A primer on affordable housing and homelessness

Canada Compared

Rates of Social Renting
Country	%
Netherlands	34
Sweden	32
France	19
England	18
Canada	5
United States	3

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Rental Housing Production

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

• Homelessness

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Causes

• Traditionally, two schools of thought:
• Individual risk factors
• Socioeconomic factors affecting entire jurisdictions

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Causes (cont’d)

• Ex’s of Individual Risk Factors:
• Mental health diagnosis
• Heavy use of drugs or alcohol
• Lack of education/skills

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Causes (cont’d)

• Examples of Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Entire Jurisdictions
• High unemployment rate
• Lack of affordable housing
• Inadequate social assistance benefits
• Reductions in psychiatric beds

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Causes (cont’d)

• Since early 1990s: convergence of opinions
• 1. Structural factors matter
• 2. Those most at risk tend to have individual risk factors

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Impact on Health

• “Homeless people in their forties and fifties often develop health disabilities that are more commonly seen only in people who are decades older.”
• —Dr. Stephen Hwang

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Impact on Health (cont’d)

• Homeless people more likely to have:
• 29X Hep C
• 20X Epilepsy
• 5X Heart Disease
• 4X Cancer
• 2X Diabetes

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Mental Health

• Depression 17% (8% in pop)
• Anxiety 11% (1%)
• Bipolar 8% (1%)
• Schizophrenia 5% (1%)

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Social Costs (cont’d)

• 2000 article in JAMA reported on death rates among homeless men in Toronto:
• →The mean age of death was 46 years.
• →The mortality rate for homeless male youth 8X rate of of their non-homeless counterparts.
• →Homeless men 9X more likely to be murdered than their housed counterparts.

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Social Costs (cont’d)

• 1998 Toronto study
• → Over half of all female street youth become pregnant.
• →300 babies are born to homeless women each year in Toronto

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)

Violence

• More than 1/3 of homeless persons report being physically assaulted or beaten up in previous year
• Stranger 56%
• Acquaintance 38%
• Police 35%
• Another shelter resident 27%
• Partner or spouse 21%
• Shelter staff 15%

• Nick Falvo: United Church Women (Feb. 17, 2014)