For the first time, from what I recall, the Province of Alberta has invested $32 million in support services. That has provided an opportunity for us to support the Housing First philosophy. Out of those resources here in Edmonton we were able to fund nine different teams that are working in the Parkland area and the River Valley, engaging homeless people and getting them into the program.
In terms of modernizing our approach, in the past I think in the approach to homelessness, although the coordinated effort and intention of agencies was to try to provide and ultimately get homeless people into permanent housing, the resources and the staff to actually support that process through to the end and to provide the kind of guidance and linkage to the community haven't been there. In our Housing First philosophy there are three major pillars: the client, the landlord, and the community.
Statistically one of the things we've referenced—and you can use the aboriginal community as an example—is the aboriginal population, in terms of the 40% that are homeless. It's incumbent upon us, our partners in the community, and the aboriginal community to ensure that individuals who come to this program, and programs like it, are given opportunities to socialize and connect to their community and feel that they belong, and feel not that their community is solely at a shelter or in an agency, but that their community is broader than that.