Edmonton’s homeless population is half of what it was a decade ago but there’s still much work to be done, officials said in a progress update Thursday.
More than 1,600 Edmontonians are homeless–about 100 fewer than last year–and more than 1,300 homeless people are being supported by housing programs, according to August numbers newly released by Homeward Trust.
The city set a goal in 2009 to end chronic homelessness by 2020. Since then, more than 9,500 people have been housed through the city’s Housing First initiative.
This year alone, the number of chronic homeless people has dropped by 15 per cent.
An outreach program targeting street homelessness has also seen the number of people sleeping outdoors drop by 30 per cent.
While the falling rates of homelessness are good news, numbers suggest they're still disproportionate when divided among age and race lines.
Of the 1,609 people currently experiencing homelessness, an overwhelming majority–64 per cent–are Indigenous, according to Homeward Trust.
Forty-five per cent of those housed were in the age range of 25-44, 27 per cent were between 45-64 and 15 per cent were 16-24.
Earlier this month, a downtown "tent city" was dismantled, sparking new questions about housing options available to people experiencing homelessness.
“Something is going on and we are having really hard conversations as a community to ask what that is," said Homeward Trust Edmonton CEO Susan McGee. "Anecdotally the outreach teams are seeing people that have not been in our community. They’re new.”
The city's updated homeless strategy calls for 916 new units of supportive housing to be built.
McGee said the organization is on track to halve chronic homelessness by 2022.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Sarah Plowman.
