Kingston and County of Frontenac to measure rural homelessness

Jeff Green (with information provided by the City of Kingston) | Mar 28, 2018

The City of Kingston has been working with agencies in Frontenac County over the last 5 years to develop an understanding of homelessness/housing vulnerability in Frontenac County, and provide supports and services to help people attain secure housing. The City, with funding from the provincial government, is responsible for its own residents and those of Frontenac County.

Sheldon Laidman is the director of the Housing and Social Services Department for the City of Kingston. His department has overseen point in time counts in the city on a single day, every two years since 2014, at the same time of year. The 2018 count is coming up on April 11.

“The United Way does the count for us in Kingston and it gives us some very valuable information. When we embarked on a ten year housing and homelessness plan we decided to do these point in time counts as one of the ways to determine the scope of the issues and how well we are addressing them. The Province has now mandated that all service providers need to conduct these counts.”

In urban centres, point in time counts are completed by teams of volunteers who scour different neighborhoods looking for people living on the street.

From the start, it was understood that a point in time count would not work in rural areas, because the nature of rural homelessness is different. People aren’t on the side of the road, they tend to be couch surfing or living in substandard housing. So a different kind of count needs to be done.

To understand the extent of and challenges associated with rural homelessness, the city has partnered with local social service providers to survey people in the rural area who are currently homeless or experiencing housing vulnerability. The survey will take place from April 9 to 13 and April 16 to 20. Survey information will be recorded anonymously and a $10 honorarium will be provided to recognise participants’ time and contribution to this important initiative.

“It is really difficult to enumerate people who are homeless in our rural areas. The enumeration process allows us to plan programs and services to meet their needs. This is their opportunity to be part of the solution to ensure that everyone has suitable and stable housing in our community,” said Laidman.

People are considered considered homeless if: they do not have a permanent home; are sleeping outside or in an unsafe dwelling (i.e. recreational vehicle, hunt camp, cabin, etc.); or couch-surfing or staying at a friend’s or relative’s.

A 2016 rural homelessness enumeration study surveyed 30 homeless people in the rural area of Kingston and Frontenac County with an average age of 38. Fifty-three per cent of those surveyed were female and 27 per cent were under the age of 15. Enumeration of homeless people is intended to support the goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2025.

Individuals and households meeting the definition of homeless can complete the survey at one of these locations:

Southern Frontenac Community Services, 4295 Stage Coach Rd., Sydenham

Addiction & Mental Health Services, Kingston Frontenac Lennox & Addington, 6618 Highway 38, Verona

Rural Frontenac Community Services, 1020 Elizabeth St., Sharbot Lake