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Windsor-Essex Conducting 2024 Homelessness Count · Kvetch & Release

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  Speaker 1: Hey, we're back, John Lock you here AM eight hundred CKLW.
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  Speaker 1: Something that we talk about often here on AM eight
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  Speaker 1: hundred is the state of our city and often when
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  Speaker 1: it comes to that, we discuss the amount of people
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  Speaker 1: who are experiencing homelessness, not just in Windsor but also
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  Speaker 1: in Windsor Essex. Housing is, of course one of the
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  Speaker 1: main things that we discuss. We know that there is
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  Speaker 1: an ongoing housing crisis and it's not just affecting buyers
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  Speaker 1: and sellers, or people who look to lease or people
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  Speaker 1: who look to rent. It also is affecting people who
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  Speaker 1: haven't reached that opportunity to be able to do so.
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  Speaker 1: And whether it be for whatever variety of reasons, there
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  Speaker 1: are people who are experiencing homelessness in our community of Windsor, Essex.
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  Speaker 1: And it is time for the twenty twenty four point
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  Speaker 1: in Time Homeless Enumeration, which is a homelessness street count
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  Speaker 1: and survey for our region. What does this all mean,
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  Speaker 1: how does it all work, How do we know that
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  Speaker 1: the information is being collected and what is it being
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  Speaker 1: used for? I don't have these answers, but I do
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  Speaker 1: have someone here who can provide these answers. For us.
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  Speaker 1: The Coordinator of Housing Administration and Development for the City
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  Speaker 1: of Windsor, Kelly Goz, joins me right now, Hey, Kelly,
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  Speaker 1: how you doing. Good morning, How are you doing really well?
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, So tell us a little bit
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  Speaker 1: what is this twenty twenty four point in time count
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  Speaker 1: all about?
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  Speaker 2: So basically, over a twenty four hour period, we work
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  Speaker 2: with community agencies and volunteers and have folks go out
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  Speaker 2: in groups of two and three and really just stop
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  Speaker 2: and interact with everyone that they encounter in the city
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  Speaker 2: and the county to ask some questions to determine if
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  Speaker 2: they are experiencing homelessness currently. And it's so I understand
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  Speaker 2: a little bit more about how the City of Windsor
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  Speaker 2: and the county of Efforts can work together to help
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  Speaker 2: to remove some barriers for folks to be.
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  Speaker 1: Able to access How so, how do you go about
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  Speaker 1: finding people who are experiencing homelessness determining it? You said,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you asked them like, what does the process
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  Speaker 1: look like?
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  Speaker 2: So we met with community agencies back in the middle
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  Speaker 2: of September just to talk to them about where them
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  Speaker 2: and their staff we're seeing people experiencing homelessness and we
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  Speaker 2: have different routes or maps that are created throughout the
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  Speaker 2: city and the county to send teams of volunteers. They
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  Speaker 2: basically walk up and down those identified streets and again,
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  Speaker 2: like I had said, encounter and speak with everybody that
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  Speaker 2: they see to ask them, you know, where did you
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  Speaker 2: sleep last night? And if it's determined that they might
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  Speaker 2: be experiencing homelessness, there's a deeper survey that goes into
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  Speaker 2: asking them a little bit more about their current situation.
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  Speaker 1: And then once you determine that information, you compile it
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  Speaker 1: all and what is this information used for?
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  Speaker 2: The information is used to help inform programs and services,
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  Speaker 2: help to inform business case and advocacy to upper levels
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  Speaker 2: of government for additional funding either to build more housing
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  Speaker 2: or to obtain operating funding in orders to be able
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  Speaker 2: to provide supports for people so that they can find
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  Speaker 2: housing and that they can remain housed.
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  Speaker 1: So this was done in twenty sixteen, twenty eighteen, twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty one, and now in twenty twenty four. I'm wondering,
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  Speaker 1: is there any trend lines that you have seen. Has
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  Speaker 1: homelessness become more experienced by people locally as the years
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  Speaker 1: have gone by since this count started for sure, and since.
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  Speaker 2: You know, since we did our first count in twenty sixteen,
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  Speaker 2: the housing landscape has drastically changed. Affordability for units has
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  Speaker 2: changed so drastically, so we have seen increases year over year,
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  Speaker 2: and particularly since we've seen coming out of the pandemic
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  Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, we are expecting to see increased
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  Speaker 2: numbers in twenty twenty four. But again, it's really income
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  Speaker 2: up to agencies and to the people that they're talking
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  Speaker 2: to to make sure that we get discount as right
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  Speaker 2: as possible.
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  Speaker 1: And so the City of Windsor is tasked with not
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  Speaker 1: only doing it for Windsor, but for the entire county.
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  Speaker 2: Right correct, Yeah, for the entire region.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, So what is I mean that it's so much
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  Speaker 1: more encompassing then, so that you must really reply on
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  Speaker 1: your community partners because you know, no offense to the
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  Speaker 1: City of Windsor. I mean, but Windsor employees aren't aware of,
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  Speaker 1: you know, the situation throughout the entire county.
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  Speaker 2: So so we've relied very heavily on staff and community
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  Speaker 2: partners in the County of Essex to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: they're identifying those hot spots so that we can make
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  Speaker 2: sure that the teams of volunteers are going out to
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  Speaker 2: the right areas to try to get a really good
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  Speaker 2: understanding of what homelessness in the county looks like.
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  Speaker 1: So one thing that I've been made aware of with this,
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  Speaker 1: and please do correct me if I'm wrong or expand
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  Speaker 1: upon it. How do you how do you take into
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  Speaker 1: account people who are, for example, staying with maybe friends
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  Speaker 1: or family on their couch, but they're experiencing homelessness. Is
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  Speaker 1: there a way that you're able to bring that number
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  Speaker 1: into account or is does this number inherently will it
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  Speaker 1: represent an undercount because you can't capture everybody.
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  Speaker 2: The count never can capture anybody. But in addition to
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  Speaker 2: doing the street count tonight and tomorrow morning, we also
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  Speaker 2: have different organizations that have signed to do place based surveys.
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  Speaker 2: So that's really to capture more of that hidden homelessness.
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  Speaker 2: So if somebody is staying with a family or a
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  Speaker 2: friend and they aren't attending the emergency shelter system, they
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  Speaker 2: can go to places like the Homelessness and Housing Health
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  Speaker 2: Hub at four hundred win Dot Street, Ease or the
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  Speaker 2: Essex County Homelessness Hub at two fifteen Talbot Street. In
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  Speaker 2: Leamington to again make sure that their situation and that
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  Speaker 2: they are reflected in the account when those numbers get
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  Speaker 2: rolled up with the final analysis.
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  Speaker 1: Now you say that volunteers are trained, what does that
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  Speaker 1: training look like? How do you what is it to
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  Speaker 1: be trained to conduct this homelessness enumeration.
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  Speaker 2: So we are currently working with or CODE Consulting who's
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  Speaker 2: developed a training. It covers everything about why the account
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  Speaker 2: is important, to how to go about and approach individuals,
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  Speaker 2: and how to go through the survey itself. It is
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  Speaker 2: a fairly comprehensive survey, about fifteen pages long, just making
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  Speaker 2: sure that people are sensitive and how they're asking the
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  Speaker 2: questions and you know, really taking the lead of the
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  Speaker 2: person that is being surveyed if they are declining or
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  Speaker 2: if they no longer want to continue with the survey.
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  Speaker 1: And this is all federally mandated right correct?
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  Speaker 2: Yes?
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  Speaker 1: Okay? So does do higher numbers or higher rates of
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  Speaker 1: homelessness translate into higher levels of funding from higher levels
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  Speaker 1: of government?
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  Speaker 2: So different levels of government do take into account different metrics,
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  Speaker 2: one of which is the data that's collected through the
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  Speaker 2: point in time count. We are aware that particularly during COVID,
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  Speaker 2: some of our code bit funding that was received locally
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  Speaker 2: was done in collaboration with understanding what our numbers are
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  Speaker 2: through the.
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  Speaker 1: Pit count and what should people know about this that
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  Speaker 1: it's taking place as you said today, tonight and tomorrow night,
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  Speaker 1: if they haven't heard about this, like why is this?
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  Speaker 1: Why is this important? What's the elevator pitch for the
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  Speaker 1: person who's uninformed?
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  Speaker 2: Again? Just you know that the city and the county
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  Speaker 2: together are working to just try to continue to understand
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  Speaker 2: the depth of homelessness in our community. We know that
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  Speaker 2: it exists and the information that is being collected really
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  Speaker 2: helps inform policy programs, making any changes and adjustments, and
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  Speaker 2: as well continuing to advocate to make sure that winsor
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  Speaker 2: Ethics receives the funding from upper levels of government that
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  Speaker 2: it needs in order to combat and to work through
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  Speaker 2: ending homelessness longer term.
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  Speaker 1: How does windsor Essex compare to maybe some of our
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  Speaker 1: peer municipalities when it comes to homelessness And if you're
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  Speaker 1: not able to answer that, I mean it's totally fine.
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  Speaker 2: Our numbers are pretty much in part with our colleague municipalities.
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  Speaker 2: We are always working with other municipalities to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that we're on the cutting edge of programs that we
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  Speaker 2: are constantly evolving, programs that were not staying stagnant, and
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  Speaker 2: we're really looking towards those best in the emergency practices
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  Speaker 2: and making sure that those are being reflected and coming
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  Speaker 2: back to our community again to try to make sure
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  Speaker 2: that everybody's wellness is being achieved for how they want
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  Speaker 2: that to be.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, well, hey, Kelly, thank you so much for your time.
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  Speaker 1: I really do appreciate it, and good luck with the
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  Speaker 1: count tonight and tomorrow night.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much.
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  Speaker 1: Have a good day to you as well. Kelly Goz
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  Speaker 1: is the Coordinator of Housing Administration and Development at the
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  Speaker 1: City of Windsor.