1100 people helped by city efforts against homelessness

Since 2009, 1100 people have been housed by the city’s Homeless Initiatives.
 
Research and Evaluation Analyst Forrest McGregor says Grande Prairie faces some unique challenges when it comes to finding people a place to live.
 
“We have such extreme fluctuations in our population and economy, so what homelessness looks like in Grande Prairie is different from what it would look like elsewhere in Canada.”
 
Grande Prairie has also been part of a national effort called 20,000 Homes, meant to house 20,000 homeless people in 20 communities by 2020, since 2016. The number of places across Canada in that effort increased to 38 Friday after some new funding from the federal government was announced. McGregor adds that will not impact Grande Prairie as the city participates in other ways like by sharing data.
 
“And also aligning ourselves with the practices that are promoted by the campaign and their research. A key part of that is something like coordinated access, which we have in Grande Prairie, where there is, essentially, one stop where you can access all of the Housing First programs in Grande Prairie.”
 
McGregor says while the announcement does not mean more money for the local effort, it does help to have more places involved.
 
“There are communities out there who have seen the issue but have no tools to address it. Definitely, it will be a positive change for Canada.”
  
McGregor adds most of the funding for Grande Prairie’s Homelessness Initiatives comes from the province