Despite millions of dollars in government funding directed to stop poverty, the City of Ottawa is “no closer to ending homelessness,” according to the Ottawa Alliance to End Homelessness' annual report card, published today.
This is the sixth yearly report card the non-partisan coalition has written. It said that, compared to 2008, the city had a 9.6 per cent increase in the number of shelter beds used between January and December 2009.
Overall, Ottawa scored a ‘D’ grade in the review of homelessness, with 7,445 individuals having stayed in shelters last year. The average length of stay was 57 days, up 12 per cent from 2008.
Ottawa also scored ‘C’ grades in social housing and income. Only 88 affordable housing units were created last year, while 10,235 individuals and families remain on the social housing waitlist.
The report said Ottawa must adhere to a plan to end homelessness by 2020, which includes reducing the number of people using the shelter system in Ottawa from over 7,000 to under 2,000. They also want to lower the average days spent in shelters from 57 to 30.
However, the report did praise the development of four projects in 2009, which built or began building 129 supportive housing units.
The full report card is available at http://www.endhomelessnessottawa.ca/index.cfm.