Federal Spending to Address Homelessness

Communications

Quote

• We estimate that interventions funded by “Reaching Home” are reducing the point-in-time count of homeless individuals by approximately 6,000 (15%), relative to what the count would have been without those interventions.

News Release

{"id":63,"created_at":"2024-05-21T07:33:59-04:00","updated_at":"2024-05-22T08:57:03-04:00","slug":"achieving-target-to-halve-chronic-homelessness-would-require-an-additional-35-billion-per-year-says-pbo-selon-le-dpb-pour-atteindre-lobjectif-de-reduire-de-moitie-le-nombre-de-personnes-en-situation-ditinerance-chronique-il-faudrait-35-milliards-de-dollars-de-plus-par-annee","title_en":"Achieving target to halve chronic homelessness would require an additional $3.5 billion per year, says PBO","title_fr":"Selon le DPB, pour atteindre l\u2019objectif de r\u00e9duire de moiti\u00e9 le nombre de personnes en situation d\u2019itin\u00e9rance chronique, il faudrait 3,5 milliards de dollars de plus par ann\u00e9e","body_en":"The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) has released a new report providing an update on federal spending to address homelessness.\n\nInfrastructure Canada provides funding to communities to help them reduce and prevent homelessness through a program called \u201cReaching Home\u201d, which is part of Canada\u2019s broader National Housing Strategy. Over the term of Canada\u2019s National Housing Strategy, planned spending on homelessness programs is $561 million per year. This is an increase of $443 million per year (374%) in nominal spending over the prior 10 years. This includes an additional $1.3 billion over four years allocated in the 2024 Budget.\n\nCanada\u2019s target under the National Housing Strategy is to achieve a 50% reduction in chronic homelessness. \u201cAccording to our analysis, an additional $3.5 billion per year would be required to reach this goal, which is about a 7-fold increase in funding over the National Housing Strategy\u2019s average. Furthermore, this funding would have to be sustained on an ongoing basis, taking inflation into account,\u201d says Yves Giroux, PBO. \n\n\u201cWe estimate that interventions funded by \u201cReaching Home\u201d are reducing the point-in-time count of homeless individuals by approximately 6,000 (15%), relative to what the count would have been without those interventions,\u201d adds Mr. Giroux.\n\nNevertheless, according to the latest available data, homelessness has increased in spite of \u201cReaching Home.\u201d In the latest point-in-time count published by Infrastructure Canada, the number of homeless people had increased by 20% relative to 2018 reaching 34,270, and we estimate that the number of chronically homeless people had increased by 38%. The number of individuals living in unsheltered locations also increased 88%.","body_fr":"Le directeur parlementaire du budget (DPB) a publi\u00e9 un nouveau rapport qui fait le point sur les d\u00e9penses f\u00e9d\u00e9rales en mati\u00e8re de lutte contre l\u2019itin\u00e9rance.\n\nPour aider les collectivit\u00e9s \u00e0 r\u00e9duire et \u00e0 pr\u00e9venir l\u2019itin\u00e9rance, Infrastructure Canada leur fournit du financement par l\u2019interm\u00e9diaire d\u2019un programme appel\u00e9 \u00ab\u2009Vers un chez-soi\u2009\u00bb, qui fait partie de la Strat\u00e9gie nationale sur le logement. Pendant toute la dur\u00e9e de cette Strat\u00e9gie, les d\u00e9penses pr\u00e9vues dans les programmes de lutte contre l\u2019itin\u00e9rance s\u2019\u00e9l\u00e8vent \u00e0 561 millions de dollars par ann\u00e9e. Cela repr\u00e9sente une augmentation de 443 millions de dollars par ann\u00e9e (374 %) en d\u00e9penses nominales par rapport aux 10 derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es et comprend les 1,3 milliard de dollars suppl\u00e9mentaires sur quatre ans allou\u00e9s dans le budget de 2024.\n\nL\u2019objectif du Canada dans le cadre de la Strat\u00e9gie nationale sur le logement est de r\u00e9duire l\u2019itin\u00e9rance chronique de 50 %. \u00ab\u2009Selon notre analyse, il faudrait 3,5 milliards de dollars de plus par ann\u00e9e pour atteindre cet objectif, soit pr\u00e8s de sept fois plus que la moyenne du financement pr\u00e9vu au titre de la Strat\u00e9gie nationale sur le logement. De plus, ce financement devrait \u00eatre maintenu de fa\u00e7on continue et tenir compte de l\u2019inflation\u2009\u00bb, a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 Yves Giroux, DPB.\n\n\u00ab\u2009Nous estimons que les interventions financ\u00e9es par \u201cVers un chez-soi\u201d r\u00e9duisent le d\u00e9nombrement ponctuel des personnes itin\u00e9rantes d\u2019environ 6\u2009000 (15 %), par rapport \u00e0 ce qu\u2019il serait sans ces mesures\u2009\u00bb, a ajout\u00e9 M. Giroux.\n\nN\u00e9anmoins, selon les derni\u00e8res donn\u00e9es disponibles, le nombre de personnes en situation d\u2019itin\u00e9rance a augment\u00e9 malgr\u00e9 le programme \u00ab\u2009Vers un chez-soi\u2009\u00bb. En effet, selon le dernier d\u00e9nombrement ponctuel d\u2019Infrastructure Canada, le nombre de personnes itin\u00e9rantes a augment\u00e9 de 20 % par rapport \u00e0 2018, atteignant 34\u2009270, et nous estimons que le nombre de personnes en situation d\u2019itin\u00e9rance chronique a augment\u00e9 de 38 %. Le nombre de personnes vivant dans des lieux ext\u00e9rieurs a aussi augment\u00e9 de 88 %.","release_date":"2024-05-22T09:00:00-04:00","is_published":"2024-05-22T08:57:03-04:00","internal_id":"COM-2425-063","permalinks":{"en":{"website":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/en\/blog\/news-releases--communiques-de-presse\/achieving-target-to-halve-chronic-homelessness-would-require-an-additional-35-billion-per-year-says-pbo-selon-le-dpb-pour-atteindre-lobjectif-de-reduire-de-moitie-le-nombre-de-personnes-en-situation-ditinerance-chronique-il-faudrait-35-milliards-de-dollars-de-plus-par-annee"},"fr":{"website":"https:\/\/www.pbo-dpb.ca\/fr\/blog\/news-releases--communiques-de-presse\/achieving-target-to-halve-chronic-homelessness-would-require-an-additional-35-billion-per-year-says-pbo-selon-le-dpb-pour-atteindre-lobjectif-de-reduire-de-moitie-le-nombre-de-personnes-en-situation-ditinerance-chronique-il-faudrait-35-milliards-de-dollars-de-plus-par-annee"}},"pivot":{"publication_id":799,"news_release_id":63}}