More Calgarians using homeless shelters for the first time: study
Posted Mar 10, 2021 7:40 am.
Last Updated Mar 10, 2021 7:41 am.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Nearly 400 people each month using homeless shelters that have never used them before.
New data from the University of Calgary School of Public Policy shows that from January 2014 to December 2019 an average of 359 people per month slept in an emergency shelter in Calgary for the first time.
Lead author of the study Ron Kneebone said this accounts for about one-third of all the people using these services.
“Every month there are people that are so precariously housed that just losing a few hours of work or getting an unexpected bill is enough to cause them to lose their housing, at least temporarily.”
Kneebone added these numbers may seem surprising to those who believe that people who experience homelessness are the same people every month, showing that many people in the city are teetering on the edge of homelessness.
“If you’re imagining that there’s a relatively small number of people we need to help in order to solve homelessness in Calgary, you’re wrong.”
The report showed many Canadians live in a “grey-area” between those with secured housing and those without.
Those in this area move back and forth with different housing options including couch surfing, homeless shelters, and low-priced rental accommodations.
The School of Public Policy said in order to properly tackle this issue, more needs to be done on the community level to address affordable housing and helping low-income Calgarians and not automatically looking to shelters as the answer.
