Working to end homelessness and developing a Lloydminster strategy centered near the meat and potato issues as human services and other interest groups did a deep dive into the recent housing strategy study.
Lori Richer with the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness and an Improvement Advisor with Built for Zero Canada was one of the guests invited to share insights at the one-day session at the Lloyd Ex.
Conversations between groups like the Salvation Army, Olive Tree, and other human services groups are all finding common ground on issues of getting funding for projects.
Jana Thompson, chief operating officer with The Olive Tree is sharing on the Homebase program which in the last little while has taken 22 people off the streets of Lloydminster.
“Since October, we have housed 22 people successfully. We have had two graduates from the program who have found employment and moved on. It’s an incredible amount of people for our outreach worker to reach and provide wrap-around services for.”
In trying to collect the data to show that a pilot project can work, the idea – build it, and they will come is ringing true, as both Thompson and Richer concur that rather than wait for funding, non-profits can start small and build.
“In some cases, you just need to build up that business case of why the resources are needed and then show the outcomes that you are receiving or the level of need that you have. It’s building up that database to say you need to house 200 people in your community and this pilot project is a grassroots initiative that is one great example,” says Richer, who is based in Guelph.
Richer has been working in her community since 2016 and she says they have maintained a 10 per cent reduction in the last five years.
Meanwhile, participants at the conference took part in the exchanges of learning lessons from other communities further along the housing challenge as Lloydminster embarks on dealing with its situation and related issues like the mental health of the unhoused.
More details on the Housing Needs Assessment and Strategy will be forthcoming from the City of Lloydminster.
