What the Government doesn’t know about Homelessness can Hurt
In her recent report on chronic homelessness, federal Auditor General Karen Hogan reported the following:
- Infrastructure Canada spent $1.36 billion between 2019 and 2021 on preventing and reducing homelessness, but “did not know whether chronic homelessness and homelessness had increased or decreased since 2019 as a result of this investment.” This despite the fact that one of Infrastructure Canada’s responsibilities is reporting on progress toward the federal goal of reducing chronic homelessness by half by 2027-28.
- Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation spent about $4.5 billion and committed $9 billion but “did not know who was benefitting from its initiatives. This was because the corporation did not measure the changes in housing outcomes for priority vulnerable groups, including people experiencing homelessness.”
- CMHC said it was not directly accountable for addressing chronic homelessness and Infrastructure Canada said that it contributes to reducing chronic homelessness but was not solely accountable for achieving the target. The two agencies were not working in a coordinated way and without better alignment of their work, the auditor general felt it was unlikely the federal government will achieve its goal of halving chronic homelessness.
You can read this whole report here: https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/docs/parl_oag_202211_05_e.pdf