The sight of more homeless people on London’s streets is because it’s spring, not because COVID-19 relief programs have ended, says a city hall housing official.
The sight of more homeless people on London’s streets is because it’s spring, not because COVID-19 relief programs have endedsays a city hall housing official.
City hall figures show no increase in the number of people living without shelter during the past two years, Craig Cooper, director of housing stability services, said.
But there has been an overall increase in the number of individuals experiencing homelessness – sheltered or otherwise – in London since the pandemic began, he said.
“We have seen a significant increase. . . since September 2020, similar to many, if not all, major urban centres,” Cooper said. “However the total has somewhat stabilized over the past couple of months.”
Cooper was responding to recent comments about the number of unsheltered people sleeping and living on city streets.
With the end of federally and provincially funded COVID-relief programs, homelessness prevention leaders told The Free Press earlier this week they are seeing more people living on the streets and in tent encampments.
But city officials maintain what Londoners notice each spring are people returning to sleeping and living outside, after couch surfing or finding other accommodations during the winter.
The city’s co-ordinated informed response (CIR) team, made up of police and outreach workers and aimed at helping unsheltered people, has kept numbers from increasing, Cooper said.
“Through our CIR engagement, we have not seen a significant increase in unsheltered numbers when compared to previous years, even though it may feel that there are more people on the street,” Cooper said in email exchanges with The Free Press.
“We understand that with the nice weather, people who self-resolved their housing over the winter will be out and about now for any number of reasons.”
The total number of unsheltered individuals who interacted with the system but did not stay in shelters was 241 in 2020, and 238 in 2021, Cooper said. In early 2022, that number has reached 143, he said.
But Cooper acknowledged there are unsheltered people who do not connect with the city and aren’t included in those counts.
Since the pandemic began, there’s been public disagreement about the numbers of unsheltered people in London, especially during the winter. Front-line workers and organization leaders have put the number at more then 300.
For homelessness totals, city hall keeps a by-name list, a list in real time of all people experiencing homelessness and who have connected with city services.
Experiencing homelessness is defined by Canadian organizations as “living without stable, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring it.”
London’s by-name list had 1,858 names on it as of April 2022, compared to 966 in September 2020, Cooper said.
In the first three months of this year, the number ranged from 1,791 to 1,858.
Debate about numbers aside, city officials, politicians and advocates all have expressed concerns about the ending of COVID-19 relief funding.
London received $12.16 million in 2020-21 and $14.9 million in 2021-22 from Ottawa and Ontario to help prevent homelessness and keep homeless people safe from the virus.
The money paid for isolation and monitoring spaces for homeless people with or exposed to COVID-19, motel rooms to replace beds at reduced-capacity shelters, rooms for women at risk of violence and families struggling with homelessness, and three winter shelters. Some of that funding also was used to create 100 long-term affordable housing units.
A handful of programs and shelter motel rooms have received emergency funding to carry them past March 31, but other programs have stopped.
The federal government has announced another $567.2 million during the next two years through its Reaching Home program, with money to start flowing in April.
The province says its funding plan will come in the next budget, to be released April 28.
But the province is providing short-term temporary funding for COVID recovery, available to the end of December, Cooper said.
The city is working with London homeless coalitions and networks on the recovery measures funded by the other levels of government, he said.