BOARD REPORT MEETING DATE: JUNE 23, 2016 DATE PREPARED: MAY 13, 2016 SUBJECT: COMMUNITY HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION INITIATIVE 2015/16 EVALUATION AND

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1 THE DISTRICT OF THUNDER BAY SOCIAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION BOARD BOARD REPORT REPORT NO.: MEETING DATE: JUNE 23, 2016 DATE PREPARED: MAY 13, 2016 SUBJECT: COMMUNITY HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION INITIATIVE 2015/16 EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2017/18 RECOMMENDATION For information only. REPORT SUMMARY To provide The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board (TBDSSAB or the Board) with the results of the 2015/16 Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative (CHPI) program evaluations and with Administration s CHPI program changes for 2017/18. BACKGROUND Under CHPI, TBDSSAB has the flexibility to use funding to meet the homelessness prevention needs of the District of Thunder Bay in the following four (4) service categories: Emergency Shelter Solutions, Housing with Related Supports, Other Services and Supports and Homelessness Prevention. The following list outlines the programs that the TBDSSAB provided funding for in 2015/16 organized by the above service categories. Emergency Shelter Solutions Emergency Shelter Provision (Shelter House Thunder Bay) Emergency Shelter Provision (Salvation Army) Housing with Related Supports Habitat Program (Salvation Army) Tenant Support Coordination (TBDSSAB)

2 REPORT NO (Housing Services Division) PAGE 2 OF 8 Other Services and Supports Luther Court Support Services/Social Services Program (Lutheran Community Care Centre) Homeless Outreach Program (Canadian Mental Health Association) Street Outreach Services (Shelter House Thunder Bay) Homelessness Prevention Housing Security Fund (TBDSSAB) Funding for the 2015/16 year totaled $2,703,600. COMMENTS In 2015/16 Administration developed a new reporting template for CHPI funded programs to reflect the reporting requirements of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) and to provide the TBDSSAB with better data to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs being supported. The evaluation outcomes and future program changes are outlined below by services categories. EMERGENCY SHELTER SOLUTIONS Shelter House Thunder Bay and the Salvation Army provide emergency sheltering services including board, lodging and personal needs to homeless persons on a short term, infrequent basis. Many of the users of the shelters come to Thunder Bay from communities throughout the District, with a small number from outside the District. Shelter House Thunder Bay has a total capacity of 62 beds with 42 being permanent and 20 being overflow. The Salvation Army has a total capacity of 42 beds with 17 being permanent and 25 being overflow. Below are the results of the monthly reporting requirements for the Emergency Shelter Solutions category in 2015/2016: Emergency Shelter Solutions Salvation Shelter Total Army House Number of Bed Nights Used 10,796 19,503 30,299 Number of Admissions 1,566 8,428 9,994 Number of Unique Individuals Staying ,215 Number of Individuals Housed Number of Services Provided 4,244 4,509 8,753

3 REPORT NO (Housing Services Division) PAGE 3 OF 8 *Services include providing clothing, snacks and other amenities, housing search supports, counselling/support groups, case management activities. * A single client may receive multiple services. Since 2013 both the Salvation Army and Shelter House Thunder Bay have been in a chronic state of overflow. As a result, a large proportion of the CHPI funding is dedicated to this service. However, with the changes and investments outlined in the Other Services and Supports category as well as the newly funded (2016/17) Emergency Shelter Case Workers, Administration expects these numbers to decrease. Over time it is expected that a larger proportion of the TBDSSAB s CHPI allocation will be dedicated to homelessness prevention initiatives, rather than emergency shelter solutions. It is Administration s goal to reduce the reliance on emergency shelter beds and address the homelessness needs through increased and improved case management and placement into permanent housing solutions. HOUSING WITH RELATED SUPPORTS The Habitat Program is delivered by The Salvation Army Community & Residential Services and offers low support programming and interventions for hard-to-serve individuals who reside at the TBDSSAB owned 219 Pearl Street location. The program was designed to be transitional, but with limited community supports available to assist tenants once they move from this program, the transition has been reducing. TBDSSAB Tenant Support Coordinators meet with each new tenant that moves into a TBDSSAB owned unit in order to effectively assess and meet the needs of all tenants. The Tenant Support Coordinators perform a vast array of support activities that ensure the TBDSSAB tenants remain successfully housed. Below are the results of the monthly reporting requirements for the Housing with Related Supports category in 2015/2016: Housing with Related Supports # of Services Provided Habitat 2,509 Tenant Support 1,127 *Due to the nature of the reporting template for , the number of unique individuals tends to be unreliable (cannot add together the unique individuals each month for a yearly total as those individuals may receive services many times throughout the year). This has been modified for the reporting year. *Services for Habitat include counselling, life skills courses, advocacy, service coordination, etc. *Services for Tenant Support include counselling, assistance with forms, conflicts, hoarding, etc.

4 REPORT NO (Housing Services Division) PAGE 4 OF 8 *Difference in # of services provided is due to the discrepancies between the two programs. The evaluation results demonstrate that these programs effectively deliver the desired outcomes of preventing homelessness by supporting individuals and families to maintain their housing, though more data will be collected and analyzed in order to understand the true effectiveness. There are no immediate changes recommended to the Housing with Related Supports service category, though new funding initiatives for housing with supports may allow for more frequent tenant transitions from the Habitat Program. OTHER SERVICES AND SUPPORTS Luther Court Support Services/Social Services Program, delivered by the Lutheran Community Care Centre provides supports to tenants of Luther Court (a social housing building with a mixed target population) and to other individuals and families in the community who are in need of support to maintain independent community living. The Homeless Outreach Program (HOPS), delivered by the Canadian Mental Health Association assists people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless to access resources needed to find safe, affordable, permanent housing. Referred individuals need not be experiencing mental health concerns. Referrals come from many sources including Shelter House, TBDSSAB, Salvation Army, Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre, the Canadian Mental Health Association, as well as self-referral. The Street Outreach Service Program, delivered by Shelter House Thunder Bay is comprised of three components. The first component is increasing the collaboration between the Salvation Army and Shelter House to ensure fulsome use of current shelter beds. The second component is to provide street outreach through a mobile response unit. Shelter House Thunder Bay provides a twoperson mobile unit that provides the following services: Transportation for homeless citizens to the most appropriate shelter or community service, including withdrawal management services. Support for emergency service responders when an individual is publicly intoxicated, without shelter and not willing or needing to receive withdrawal management services. Support for community members and businesses who need help with a homeless person in crisis but not requiring emergency services. Outreach to people in encampments (rough sleepers) to provide essential needs (food, warm clothing) and to encourage individuals to move indoors to shelter spaces.

5 REPORT NO (Housing Services Division) PAGE 5 OF 8 The third component is to provide day admissions to Shelter House for shortterm sobering-up services for individuals who are intoxicated but not willing to go to Balmoral Withdrawal Management Services. Below are the results of the monthly reporting requirements for the Other Services and Supports category in 2015/2016: Other Services and Supports # of Services Provided Lutheran Community Care Centre 1,389 Housing Outreach Program 3,353 Street Outreach Service 24,917 *Due to the nature of the reporting template for , the number of unique individuals tends to be unreliable (cannot add together the unique individuals each month for a yearly total as those individuals may receive services many times throughout the year). This has been modified for the reporting year. *Services for Lutheran include counselling, life skills courses, advocacy, service coordination, etc. *Services for HOPS include referrals, coordination of service, counselling, life skills, etc. *Services for SOS include providing rides to shelters/hospital/safe places and providing amenities like clothing and snacks. *Difference in # of services provided is due to the discrepancies between the two programs. Although the evaluation results demonstrate that these programs effectively engage individuals in services to prevent homelessness, Administration is recommending program changes for the Other Services and Supports category as the results of these efforts have not materialized in a reduction to number of individuals that are homeless. The District of Thunder Bay has experienced an unusual trend of a general reduction to the overall Social Housing Waitlist numbers coupled with a surge of individuals utilizing the homeless emergency shelters. Since 2014, the emergency shelters located within the City of Thunder Bay have been in a chronic state of over-capacity. To address this situation, TBDSSAB has approved additional funding through CHPI for the emergency shelters to be used specifically to increase the case management function within the emergency shelters, with the goal to reduce overall use and to facilitate progression along the housing continuum. In addition, Administration has re-developed the TBDSSAB s Emergency Hostel Outreach Worker (EHOW) position to ensure that this position is assisting to move emergency shelter residents along the housing continuum.

6 REPORT NO (Housing Services Division) PAGE 6 OF 8 Further, with the roll out of Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) Version 4, emergency shelter staff will be conducting an assessment of all emergency shelter residents using the Service Prioritization and Decision Assistance Tool (SPDAT). The SPDAT is an evidence-informed approach to assessing an individual s or family s acuity. The tool, across multiple components, prioritizes who to serve next and why, while concurrently identifying the areas in the person/family s life where support is most likely necessary in order to avoid housing instability. Individuals would be placed in the recently approved High Needs Homeless prioritization category if their SPDAT score is in excess of a predetermined level. When an individual rises to the top of the High Needs Homeless prioritization category the TBDSSAB, EHOW and the emergency shelter case workers would review the individuals SPDAT and ensure that the appropriate supports are organized to ensure successful tenancy for people placed into the social housing system. In addition, for 2017 Administration will be providing additional funding to the Canadian Metal Health Association (CMHA) for the provision of three Housing First Support Workers. This would represent funding for two new positions and a re-development of the HOPS position. The role of the Housing First Support Worker will be to provide the supports necessary to ensure successful tenancy for people placed into the social housing system from the High Needs Homeless prioritization category. The Housing First Support workers may also perform a number of the functions of the current HOPS worker as time permits. Administration has identified the CMHA for this funding as the TBDSSAB currently has a Housing First partnership with the CMHA that began in At that time the TBDSSAB committed two units to the CMHA that provided the supports for clients that required assistance to live independently. Since that time the program has grown to 10 units. The Housing First partnership with CMHA has been extremely successful with no evictions to date despite the high support needs of the tenants. This initiative has successfully housed and maintained housing for individuals that would otherwise be homeless or inadequately housed, placing increased burden on the Emergency Hostel system. HOMELESSNESS PREVENTION The Housing Security Fund (HSF) is administered by TBDSSAB through the Client Services Division and is available to recipients of social assistance as well as low income wage earners. The HSF provides one-time resources to prevent eviction and assist low income individuals and families to obtain and retain housing. Financial assistance to eligible recipients include, but are not limited to, expenses such as last month rent deposit, utility deposits, rent arrears, and funds to avoid utility cut off. This program is available to individuals throughout the

7 REPORT NO (Housing Services Division) PAGE 7 OF 8 entire District of Thunder Bay and Administration will now be tracking the home municipality of recipients. Below are the results of the monthly reporting requirements for the Homelessness Prevention category in 2015/2016: Homelessness Prevention (HSF) # Clients Served Ontario Works 332 Ontario Disability Support Program 244 Non-Social Assistance Recipients (Non-SAR) 89 Total 665 *Not tracking the home municipality of the HSF recipients in This information will be available as of June 2016 for the fiscal year. HSF Category # Clients Served Rent 331 Rent Arrears 139 Utilities 111 Moving Costs 82 Furniture 22 Property Taxes 1 *A client may receive assistance under more than one HSF category. Although HSF was successfully expanded to serve an increased number of individuals and families in 2014/2015, the proportion of non-social assistance low income earners remained low. Further, the usage of the HSF program has been sporadic, despite efforts to continually promote the program. To increase participation of low income individuals and families not earning OW or ODSP from throughout the District of Thunder Bay targets and plans will be established with Client Services to increase efforts of outreach to organizations that may be involved in supporting these populations to ensure that this population participates fully in the HSF program. The targets and plans will be evaluated in one year to determine if the outcomes are as desired. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS These changes will be presented to the Board in the 2017 Budget document.

8 REPORT NO (Housing Services Division) PAGE 8 OF 8 CONCLUSION It is concluded that the results of the 2015/16 CHPI program evaluations are generally positive. However, Administration will be making changes to the programs funded under the Other Services and Supports category as the number of services provided has not yielded a reduction to the number of individuals accessing Emergency Shelters. Further, the changes reflect the new homelessness prevention system that is evolving due to investments made through CHPI in 2016/2017. REFERENCE MATERIALS ATTACHED None PREPARED BY: Aaron Park, Program Lead, Housing The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board APPROVED / SIGNATURE: Ken Ranta, Director Housing Services Division The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board SUBMITTED / SIGNATURE: William (Bill) Bradica, Chief Administrative Officer The District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board