In recent weeks, temperatures have plunged to below -20 C, once again putting a spotlight on the challenges of homelessness in Durham Region.
The number of people who are unhoused or housing insecure reached more than 1,700 in the last Point-in-Time (PiT) count. This number only reflects the people who have been identified or self identified as experiencing homelessness.
Ward 4 Coun. Derek Giberson says homelessness in Oshawa is now considered a crisis.
“The consensus is that it is a crisis,” he says. “It has affected many individuals and its lead to challenges that are beyond our municipal resources to be able to manage.”
Giberson, who has been part of the city council since he was elected in 2018, says one of the biggest causes of homelessness in Canada is the lack of affordable housing.
He says it is easy to trace back when homelessness started to become a widespread issue.
“In Canada we stopped building affordable housing by about 1995,” he says. “We just hit the brakes on federal funding, provincial funding. We got here for reasons that we can trace back very clearly.”
Sahar Foroutani, manager of the homelessness service system, income, employment and homelessness supports with Durham Region Social Services, shares this sentiment.
She says lack of affordable housing is the reason it takes time to transition people from shelters to stable homes.
“You have to be able to move people through the continuum,” she says. “So, if we’re bringing people into the shelter and we’re not able to move them out, how does that work?”
Durham Region Social Services works with local shelters and service hubs to help people on their By-Name List, a list of people who have consented to transition through the system from shelters to permanent housing.
However, getting these people off the streets and into permanent housing is not where the support ends.
Foroutani says people who have been experiencing homelessness for longer periods of time need more support.
“Giving someone a house or a unit or an apartment isn’t the end of the story. With those that have been on the streets for much longer, they need wraparound care,” Foroutani says.
The supports she is talking about extend from mental health services to financial help, since those who are homeless struggle with things such as finances and mental health even after they have found a home.
Giberson urges Oshawa residents concerned about the state of homelessness in the city to learn as much as they can about the crisis.
“We need well-informed citizens, well informed residents who will engage in this and see where they can pitch in to solutions,” he says.
He says it’s also important to put pressure on governmental officials so real change can be made.
“If we aren’t using our voices to put pressure on those upper levels of government, they might decide that this is what sets the priorities because they aren’t hearing from people,” says Giberson.
Another way to help out is to donate clothing or non-perishable food items to shelters and service hubs like Back Door Mission and Cornerstone.
Timeliness is the key, according to Giberson, who says this crisis needs to be treated with the urgency it deserves.
“Right now, timeliness is the highest priority because there are a lot of people who are struggling with housing and affordability.”