Final Reports of 7 Cities Provincial and Calgary Point-in-Time Count released

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Feb. 5, 2015) - Calgary continues to be the epicentre of homelessness in the province according to the final report of the Alberta Point-in-Time Count (The Count) of homelessness held October 17, 2014 which was released today.

Calgary, the first city in Canada to launch a 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness participated in the first Canadian, province-wide count as part of the 7 Cities coalition which includes Edmonton, Red Deer, Grand Prairie, Wood Buffalo, Medicine Hat, and Lethbridge. "We believe in collaboration and working cooperatively across the homeless serving sector, both here in Calgary and the Province," says Diana Krecsy, President and CEO, Calgary Homeless Foundation. "No one person, community, agency or even government can end homelessness alone. We must share information, collaborate on best practices and policies and celebrate successes. Working together, we know we can improve the quality of life and services for vulnerable citizens and create healthier communities for everyone."

The preliminary report of Calgary's Count enumerated 3,531 individuals as homeless. The number increased slightly to 3,555 due to a discrepancy in responses from individuals counted on the street versus actually staying in shelter on the night of October 16^th.

Other results of note not released in the Preliminary report are:

• Calgary's October 2014 Point-in-Time Count captured 3,555 individuals (representing 53% of the province's total). This figure indicates no additional growth in homelessness, which has largely stabilized since the 2012 counts.
  
  
• The majority of clients were counted in emergency shelters - 50% (1,766 people). (36% short-term supportive housing, 9% Systems, 5% Rough sleeping)
  
  
• Aboriginal people continue to be over-represented (21.1% in Count as compared to 3% in the overall Calgary population)
  
  
• The Count found 122 seniors (65+), the majority of whom (69%) were found at emergency shelters. This is a substantial increase from the number enumerated in 2012 (84), but consistent with January 2014.
  
  
• 182 rough sleepers were found the night of the count, although weather was unseasonably mild, hovering just above 0 degrees on the night of the count. Among rough sleepers, women are under-represented, and Indigenous Peoples are over-represented.
  
  
• 211 families were enumerated (with 378 children), including 20 families in Alberta Works funded hotel/motel stays. There were also at least 12 pregnant women identified among the surveyed population (n = 437)
  
  
• 286 unaccompanied youth (13-24) were counted in both youth and adult serving facilities - looking specifically at emergency shelters, 28 of them were in youth-specific shelters, and 65 were in adult shelters.
  
  
• Of the surveyed population (n = 437), 18.4% were new to Calgary in the past year (compared to a provincial average of 18.1%).
  

The full Provincial report as well as the Calgary report can be accessed on the 7 Cities website and CHF website at www.7cities.ca and http://calgaryhomeless.com/get-involved/learn-more/ respectively.

About CHF

The Calgary Homeless Foundation leads the implementation of Calgary's 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness in partnership with the many homeless-serving agencies, the private sector, our government partners, the faith community, other foundations and all Calgarians to end homelessness in Calgary once and for all.

Visit www.calgaryhomeless.com.

About 7 Cities

Alberta's 7 Cities on Housing and Homelessness are the lead organizations responsible for the implementation of local Plans to End Homelessness, working together since 2001. The 7 Cities coordinate local plans at a systems level and align funding resources for greater impact and progress towards ending homelessness.

The 7 Cities provides a forum for dialogue with the federal and provincial representatives on housing and homelessness. The 7 Cities have longstanding histories of delivering strategic planning and service delivery in communities, along with administering and aligning funds, with accountabilities to several provincial or federal funders, including Alberta Human Services and the federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy.

Visit www.7cities.ca.