These study's are only good for these agency's serving those who are homeless, it gives them

an idea
how many people they are helping and it gives an idea to local Governments and the Federal and
Provincial Government how many homeless in community's participating in these survey how many
out there there are.
It does not help the people who are actually homeless, these folks need help with housing and other
issues they may have and doing a survey does not address that. we are not going to end the homeless
crisis by doing survey's after survey's after surveys, we need actions from all levels f Governments to
deal with this properly.
The longer our Governments wait to deal with this issue properly, the worst the crisis will get and as a
result more of our own citizens will end up dead on our streets.
All levels of Governments need to get their priority straight and do much better then they have been
doing since the homeless/housing crisis began in the late 90's.

The following is an article in the Saultstar published on May 26th by Elaine Della-Mattia,

Homelessness survey nets results for agencies

Sault Ste. Marie has a population of homeless people, half of whom are Aboriginal and the majority are
men.
The findings are among the revelations found in a homelessness study completed in Sault Ste. Marie in
February.
The first-of-its-kind study in Sault Ste. Marie measured statistics during a point in time in an attempt
to capture a snapshot of people in the community who were unsheltered, living in emergency shelter or
those accessing interim housing.
The study, completed in February, was part of a national Homelessness Partnering Strategy and its
results will be presented to city council at its Monday meeting.
Results show that 72 individuals were deemed to be homeless, two of which were children.
Homelessness is defined as those without any stable or appropriate housing or any means of acquiring
it.
Chronic homelessness is further defined as individuals or families with a disabling condition and have
been homeless for one year or four times within a year period.
Another 90 individuals were screened out of the survey results due to various parameters of the study
were also considered to be at risk for homelessness, the report to council states.

The report concludes that just less than half of those deemed homeless in Sault Ste. Marie are
Aboriginal (42.3%) and of those about 27% spent time in a residential school.
Therefore it can be concluded that services related to this vulnerable population need to be improved
in the City of Sault Ste. Marie, the report concludes.
The majority of those classified as homeless were also men between the ages of 31-45.
The study also showed that about 42% of the homeless had been homeless for more than a year and
27% homeless for two or more years.
This calls to attention the need to better improve long term solutions and housing placements; to
include or improve services to help those that have been homeless for long periods of time, the report
states.
It has also been identified that there is a need to look at altering or improving services related to abuse
and those who are evicted from their housing. Family conflict was said to be the reason for 38.5% of
the homelessness, eviction for 19% and domestic abuse for 15.4% of homelessness.
The survey showed that Sault Ste. Marie has a very low number of unsheltered homelessness those
sleeping on the streets as 24 of the 26 surveyed were accessing emergency shelter during the point-intime survey.
The report also shows that services need to be examined to help individuals complete high school as
53.8% of the homeless were not high school graduates. An alarming 61.5% expressed needs for
services related to learning disabilities.
Statistics also showed that 42% of the homeless had spent time in foster care, half needed services
related to mental illness, 38.5% needed services for serious or ongoing medical conditions, and 30.8%
needed services for physical disabilities.
The report also warns that the findings show the very minimum number of individuals who were
experiencing homelessness.
The study was limited to a two-hour period conducted on Feb. 18.
It doesn't include people who are living with others, couch surfers, people with temporary housing or
those in institutional care, among others.
The survey was conducted at the Indian Friendship Centre, Vincent Place and the Soup Kitchen, all on
Feb. 18 when a hot lunch was provided.
Counts were also conducted at the Sault Area Hospital,Algoma Remand and Treatment Centre, Detox
Centre, APH, Ontario Disability Support Program, Ontario Urban Aboriginal Housing, Canadian
Mental Health and the Neighbourhood Resource Centre.
Some of the centres had individuals who met the criteria for the homelessness survey, others had none.

Questions in the survey identified whether the participant had a permanent residence or whether they
were staying in a public space, vehicle, makeshift shelter or other unsheltered location.
It asked for data on age, gender, sex, ancestry and number of family members in the same position. It
also asked if the participant had served in the Canadian Military or RCMP and if so, how long.
Other questions pertained to ethnic background, immigration status and length of time living in Sault
Ste. Marie.
If homelessness was an issue, the survey asked how many times homelessness was experienced, how
long and how many times emergency shelters were accessed.
It inquired about sources of income, how homelessness occurred, educational background and physical
and mental health needs.
This year's survey will be used to provide a benchmark for the community on homelessness and
ultimately design solutions for it.
It's expected that a follow up survey will be conducted again in 2018.
It was determined that future point in time counts will be longer in length, aim to include the hidden
homeless population and be distributed to front line staff and social workers to administer.