What lies ahead for community-level homelessness planning in Alberta?

La version française de ce billet se trouve ici.

On April 9, I gave a keynote address at the University of Alberta’s Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Research Symposium (my slides are available here). I focused my remarks on community-level homelessness planning in Alberta, particularly in light of a December 2024 funding decision by the UCP government.

Here are 10 things to know.

1. For well over a decade, Alberta’s seven largest cities have used both federal and provincial funding to address homelessness. The federal funding is now called Reaching Home funding, and the provincial funding is from a program called Outreach and Support Services Initiatives (OSSI).

2. Across those seven municipalities, both Reaching Home Funding and OSSI funding, are ‘funneled through’ large entities. The entity for Calgary has been the Calgary Homeless Foundation. The entity for Edmonton has been Homeward Trust Edmonton. These entities are called Community-Based Organizations (CBOs).

3. Most of the funding eventually goes to smaller non-profits that directly serve persons experiencing homelessness. Having said that, each CBO has had, until recently, a significant amount of say as to how and where that funding flows.

4. The major focus of OSSI spending across Alberta has been on providing operating funding to house people who have experienced homelessness. Until recently , the Government of Alberta has been quite flexible in terms of how CBOs have used this funding within those broad parameters.

5. Each CBO has also been taking a share of the funds to operate its own organization, serving as a ‘backbone’ agency supporting data collection, analytics and triage. In effect, CBOs provide important services to their local communities.

6. Alberta’s approach to community-based homelessness funding is often viewed as a model for the rest of Canada. In a 2017 book published by UBC Press, Carey Doberstein discussed the importance of having local officials in the homelessness sector with their ear to the ground (rather than simply having public servants in offices looking at statistical trends). His analysis also discusses how slowly decisions typically get made at the provincial level (no matter the province). By contrast, he noted that Alberta’s CBOs could make decisions more quickly and with less aversion to political risk.

7. In December 2024, the Government of Alberta made an important announcement about OSSI funding. They announced that such funding would now be provided directly to service providers by the Province. The Minister said this would increase accountability and oversight. He also said it would create “significant administrative efficiencies.” He suggested it was sensible to eliminate ‘the middle man.’

8. One factor that likely drove that decision was a desire by the UCP government to exert more direct control over funding decisions. On the one hand, this relates to types of programming that receive funding—e.g., there may now be less funding for harm reduction. It also relates to funding amounts received by specific non-profit agencies—e.g., there may now be more funding for agencies that support abstinence-based approaches to the use of alcohol and other drugs.

9. Another factor influencing that decision may have been a desire by the UCP government to have more direct control over the narrative. For example, there may now be fewer voices in the media (including on social media). And the voices that remain may now be more deferential to the provincial government.

10. This may turn into a classic case of ‘be careful what you wish for.’ Responsibility for homelessness will now be increasingly viewed as a provincial one, meaning that opposition MLAs, Mayors, City Councillors, and advocates may have a clearer target for their advocacy.

In sum. The Government of Alberta is trying to chart out a new path for community-level homelessness planning. This will give it more direct control over both funding decisions and the narrative. Having said that, the Province will now bear a greater burden of responsibility.

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