The COVID-19 pandemic has not had an equal impact on everyone in Ottawa. For those experiencing and at risk of falling into homelessness, it threatens to exacerbate the housing and homelessness emergency declared by Ottawa city council Jan. 29.
This declaration was made six years into Ottawa’s 10-year housing and homelessness plan which, among other goals, aimed to guarantee shelter for all Ottawans and eliminate chronic homelessness.
According to the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa (ATEHO), 8,000 individuals used overnight emergency shelters across the city before the pandemic hit—a record-breaking increase of 6.5 per cent in 2018 compared to the previous year. The city’s already cramped social housing waiting list also rose by 14.8 per cent that same year.
Lack of affordable housing
According to executive director of ATEHO Kaite Burkholder Harris, the key cause behind this spike is the decline in Ottawa’s affordable housing stock. Real estate investment trusts are buying up affordable rental units city-wide and turning them into investment properties. This process—which often involves evicting tenants, extensively renovating these properties, and then increasing rental prices—results in housing becoming unaffordable for most low-income earners.
“There’s a number of people in the shelters who are working and who even have full-time positions. Finding housing is the barrier,” she said. “There are plenty of people who could live independently, but getting housing has been really challenging.”
Burkholder Harris added that the controversial Bill 184 could fan the flames of this crisis once the current moratorium on evictions ends. If passed, it would allow landlords to evict tenants after missing a single payment without taking them to the Landlord-Tenant Tribunal.
“This is happening at a time when we are literally in a global pandemic where we know there is going to be potential for a tsunami of evictions,” she said. “We’re really worried because what we’re seeing is a lot of people who have lost their jobs and cannot pay their rent. If we are making it more difficult to stay housed, what I worry about is mass evictions happening.”
According to ATEHO’s data, families are one of the fastest-growing demographics experiencing homelessness because of these crises. Affordable rental units large enough to comfortably accommodate the average family are particularly rare.
Another demographic that could be at a heightened risk for experiencing homelessness is the city’s youth.
Charlotte Smith is a masters of sociology student at Carleton University and co-founder of a youth homelessness social innovation lab called Making the Shift Scholars with Lived Experience Network.
. She said that the loss of already limited in-person support services schools are providing due to COVID-19, such as breakfast programs, could make things worse for youth who are on the brink of homelessness.
“Any support they would be accessing at school that might alleviate the symptoms of their risk of [experiencing homelessness] or actual homelessness, they’d be losing out on,” she said.
Smith, who previously experienced homelessness herself, has been buying groceries and necessities for youth who she knows are in various stages of homelessness.
“Homeless youth that I know, they’re having a much harder time couch surfing right now because people don’t want them in and out of the house especially if they’ve been in multiple other homes,” she said.
She said that what started as frequent check-ups with her friends evolved into a bi-weekly grocery run that serves over 25 youth.
“A lot of the recently housed youths don’t have a lot in their apartments; they already have quite a few mental health issues which are only made worse by being asked to stay inside here in an almost empty apartment,” she said. “It’s not safe for some of them to spend time alone and to be left inside their apartment.”
Strained shelters
Thanks to scrupulous safety protocols, additional funding, and an army of dedicated volunteers and staff, Ottawa’s main shelters have largely managed to keep out COVID-19.
Ottawa Mission communications director Aileen Leo, explained that while this is certainly a victory, many of the shelter’s critical programs are still operating at a reduced capacity.
One particular example is the Mission’s food services training program which is designed to teach individuals how to work in a commercial kitchen. Part of the instruction has moved online and a practical job experience portion of the course has been suspended until restaurants are allowed to open.
“It’s just finding ways to do things differently, but it’s really an imperative to be able to do that because our clients need the support,” Leo said.
Caroline Cox, the senior manager at Shepherds of Good Hope, said that social distancing measures impacted regular services such as providing meals.
“We can seat about 35 people safely and we’re regularly serving 250-300 people for a meal,” she said. “We’re having to serve meals outside in the 40-degree heat and it’s been very difficult for our clients. Our staff are working in full PPE, again in 40-degree heat.”
Cox added that Shepherds’ construction of a new supportive housing residence on Montreal road has also been delayed due to the pandemic.
“A later opening means staying in the shelter longer or staying on the streets because the housing situation in Ottawa is really bleak,” she said. “The people who would be moving into this housing cannot be housed anywhere else because of mental health and addiction issues, and they can’t afford it either.”
In an effort to relieve some of the pressure put on these shelters, the City of Ottawa has repurposed a variety of buildings as emergency shelters. This has included hotels and the Jim Durell Recreation centre which can accommodate 140 people.
Leo said that while municipal support is encouraging, a new housing-focused approach to homelessness is needed going forward.
“It’s all very well when the pandemic passes, but what do you do for people who go to the Jim Durrell Centre or other spaces? They have to return to the shelters,” she added. “It’s much better to find people homes.”
A new approach
Taijah Cox-Armstrong is a law and English and women’s and gender studies student at Carleton. She founded a program aimed at providing rehabilitation for those experiencing homelessness in Ottawa called Elevated Canada Inc.
Cox-Armstrong said that her organization aspires to go above and beyond helping people with one-time donations. Instead, helping people find housing and jobs is the key.
“We’re trying to connect them to job finding centres, it’s an easier way to get connected with the world instead of trying to find these opportunities themselves,” she said. “We’d help them prepare resumes, connect them for interviews, and then hopefully also be able to get them back on their feet.”
As for the ATEHO, Cox said that she has hope despite these crises. In part, because she said today’s youth are very active on social justice and taking action in support of affordable housing.
“We could end homelessness. We don’t need to accept any more that this is a problem that’s just going to be with us,” she said. “Take action by doing your research around homelessness and telling your elected representatives that the 10-year plan on housing and homelessness needs to be funded by all levels of government.”
A previous version of this article stated that Charlotte Smith co-founded Making the Shift when in fact she co-founded the Making the Shift Scholars with Lived Experience Network. The Charlatan regrets the error.
Featured image from file.
