Federal study to give homeless places to live

An article published in the August 25th edition of the Ottawa Citizen:

By Tiffany Crawford

A new federal project will look at helping homeless people with mental illness in five cities across Canada reintegrate into society by giving hundreds of them places to live.

The study, by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, will monitor a total of 2,225 homeless people living with a mental illness in Moncton, N.B., Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg over four years.

Of that number, 1,325 homeless Canadians will be given a place to live, including apartments and group homes, and will be offered psychological and social support to assist them over the four years.

The remaining participants will receive normal services, such as counselling and emergency shelters that are currently available in the five cities.

The participants will be selected next month, said research lead Dr. Paula Goering, who is also head of the Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

"It is a very exciting chance to learn. We have never done anything like this in Canada before," she said.

Goering said the budget from Health Canada is $110 million.

Candidates will get to choose from several options where to live, and be visited at least once a week by program staff. The researchers aim to prove that by giving homeless people a stable place to live, they will be able to reintegrate into society.

"If it's an apartment we offer rent supplements. But they might prefer to live in a group home," said Goering. "It's important to note that we aren't placing people, we are helping people with their problems."

The study will compare how much money the federal government spends on services for the people who have been given accommodation, compared to those using the regular services, for example policing costs, emergency room visits and shelter beds.

Goering said there will be no requirement for participants to give up drugs.

"Many of the individuals will have mental illness and addictions. We won't put restrictions on people to be dry or stop using and we will still house them and then offer them help with their problems."

Data from this kind of extensive research does not currently exist in Canada, according to the commission.

The research projects will end in 2013, and will produce a body of evidence to help Canada develop services to homeless people living with a mental illness, said Goering.

Photograph by Arlen Redekop, The Province (please click on the photograph to enlarge it).