Jenn McBride, program manager for permanent supportive housing Canadian Mental Health, talks with Jaime Rogers, manager of homelessness & housing development for Medicine Hat Community Housing Society at the ninth annual community celebration of the initiative to end homelessness in Medicine Hat.--NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
At the Esplanade on Friday, Medicine Hat Community Housing Society celebrated progress on its plan to end homelessness and revealed initiatives to address specific needs.
“It’s a progression of the work that we do. We are always in a constant state of evaluation of what we can do to improve,” said Jaime Rogers, manager of homelessness and housing development.
Together with Alberta Health Services there are plans to address the needs of people who are homeless and are planning to go into addiction recovery, said Rogers.
“We wanted to create a stable living environment … that we hope will prevent relapse,” said Rogers.
There is a long wait for treatment. Some have already gone through detoxification but are waiting to enter treatment programs, she explained.
“It’s about providing beds so they are fully supported so they can maintain that level of detox that is required for them to get into treatment,” said Rogers.
This housing will not be at the Medicine Hat Recovery Centre. It will be in the community with AHS staff on site and another service provider, said Rogers. The facility will accommodate up to nine people and there will be no limit put on the time someone can stay there. It will also be a “sober living environment.”
“We also know recovery and relapse go hand in had so we don’t want to evict people because of that…” said Rogers.
In this the ninth annual report and celebration, MHCHS also gave an update on an initiative that began in 2017.
That year an apartment building was acquired to provide permanent supportive housing for individuals who require additional backing to avoid becoming homeless or returning to homelessness.
By the beginning of November 2017 the first residents moved in, said Jenn McBride, program manager for permanent supportive housing Canadian Mental Health. On site there are offices for staff and at all times there are at least two staff members in the building. In addition to individual apartments there are also common areas.
“Right now in the building I believe we have 11 (residents) and I believe we have nine (people) we are supporting in the community on top of that,” said McBride. “Most of the individuals that are in our program, we’ve been supporting for a really long time.”
They are expected to continue needing this support, said McBride.
Over the past nine years a total of 890 people have been housed, according to the printed report. A total of 36 per cent were categorized as chronically homeless and 64 per cent episodically homeless.
At the point of “intake” 68 per cent reported a mental health condition, 49 per cent a physical health condition and 42 per cent a substance abuse issue, says the report. A monthly subsidy to landlords of $16,347 is paid monthly to assist individuals in the Housing First program who require rental support, the report states. The use of the homeless shelter is down 45 per cent since 2009.
