In each “Behind the Scenes” segment, Village Media's Scott Sexsmith sits down with one of our local journalists to talk about the story behind the story.
These interviews are designed to help you better understand how our community-based reporters gather the information that lands in your local news feed. You can find more Behind the Scenes from reporter across Ontario here.
Today's spotlight is on Sudbury.com's Jenny Lamothe, whose story 'City gets failing grade on homelessness report card' was published on Aug. 8.
Here is the original story if you need to catch up:
The City of Greater Sudbury has released its Homelessness Report Card and By-Name List report for 2023, and it appears a limited availability of affordable housing has stymied all of their desired outcomes, save one.
The By-Name List is a real-time list of people experiencing homelessness in Greater Sudbury, who have consented to add their name to the list, and is a tool of the Coordinated Access System (CAS), a group of Sudbury social services agencies.
The only federally-required desired outcome of four the city was able to reach was reducing new inflows into housing. There were 346 people new to the list in 2022, which fell to 301 in 2023.
In 2023, the report states there were 184 move-ins to housing, but with the caveat that “this may include the same person moving into housing multiple times throughout the year, on occasion.”
So far this year, the Homelessness Network (part of CAS) has only been able to house two people, and the number of people in encampments grew to 200, doubling 2023 numbers.
Implemented in July 2021, the By-Name List and CAS were implemented as a requirement under Federal Reaching Home and Provincial Homelessness Prevention Program funding agreements.
The report, which will be presented to the Community and Emergency Services Committee of city council on Aug. 12, details last year’s numbers compared to the same numbers from 2022, the first full year of data (2021 only has six months of comparator data).
After the homelessness report card was issued in 2022, Gail Spencer, the city’s manager of housing stability and homelessness, told Sudbury.com the data would be used to determine the efficacy of their efforts in four areas:
- Reduced overall homelessness, as well as for specific populations. In 2022, 164 people were on the By-name list, and 92 identified as Indigenous. In 2023’s average, that number grew to 237 people, 109 of whom identified as Indigenous.
- Reduced number of people who experience chronic homelessness (there were 143 in 2022, rising to 196 in 2023).
- Reduced number of people becoming homelessness (346 newly identified in 2022, and 301 in 2023).
- Reduced number of people who become housed and return to homelessness (in 2022, 37 returned to homelessness. In 2023, 78 returned to homelessness).
Only No. 3 was achieved in 2023.
Neither of two self-imposed (not federally mandated) outcomes (an increase in move-ins to housing and increasing the number of people remaining housed) were met: In 2022, there were 221 move-ins to housing, and in 2023, 184. In 2022, there were 189 people who remained housed on Dec. 31, 2022; on Dec. 31, 2023, that number was 146.
Returns to homelessness indicate someone who was added to the list, became housed and subsequently lost their housing.
As Raymond Landry from the Homelessness Network told Sudbury.com in February 2023 that the reasons people lose their housing can include behavioral adaptations from their time as a chronically homeless person, including hoarding, but also, those who are housed can be intimidated into letting others in, to their own detriment.
The By-Name list also details the need for support that each person will require once housed, and this gives an indication of why there may be struggles to keep people housed.
The majority of people added to the By-Name List in 2023 were adults between the ages of 25 and 59 (86 per cent or 260); eight per cent were youth ages 16 to 24 (23).
Six per cent were seniors (18).
Of this total, 81 per cent were considered to be “high acuity.”
When an individual is added to the By-Name List, their acuity score is determined through the Vulnerability Index-Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool.
This tool provides a score that indicates the level of support the person would require to obtain and maintain permanent housing and prioritizes the individual for the most appropriate support services. Per this tool, the majority of people on the By-Name List would require permanent supportive housing or a Housing First intervention to exit out of homelessness and remain housed long-term.
Health is also a concern, states the report, describing what is called tri-morbidity.
“The complex co-morbidity of chronic physical health concerns, mental health concerns and substance use concerns.”
As of Dec. 31, 2023, there were 118 people on the By-Name List who identified with tri-morbidity, comprising 50 per cent of the total population on the list.
In addition to the Roadmap to End Homelessness, the city’s $350-million plan to reinvest in social housing alongside both the federal and provincial governments, the report states there were a number of “key learnings” in 2023.
A lack of safe, affordable housing remains the key barrier to reducing homelessness, states the report.
Additionally, there are challenges presented by staff shortages in social services, which is a difficult challenge as the report states “building relationships with people experiencing homelessness as well as community partners is of paramount importance.”
But still, the report states, “additional housing with direct health care support is required to meet the current need.”
The report will be presented to the committee on Aug. 12. You can watch the meeting here.
Jenny Lamothe covers vulnerable and marginalized communities for Sudbury.com.
