Agujeros Negros

Interagency Council on Homelessness
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Community Conversation: January 23, 2012

What We Heard…

Interagency Council on Homelessness
Grande Prairie Community Conversation Summary

Family Violence Prevention and Homeless Supports
Alberta Human Services

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Interagency Council on Homelessness
Grande Prairie Community Conversation: February1, 2012

Introduction
A wide cross section of service agencies attended the community consultation in Grande
Prairie. Among the participants were representatives from the local community organizations, the
municipality, and a variety of non-profit organizations including those serving seniors, people with
disabilities, Aboriginal peoples, and Métis populations.
Grande Prairie services alarge rural area, which poses some challenges to the service
delivery sector and the clients from the rural areas. The importance of including smaller
communities in the province’s 10-year plan was therefore a topic of discussion.
To help the province shape the role of the Interagency Council on Homelessness (IAC) in
helping communities prevent and reduce homelessness, we asked participants thefollowing
questions:
1. What worked well for your community over the last several years in addressing (reducing and
preventing) homelessness?
2. What needs to happen in your community (short, medium, and long-term) to ensure the
province’s goal of ending homelessness by 2019 can be achieved?
3. What role do you see the IAC having with respect to addressing (reducing, preventing, and
ending)homelessness in the province and assisting your community in addressing
homelessness?
4. From your perspective, who should be on the IAC for it to be successful in fulfilling its role as
you have described above?

Family Violence Prevention and Homeless Supports
Alberta Human Services

2
|P a g e

Interagency Council on Homelessness
Grande Prairie Community Conversation: February 1,2012

Discussion Summary
What worked well to reduce homelessness in Grande Prairie
Interagency cooperation and teamwork were identified as the two primary elements that
worked in Grande Prairie to effectively address the issue of homelessness. With the community
setting the priorities, agencies clearly understood what had to be done. According to the
participants, industry collaborated withthe agencies to address homelessness. Private sector
involvement was also considered an important factor, as the landlord relationship was described as
collaborative and oriented to problem solving. The Housing First model was cited as another driver
for team work. The Housing First program was the impetus for agencies to join forces at the front
line to provide the services needed to houseclients. As a result of the team work, agencies noted
they were able to create single point of entry for their clients to be referred to the services and
supports, depending on their needs.
Supported housing was identified as another important contributor to addressing
homelessness. Participants indicted that this type of housing was essential for their clients to
remain stably housed. Beingable to offer outreach services was also noted as important to
addressing homelessness in Grande Prairie. Participants pointed to the fact that many of their
clients have to be persuaded to come in for help, and without outreach services, many would still be
out in the cold. Participants acknowledged that without funding little would have been
accomplished and they credit the province and theCity of Grande Prairie for enabling the plan by
providing some of the funds necessary to help the homeless population.

What changes are required
Several issues were identified by participants as needing attention in order for the province
to successfully prevent and end homelessness. Among the many requirements to help advance the
plan to end homelessness are the following:
•

A variety...