Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here before you today, to speak on behalf of the Department of Employment and Social Development Canada to discuss the homelessness partnering strategy.
Homelessness affects a diverse cross-section of the population, from single adults to youth, families, women with children, veterans, and seniors. In 2014 approximately 136,000 Canadians used an emergency shelter across the country.
Compared to the housed population, homeless individuals are far more likely to experience mental health or addiction issues, be victims of assault, and suffer from a variety of physical health ailments, including tuberculosis, HIV, and the effects of inadequately controlled diabetes and hypertension.
As a result of related public spending on health, social, and judicial services, the economic costs of homelessness are high. Some estimates indicate that it costs Canadians as much as $6 billion annually. The homelessness partnering strategy is a community-based program that provides direct financial support to 61 designated communities across the country, as well as to aboriginal and rural and remote communities, to allow them to address their local homelessness needs.
Through this strategy, qualified organizations may receive funding for projects to help prevent and reduce homelessness in Canada. These projects are funded through both regional and national funding streams. The program's formal adoption of the Housing First approach in 2014 represented a departure from more traditional approaches of addressing homelessness primarily through emergency shelters and services.
The focus of Housing First is to provide clients with access to independent and permanent housing as quickly as possible, without having to meet any preconditions. This model focuses on clients who are either chronically homeless, meaning individuals who are currently homeless and have been so for six months or more in the past year, or episodically homeless, referring to individuals who are currently homeless and have experienced three or more episodes of homelessness in the past year. Once housed, these clients receive tailored, wraparound supports to ensure long-term housing stability.
We are only now beginning to receive data to measure the impact of the shift to Housing First. With the full five-year implementation, we will have a much better sense of the effectiveness of this approach for communities.
At the same time, communities moving to the Housing First model continue to have the flexibility to support other proven approaches and to support priority populations, such as youth homelessness and homelessness within the seniors' populations.
The Homelessness Partnering Strategy is a unique program. Our community governance model plays a significant role in the successful implementation of projects at the local level. A community advisory board exists in each of the 61 designated communities and is made up of a wide range of stakeholders. It is responsible for setting the direction for addressing local homelessness issues and recommends projects for funding. A community entity, normally an incorporated organization such as the community's municipal government, is responsible for the implementation of a community plan and the administration of funds.
Budget 2016 announced an additional $111.8 million in funding for the Homelessness Partnering Strategy over two years. This builds on the program's existing five-year investment of nearly $600 million over five years, from 2014 to 2019.
Additional funding has therefore been provided to the program's three original funding streams. Approximately $54 million in additional investments over two years have been made to the designated communities stream. The Aboriginal homelessness funding stream doubled, receiving an additional $29 million over two years. The rural and remote homelessness stream funding also doubled to $11.2 million per year over two years.
In addition to the three regional funding streams, there are also three nationally delivered funding streams.
The national homelessness information system is a partnership model designed to facilitate data collection from homeless shelters and other service providers.
The surplus federal real property for homelessness initiative is delivered by our department in partnership with Public Services and Procurement Canada to transfer surplus federal lands and buildings to stakeholders for $1 to create affordable housing for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Budget 2016 also announced $12.5 million over two years for the innovative solutions to homelessness funding stream. This stream tests innovative approaches to prevent and reduce homelessness, particularly with respect to indigenous and Inuit peoples, young people, women fleeing violence, and veterans who experience homelessness.
Two calls for proposals were launched in the fall of 2016 to solicit new projects. One call was for larger contribution projects and the other was for smaller-scale experimental projects requiring grants under $25,000. These project proposals are now being assessed, and an announcement is expected in spring 2017.
Over the course of the next year ESDC will have the opportunity to engage with provincial and territorial partners, municipal representatives, and communities, as well as with indigenous stakeholders and others to seek their views as we prepare for program renewal in 2019.
This engagement will include the work of the advisory committee on homelessness, to be chaired by parliamentary secretary Adam Vaughan. The nomination process to seek members for this advisory committee was launched yesterday, February 1, and is open until February 20.
Thank you. I look forward to answering your questions.