relate to the underfunding of housing and homelessness programming, the loss of low-cost rental units, a lack of cooperation with corrections officials, a rise in outdoor sleeping, the overdose crisis, the end of one-time COVID-related funding, an emerging staffing crisis, and expensive housing markets.

In sum. During COVID-19, Canada’s homelessness sector saw important short-term funding injections from all orders of government, as well as various programmatic innovations. Having said that, homelessness remains a crisis in Canada. The National Housing Strategy— unveiled in 2017—does little to change this, especially as real estate values rise in major cities.

I wish to thank Jenny Morrow and Annick Torfs for assistance with this blog post.