Homelessness

Homelessness can happen to anyone. With a dramatic increase in housing costs, it is rapidly becoming a national crisis. Waterloo Region is no different, with a recent count of our homeless population revealing staggering numbers.

While each person’s experience of homelessness is unique, definitions can create a helpful common ground.

The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness describes homelessness as the lack of “stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect means and ability of acquiring it.”

This definition helps us see how poverty, rising housing costs, and a lack of supportive housing options contribute to homelessness.

7,500 households are waiting for affordable housing in Waterloo Region

It is getting harder for the average person to afford to rent an apartment in Waterloo Region. Fewer than one out of five new housing units is intended for rent. What is available is wildly unaffordable and is not accessible for those experiencing, or in danger of experiencing, homelessness. Deeply affordable units, those renting for less than $1025 per month, are rarely available. And the problem is getting worse.

In Waterloo Region, chronic homelessness has been increasing at an average rate of 28% year-over-year since 2020.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS

Individuals experiencing homelessness face many barriers to meeting basic needs. For example, finding employment that can pay for housing becomes more difficult when an individual faces physical and/or mental health struggles and lacks a permanent address. Many of the essential activities that we assume are a simple fix for those experiencing homelessness are obstructed by these extra barriers.

Homelessness may result from one specific cause or a complex mixture of social and economic factors. Whether due to increasing housing prices, mental illness, lack of affordable or supportive housing, or income loss brought on by the pandemic, each person has their own unique story. Let’s remember that as we interact with our neighbours.

Many solutions are needed to respond to the homelessness crisis. Affordable housing options, supportive housing availability, healthcare and addiction support, and other options are all important as we face our regional housing crisis. Below, you will find some  organizations counteracting homelessness in our community, as well as additional resources to help you learn more.

ROOT CAUSES OF HOMELESSNESS

While the local housing crisis contributes greatly to homelessness, there are often many parts to a person’s story. Other root causes include:

Poverty:

• • Those living on low income can’t save money for an unexpected crisis (job loss, death of a loved one, car repairs)
  • Limited income can impact ability to pay rent, leading to loss of housing

Relationships and Violence

• • Abuse and trauma can contribute to mental illness or mistrust of available supports
  • Family violence can lead to homelessness as victims flee abuse

Structural and Systemic Factors

• • Limited options available for those leaving jail/ custodial sentences
  • Youth aging out of the foster care system are often left to cope on their own
  • Stigmatization and criminalization of folks with mental illnesses

Trauma and Mental Health

• • Trauma, particularly when experienced in early childhood, affects the way one’s brain interacts with the world around them.
  • Experiencing homelessness can be traumatic, perpetuating trauma responses and creating or worsening mental health struggles.
  • Mental health challenges, like depression or psychosis, impact a person’s daily life and their ability to obtain housing, maintain stable work, or utilize social supports.

Example: experiencing prolonged trauma from a young age can lead someone to be hyperaware of potential threats, causing them to act unpredictably or aggressively. This can lead to fractured relationships, so that a traumatized person may not have the social supports they need during future hardships. This leaves them especially susceptible to experiencing homelessness and further trauma.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: