2002 Calgary Homelessness Study
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2002 CALGARY HOMELESSNESS STUDY Final Report October 2002 1 Research Report to the Calgary Homeless Foundation, October 2002 Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 25, par. 1. Even the most sophisticated studies cannot determine the morally “right” way to spend public money. Barbara Dickey, Harvard University, 2000 2 Research Report to the Calgary Homeless Foundation, October 2002 Acknowledgements The Project Team would like to acknowledge all of the individuals and programs that provided assistance for this study. Both the service agencies and funders who work with homeless and relatively homeless people provided us with overwhelming support. All agencies were consistently collaborative and welcoming in this process. In particular, we are grateful to the following agencies for providing facilities and/or administrative/staff support during the project: o Avenue 15 o Calgary Urban Projects (CUPS) o Calgary Drop In Centre o Murdoch Manor o The shelters for women fleeing violence o The Golden Age Club o The Kerby Centre o The Mustard Seed (Calgary) Street Ministry o The Salvation Army o Urban Society for Aboriginal Youth (USAY) We were greatly encouraged by the number of homeless and relatively homeless people who took the time to talk to us about their experiences and to indicate the areas where service providers can work to help people avoid homelessness or get out of it sooner. We would also like to thank the Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF), the funder of this project, the CHF Research Steering Committee and the Community Action Committee for their support and assistance in managing a very complex process. 3 Research Report to the Calgary Homeless Foundation, October 2002 Project Team Principal Investigator Helen Gardiner, M.Sc., Ph.D. (Candidate) Applied Psychology Co-Investigator Kathleen V. Cairns, Ph.D., Professor, Applied Psychology Research Team Richard Alarie, M.Sc. Tom Briggs, M.Sc., Ph.D. (c) Catherine Leipciger, B.Sc. Michael McKenzie, M.A. Tom Strong, Ph.D. Surveyors Farrah Alladin Melanie Bird Philana Blackburn Scott Calling Last Lori Doiron Blanche Half Donna McPhee Jeanette Moran Gladys Richards Fred Robertson Robert Seneca (Badger)Maurice Trudel Data Entry and Management Shari Derksen Lori-Anne Huebner Jeff Huebner Cathy Leipciger Literature Review Cathy Leipciger Giselle Marcoux Report Preparation and Data Analysis Helen Gardiner, M.Sc., Ph.D. (Candidate) Applied Psychology Kathleen Cairns, Ph.D., Professor, Applied Psychology Project Advisory Committee Stephanie Felesky (Chair) George Coppus Ralph Hubele Collin Jang Martina Jileckova Bonnie Laing John Martin Debbie Newman Colin Penman Terry Roberts John Te Linde 4 Research Report to the Calgary Homeless Foundation, October 2002 Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................5 List of Tables .............................................................................................7 List of Figures ............................................................................................8 Executive Summary....................................................................................9 Introduction and Purpose Study Organization............................................................................20 Organization of This Report .................................................................20 Study Context and Background Past Research & Literature Review ........................................................22 § Definition of Homelessness ........................................................22 § Determining the Size of the Homeless Population ............................23 § Characteristics of the Homeless Population....................................23 § Determinants of Homelessness ...................................................27 § Homelessness, Mental Disorder & De-institutionalization....................29 § Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse Among the Homeless ...............29 § Criminalization and Victimization Among the Homeless .....................29 § Economic Considerations...........................................................30 § Homelessness and Health..........................................................31 § Research Problems and Methodological Flaws .................................31 § Recommendations for practice and policy from the Literature.............32 Selecting a Definition of Homelessness for the 2002 CHF Study ......................33 Size and Stratification of the Homeless Population for the 2002 CHF Study .......34 Developing the Survey........................................................................35 Selecting and Training the Surveyors ......................................................35 Conducting the Survey........................................................................37 Developing the Clinical Interview ..........................................................37 Selecting the Clinical Interviewers .........................................................38 Conducting the Clinical Interviews .........................................................38 Results Quantitative Results Proposed vs. Actual Sample .................................................................40 Representation.................................................................................41 Socio-Demographic Characteristics ........................................................43 Current Situation ..............................................................................46 Duration of Current Homeless Episode ....................................................52 Length of Time in Calgary ...................................................................52 Reasons for Coming to Calgary..............................................................54 Housing Barriers ...............................................................................56 Immediate Housing Needs ...................................................................57 Long Term Housing Preferences ............................................................58 Reasons for Not Having a Permanent Home ..............................................59 Employment Situation ........................................................................60 Barriers to Employment ......................................................................62 Survival Skills...................................................................................65 Health Status ...................................................................................66 Mental Health..................................................................................68 Health Care Utilization.......................................................................70 Service and Shelter Utilization..............................................................71 Looking for Work ..............................................................................72 5 Research Report to the Calgary Homeless Foundation, October 2002 Shelter Use .....................................................................................73 Qualitative Results A Grounded Theory of Homelessness Causation .........................................76 The Calgary Process...........................................................................76 The System for Addressing Homelessness.................................................77 Clinical Interview Analysis ...................................................................78 A Holistic Model of Homelessness (2002)..................................................80 Model Components ............................................................................81 Examples from the Clinical Interviews ....................................................86 High resilience, situational or episodic homelessness ..................................86 Moderate resilience problems, exacerbated by life events ...........................88 Low resilience, probable chronic homelessness .........................................92 Discussion Absolutely Homeless ..........................................................................97 Relatively Homeless ..........................................................................98 Recommendations Local Initiatives ................................................................................100 Systemic Changes .............................................................................103 Recommendations for further research ...................................................104 References Appendix A: Service Delivery Agencies by Sector (Demographic) Served Appendix B: Definitions of Homelessness used in the May 3 Workshop Appendix C: May 3 Workshop Participants Appendix D: Quantitative Data Collection Instruments (Screening tool, surveys) Appendix E: Qualitative Data Collection Instrument (clinical interview) 6 Research Report to the Calgary Homeless Foundation, October 2002 List of Tables Table 1 ..........Comparison of LICO and MBM Thresholds of Poverty..........................30 Table 2 ..........Estimated % of Children in Low Income Families