[afransen TO]

I saw a piece on The National the other day about a woman by the name of Judy Graves who works for the City of Vancouver. She's recently started a pilot project where she spends a day picking up a homeless person, giving them breakfast, getting their identification in order, signing them up for welfare and getting them a place to stay (usually in unoccupied hotel rooms). She basically helps them get through the bureaucracy and get a life started.

Obviously not all homeless could benefit from this (ie, those with severe mental illness or substance abuse problems), but for the many who simply fell on hard times and never managed to pull themselves back up, this seems like an almost obvious system, rather than trying to have more bureaucracy or greater reliance on shelters, etc.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows more about this project and what the results are. They mentioned in the piece that the pilot was being expanded in Vancouver. I'm wondering if there is any local interest in a similar project as an alternative to shelters, etc. It would be truly sad if it took years for the success to migrate over here. Why does it take so long for best practices to migrate?

 

[Archivistower]

Homeless Toronto

The same sort of thing happened in Toronto, though I think the target were particular groups of homeless, such as those from the former Tent City on the waterfront and those in Nathan Phillips Square. The initiative here was called From Streets to Homes, and I believe it was quite successful.

 

[alklay]

Re: Homeless Toronto

And I think the program is ongoing.