'We are in a crisis': Homelessness survey highlights programming issues in Regina, advocacy group says

A recent survey that identified nearly 500 people living in homelessness in Regina is highlighting a need for more social programming in the city, according to a local advocacy group.

On Wednesday, Flow Community Projects revealed their point-in-time (PiT) count of homelessness findings from September. The count found 488 people said they would describe their living situation as experiencing homelessness.

Flow Community Projects is a local social organization that, according to its website, partners with government, non-profits and private sector agencies to improve the community.

Addison Docherty, the executive director of Flow Community Projects, said this wasn’t a shock.

“As bad as that number is, I do think in some sense it's validating for some people, because we don't have that real time data,” Docherty said. “How we try to advocate for programs and services is very siloed, but everyone says a similar thing. I think this will vindicate what we're seeing that we are in a crisis in many ways.”

Docherty said the PiT can be a flawed and underestimate the number of people experiencing homelessness because it’s only conducted during a single night and won’t reflect the complete picture.

Mayor Sandra Masters said the City of Regina has social housing available, but the city is lacking employees to run the services those experiencing homelessness may need to utilize.

“You have to find the people that are trained and skilled in those wraparound supports, and then find either the houses, the apartment blocks, the facilities, essentially, that you can provide them to,” Masters said.

Docherty said he’s hopeful the count will send a clear message to officials that there is a need for more programming.

“We have to accept that homelessness is a very complex issue, it's not just putting bodies in vacancies. Mental health, addictions, all those things, people have to be involved. We have to look at where we can be smart by allocating resources,” he said.

Masters agreed those experiencing homelessness sometimes don’t want to be put into shelters or housing services and can’t be forced to take the help being offered.

“Addiction is in some respects for many a lifelong battle that they go through, and what we're interested in is continuing to try to connect them with supports in whatever way we can,” she said.

Those who work with people experiencing homelessness, said that’s sometimes not the case.

However, according to Steve Fox-Smith, housing coordinator at Carmichaels Outreach, that’s sometimes not the case.

“No one wants to be homeless,” Fox-Smith said Thursday. I think if we're attentive and actually hear people out, then we'll get a better sense of the help that they do need. There are some things that I think people need help with before housing.”

Fox-Smith added that people need help with things like addictions, mental health and other services to better help them be able to keep housing their placed into.

“We hope that things change because it will be better for lots of folks, but I don’t have much hope in things changing,” he said.