Public Policy and Homelessness #1 of 3 Slide Decks Prepared for Certificate in Working with Homeless Populations January 24, 2017 By: Nick Falvo
Acknowledgement This slide deck is a modified version of a slide presentation I recently prepared in collaboration with my co-worker, Chidom Otogwu. That presentation was prepared for Calgary Homeless Foundation Annual Board Retreat. Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 2
Three major contributing factors to the size of a city s homeless population 1. Macroeconomic factors (e.g., price of oil, strength of US economy, Global Financial Crisis). 2. Public policy (e.g., job creation, jobless benefits, social assistance benefits, availability of non-profit housing, rental supply). 1. System responses (e.g. role played by System Planners such as CHF, Edmonton Homeward Trust, City of Toronto).
The Federal Picture Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 4
Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Mendelson, M. (2012). Is Canada (still) a fiscal union? Retrieved from Caledon Institute of Social Policy website: www.caledoninst.org/publications/pdf/998eng.pdf. Note: The above image has been copied and pasted directly from page 2 of the report. 5
Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Citizens for Public Justice. (2015). Taxes for the common good: A public justice primer on taxation (Fact Sheet Series). Retrieved from Citizens for Public Justice website: http://www.cpj.ca/sites/default/files/docs/files/taxes-for-the-common-good-final.pdf Note: The data in the graph is OECD total revenue: it includes all levels of government (M. Veall, personal communication, September 15, 2015). 6
Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Wellesley Institute. (2015, September 22). Access to housing HEIA in the federal election. Retrieved from http://www.wellesleyinstitute.com/housing/access-to-housing-heia-in-the-federal-election/ 7
Rental Housing Production Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Pomeroy, S. (2013, May). The fundamentals of housing policy & governance: A condensed, one-day course. Carleton University, Ottawa. Note: This slide has been copied and pasted directly from Mr. Pomeroy s slide deck. It appeared as Slide #24 in his deck. 8
The Alberta Picture Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 9
Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Statistics Canada. CANSIM Tables 385-0002 (1989-2008), 384-0047 (2009-2014) and 384-0038 (GDP data). 10
Social Assistance In 1993, the Alberta government brought in strict welfare reforms. Several researchers (including Ron Kneebone) have written about how difficult provincial officials made it for people to qualify for social assistance in the province. And as you ll see shortly, the annual value of benefit levels for those who did quality for social assistance eroded over time. Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Kneebone, R., & White, K. (2009). Fiscal retrenchment and social assistance in Canada. Retrieved from Canadian Public Policy website. 11
Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Statistics Canada. CANSIM Tables 385-0002 (1989-2008), 384-0047 (2009-2014) and 384-0038 (GDP data). 12
Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Tweddle, A., Battle, K., & Torjman, S. (2016). Welfare in Canada, 2015. Retrieved from Canada Social Report website: http://www.canadasocialreport.ca/welfareincanada/2015%2epdf 13
Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Calgary Homeless Foundation. (2016). National Housing Strategy Brief. Retrieved from Calgary Homeless Foundation web site. Note: Visual has been copied directly from Appendix 3 of brief, where all data sources are listed. 14
120.00 100.00 Stock of Rental Units per 1,000 people Calgary Edmonton 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Note: This is a modified version of a bar graph that has been generously provided to me from Professor Ron Kneebone. 15
Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: CMHC Rental Market Survey (Historical Universe by Bedroom Type). Note: The CMHC data presented above refer to purpose-built apartments in buildings with three or more apartment units. Special thanks to Ron Kneebone for providing me with this data. 16
Homelessness in Calgary Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 17
Calgary Drop-In Centre, 1992-2014 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Jan Jun Nov Apr Sep Feb Jul Dec May Oct Mar Aug Jan Jun Nov Apr Sep Feb Jul Dec May Oct Mar Aug Jan Jun Nov Apr Sep Feb Jul Dec May Oct Mar Aug Jan Jun Nov Apr Sep Feb Jul Dec May Oct Mar Aug Jan Jun Nov Apr Sep Feb 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: I ve taken this visual directly from Professor Ron Kneebone s February 2016 slide presentation titled Homelessness in Calgary: What we can Learn from Time Series Data? In that slide presentation, the line graph above appears on slide #23. 18
Calgary s Homeless Population Over Time (bw 2008 & 2016, per capita decrease of 26%) 4,000 3,533 3,500 3,157 3,601 3,190 3,576 3,531 3,222 3,000 2,500 2,397 2,000 1,737 1,500 1,296 1,000 988 500 447 461 615 0 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 Source: Calculations above have been made by Dr. Ali Jadidzadeh. 19
Takeaways The role of System Planners (i.e. Calgary Homeless Foundation, Edmonton Homeward Trust, City of Toronto) matters. But so does public policy. We should always be mindful of the important role played by public policy in both creating and ending homelessness. Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 20
Thank You Falvo & Otogwu: Public Policy & Homelessness, Jan '17 21