Everyone Deserves Home, Health, Community 2019/20 ANNUAL REPORT CARD April 2019 to March 2020 WHAT’S INSIDE CEO’s Message 2 2018-2021 Strategy Map 3 Primary Objective 4 Home 6 Above—Cool Aid’s dedicated nurses and Health 10 physicians, who provide health care to the Community 13 most vulnerable members of our community Appendix 17 2019/20 Performance Dashboard Victoria Cool Aid Society acknowledges the Lekwungen and W̱ SÁNEĆ peoples of the Songhees and 1 Esquimalt Nations, on whose traditional territories we build homes, lives, and community. HÍSW̱ ḴE. Victoria Cool Aid Society 2019/20 Annual Report Card CEO’s Message CEO’s Message 2019/20 AT A GLANCE This is Cool Aid’s 14th annual report card, a key deliverable of our strategic planning process, which is based on the balanced HOME PILLAR scorecard framework. The annual report card is one of the ways Apartment buildings 16 properties in which we formally report on progress toward outcomes to both internal and external stakeholders. Apartments & rooms 582 units In April 2018, Cool Aid’s Board of Directors approved a renewed Supportive housing 543 units strategic plan for 2018-2021, with a strong emphasis on community Senior housing 236 units and capacity. Since then, we have continued to strive to: Affordable housing 31 units Better serve our clients and tenants who are Indigenous Indigenous heritage 1 in 5 tenants Create more affordable and mixed-income housing Seniors (over 55) 60% of tenants in addition to more supportive housing Housed 12+ months 96% of tenants Strengthen relationships with neighbours and the communities in which we provide services Our current strategic plan is based on three pillars—HOME, HEALTH, HEALTH PILLAR COMMUNITY—that guide and inform our work. Within each pillar are Primary healthcare 39,373 visits the strategic objectives, desired outcomes, performance measures, Health outreach 8,142 encounters and targets that help keep us on track and measure our progress. Dental care 4,842 visits All of these elements are identified in our Performance Dashboard Prescriptions 93,369 filled (see Appendix). The strategy map on page 3 is a graphic overview of our three-year objectives. Overdose prevention 78,191 visits Below is a sampling of what Cool Aid accomplished in 2019/20, Community Kitchen 160 participants made possible thanks to the help of our funders, partners, and Casual Labour Pool >$111K earnings community supporters—and the compassion and commitment Senior recreation 2,779 participants of the 350 employees who are the lifeblood of Cool Aid: More than 70 staff received Cultural Sensitivity Training COMMUNITY PILLAR through a two-day workshop developed in-house by Cool Aid’s Indigenous Cultural Advisor. Indigenous Education/Program Development Cool Aid received approval to redevelop our property at Client Engagement Facilitator 210 Gorge Road East (details on page 9). We also purchased Cool Aid Arts Collective a 23-apartment low-rise, near Mayfair Mall, to which Peer Advisory Group tenants have now been relocated. Neighbourhood Clean Teams We submitted a proposal to develop the Dr. Joe Haeggert Centre, which would combine housing and health care at a 13th Annual Chili Supper single location, a project we continue to pursue vigorously. 12th Annual Coat & Clothing Drive In March 2020, Cool Aid implemented a comprehensive plan GV Coalition to End Homelessness, CRD, to keep our clients and staff as safe as possible from COVID-19. Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness, BC Housing, Island Health, Downtown COVID-19 has exposed, with glaring clarity, that without a home of Service Providers, Food Share Network & one’s own, we are definitely not “all in this together.” It is not easy many other partners, funders & supporters to be kind and be calm when you do not have the safety of a home. As individuals, as organizations, as community, we must all do what we can to ensure that everyone has access to a safe place that they can call home. Together, we can make it possible to end homelessness in Kathy Stinson, Chief Executive Officer Greater Victoria. 250.383.1977 [email protected] October 2020 page 2 Victoria Cool Aid Society 2019/20 Annual Report Card 2018-2021 Strategy Map October 2020 page 3 Victoria Cool Aid Society 2019/20 Annual Report Card Primary Objective Strategic Objective End homelessness in Greater Victoria, by building partnerships to improve lives and create homes Why We Focus on Shelter Use Shelter users represent a significant proportion of the homeless PRIMARY population and Cool Aid is the largest provider of shelter services in Greater Victoria. For those two reasons, monitoring and BJECTIVES TRATEGIC understanding changes in Cool Aid’s shelter population can give us S OBJECTIVE O insight into whether we, as a community, are making progress in reducing homelessness in the region. Note—Since we started reporting on unique shelter clients, shelter capacity in the region has increased significantly. Our Place Society and PHS Community Services Society are two other major providers of shelter services. Desired Outcome Note that the number of shelter users Fewer people are homeless recorded for 2019/20 is very problematic. Shelter Usage over Time Unique Shelter Users at Cool Aid The number of people staying at Cool Aid’s three 16 17 18 19 20 emergency shelters gently declined between 2016/17 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 and 2018/19, a pattern we hoped would continue into 1,663 1,615 1,581 1,549 833 2019/20. Change -3% -2% -2% -46% However, the data recorded for 2019/20 looks quite implausible. It appears that the number of shelter 1. Refers to users of emergency shelters, which include Rock Bay Landing (beds & overflow users has plummeted—by 46%!--compared to the year mats), Sandy Merriman House, and the seasonal before. What happened to some 700 shelter users shelter. Excludes transitional shelter residents. between 2018/19 and 2019/20? The answer, it turns 2. 2018/19 may be slightly understated. out, is multifaceted. After dissecting the data, we can definitively say that, relative to previous years, 2019/20 data is missing a significant number of shelter users. Following are highlights from our analysis: Overflow mats at Rock Bay Landing (RBL)—Historically, in a typical year, about Not Recorded in 2019/20 14% of Cool Aid’s shelter clients (225 on average) accessed only overflow RBL Overflow shelter mats at RBL. The regional homelessness management information system Mat Users 225 clients (HMIS) that Cool Aid and other shelter service providers now rely on is estimate currently limited to programs funded by BC Housing. Because RBL overflow mats are not funded, a sizable cohort of clients is therefore excluded from 2019/20 data. Anonymous shelter users—Historically, anonymous users were excluded Not Counted in 2019/20 when determining the number of unique individuals in shelters, a Anonymous shelter convention set by HIFIS 3 (Homeless Individuals and Families Information Shelter Users 130 clients System) and adopted by Cool Aid. Because anonymous users represented estimate only a tiny proportion of shelter users (less than 1%), their exclusion had little effect on reporting. In the regional HMIS, which uses the web-based HIFIS 4, however, the proportion of anonymous users is no longer insignificant. In 2019/20, at least 10% of Cool Aid shelter clients chose to be anonymous. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many more individuals are opting for anonymity because of concerns related to data sharing between service providers, which the regional HMIS makes possible (with many restrictions). Unrecorded or uncounted shelter clients aren’t the only factors contributing to the problematic number of shelter users reported for 2019/20. Removal of limits on emergency shelter stays—A significant policy change was introduced by BC Housing in 2018/19, namely, the removal of time limits on emergency shelter stays (at Cool Aid, usually 30 nights). Cool Aid began to implement that change in late 2018/19 but its effects weren’t evident until 2019/20, as the following table illustrates. October 2020 page 4 Victoria Cool Aid Society 2019/20 Annual Report Card Primary Objective So, while our shelter capacity, in terms of shelter spaces, didn’t change throughout most of 2019/20, we accommodated fewer Average Shelter Nights per Person shelter clients, many of whom stayed for longer periods of time. 201516 201617 201718 201819 201920 COVID-19—Beginning in March 2020, Cool Aid’s shelter capacity had to be significantly reduced in order to ensure 32 31 32 30 60 sufficient physical distancing between clients, a reduction still 2019/20 reflects the impact of removing limits in effect at the time of writing (Sept. 2020). on the length of shelter stays. Concurrently, in response to the pandemic, the region is seeing a significant increase in both shelter spaces and temporary housing at multiple locations. In combination, the above factors make it impossible to say whether the number of shelter users decreased, increased or remained constant in 2019/20. They also render comparisons between 2019/20 counts and previous years invalid. We anticipate that 2020/21 data is going to look even stranger because COVID-19 has necessitated a significant decrease in shelter capacity in order to provide for sufficient physical distancing. Despite these data challenges, we can make some observations about shelter usage at Cool Aid. Shelter Populations of Special Interest In our 2018-2021 strategic plan, high- Cool Aid Shelter Clients: frequency shelter users, Indigenous Priorities for Housing clients, and seniors are identified as High-frequency is defined as clients staying in emergency priorities for supportive and affordable shelter more than 25% of the year or with three contiguous housing. years of shelter use above 10% of each year.