Stratford social services recognized for reducing homelessness

Stratford social services and its local partners were recently recognized for making a small – yet impactful – dent in the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Stratford, St. Marys and across Perth County.

In April, Built for Zero Canada, a national organization helping 44 communities across the country end chronic homelessness as part of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, sent a letter to Stratford social services, the Optimism Place women’s shelter, United Way Perth Huron and the Canadian Mental Health Association Huron Perth congratulating the partners on successfully reducing the number of local people experiencing chronic homelessness by at least 10 per cent below the 2021 baseline for three consecutive months from December 2022 to February 2023.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go in achieving our goal to end homelessness in Stratford, St. Marys and Perth County,” said John Ritz, Stratford’s homelessness and housing stability supervisor. “Our baseline was set in 2021 with 145 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness within our service area. What we were able to do between December and February was reduce that number by at least 10 per cent and keep it reduced for that period of time.

“There is fluctuation sometimes on a month-to-month basis as a result of movements and newly identified people experiencing homelessness, but we were able to remain below that 10 per cent reduction for three consecutive months. As of February, we were actually down to 115 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness.”

Thanks to the 2019 creation of a quality by-name list of people experiencing homelessness in Stratford, St. Marys and Perth County, the social services department and its community partners have been able to focus on the individual needs of each person while trying to provide wraparound supports as they are able to move into the style of housing that is best suited to them, Ritz said.

Between December 2022 and February 2023, a total of 50 households were no longer classified as experiencing chronic homelessness. Twenty-seven had been moved into new housing while 23 were reclassified as inactive as a result of social services staff losing contact. Meanwhile, a total of 34 people or households were added to the list of those experiencing chronic homelessness, with 16 people newly identified, four people aging out of youth shelters, and 16 people re-establishing contact with social services after being inactive.

For the entirety of the three months, however, nobody who was previously housed returned to the by-name list.

“As people are entering into housing after experiencing homelessness, we want to ensure that sustains,” Ritz said. “We don’t want people to enter back into homelessness once they do achieve or find stable housing. That’s really our long-term goal – housing stability on top of the initial exit from homelessness. It’s about identifying what supports are needed, implementing those and continuing with check-ins and followups.”

Under the collective umbrella of Stratford social services, this region is the seventh of Built for Zero Canada’s 44 communities to accomplish this milestone. While a good step in the right direction, there’s still much more work to be done, Ritz said, including building more housing, before Stratford social services and its partners can achieve functional-zero homelessness, which is defined as zero chronic homelessness with the ability to rapidly house anyone who becomes homeless.

“Your hard work and dedication in moving towards your goal of functional zero for chronic homelessness is demonstrated by this impressive accomplishment,” Build for Zero Canada director Marie Morrison wrote in her letter to Stratford social services. “As the seventh community (that) has reached and sustained this milestone, Stratford-Perth-St. Marys is a leading community, proving to others that reductions in homelessness are possible. The Built for Zero Canada team is very excited to continue to support your work toward functional zero.”

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