Community engagement with interviews, surveys will lead to ‘road map’ to end chronic homelessness: regional commissioner

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Waterloo Region — The Waterloo Region is embarking on a community engagement process with the public and experienced individuals on how to end chronic homelessness.

“By going out and talking to people in the community and looking at the overall challenges, we hope to create a roadmap,” Peter Sweeney, Regional Commissioner for Community Services, said in an interview.

“The roadmap is comprehensive and identifies the resources we need. Then, as a community, we need to make some decisions about our willingness and ability to go down that path,” he said.

The regional commission’s report, due to be submitted to regional councilors on Tuesday, says that starting this summer, the community engagement approach will include interviews, street team outreach and surveys. .

Kitchener-based Overlap Associates oversees engagement with the entire community, while the Center for Social Development Waterloo Area speaks to individuals who have experienced living with the homeless.

The goal, says the report, is to examine current system gaps, access barriers and root causes, and seek creative solutions to decades-old problems.

“Our commitment to the community is to try to do this right and include the voices of the people who need to be there,” Sweeney said.

The Regional Council will update the results next fall.

A plan for the region to end chronic homelessness was approved by Congress last August. This includes opening outdoor shelters, adding at least 50 temporary emergency beds, increasing home support with rent subsidies for about 100 units, and expanding supported transitional housing, especially Indigenous-centred and Indigenous-led housing. A temporary housing solution was included. .

The outdoor shelter on Arves Road in Wilmot Township is scheduled to open on April 15th. With a small cabin on site, Sweeney says the area awaits community space his cabin.

“The reality is that we have a chronic homelessness crisis in our communities. We can’t afford to sit still and wait,” he said.

But bigger plans include having a broader conversation in the community and looking at long-term solutions to end chronic homelessness, Sweeney said.

“This is actually trying to run along two parallel but connected tracks, and they have to come together,” he said.

The district has approved a $8.2 million 2023 homeless operating budget that includes housing strategies such as outdoor shelters and long-term planning processes.

Sweeney said plans to engage with the public and those with experience are likely to result in “haha” moments.

“Maybe we need to look at it differently,” he said.

Sweeney said connecting with people with community and lived experience is about building relationships and trust and “investing time to do it right.”