A homeless count on a national level reinforces the push for a national housing strategy that municipal leaders have been long advocating for, according to the chair of the city's committee on the issue.
Coun. Murry Krause said he was excited about the homelessness point-in-time survey announced by the federal government in which Prince George will be participating.
"We've had some pretty good efforts on the part of the province at putting some affordable housing and second-stage housing and those things in our community.
"What's been absent is the federal government really having a concerted effort or being part of the community and making this move forward," said Krause, who sits on the executive of the Union of B.C. Municipalities and chairs the city's homelessness and affordable housing committee.
"What we're talking about, probably on every front, is a national housing strategy, a national anti-poverty strategy – all of those things need to be happening hand in hand. No one thing should operate in isolation, of course."
According to a guide for the count prepared by Employment and Social Development Canada, pulling together the disparate surveys already conducted across the country can help create a national picture of homelessness.
Currently the government relies on the best estimates from the National Shelter Study, which is based on emergency shelter use statistics, the guide said.
"With the increased implementation of Housing First programs and of community plans to reduce or end homelessness, there is a need to create a national picture," it said.
The City of Prince George has also adopted a housing-first policy, with city council recently approving a bylaw that provides incentives for multi-family housing construction.
There are also discussions starting about introducing a standards of maintenance bylaw that would set minimum criteria for landlords with rental accommodations to meet.
Representatives from the fire department and city bylaw, planning and building inspection departments - who have already expressed concerns about implementing the legislation – will be invited to an upcoming homelessness and affordable housing committee meeting so members can hear firsthand about their issues with the proposed bylaw.
"One of my favourite sayings from (former mayor) Colin Kinsley years ago was 'let's not pass feel-good legislation, let's make sure we're passing legislation that's going to work,'" said Krause. "So it really is around knowing what it means for those people who would have to go out there on a daily basis and try and make sure this bylaw would be effective."
Homeless counts have been carried out locally before, but this one will involve national resources and standard questions that will help communities compare.
Homelessness counts are more than simply tallying up the homeless population, said Kerry Pateman, co-ordinator of Community Partners Addressing Homelessness.
The last count in Prince George took place in 2010 and it's beneficial to get national support, Pateman said.
In addition to enumerating those who stay in shelters or other non-residential locales, volunteers administering the survey also take stock of the demographics of participants - whether they are veterans, have aboriginal ancestry, were in provincial care, etc. There is also an opportunity to learn how they ended up homeless in the first place.
The results can then be compared nationally.
"I think what we can do is look at a community and if they have a smaller number of a certain age group or coming out of care, then we can look at what they are doing to address that issue that maybe is working better than what we're doing," Pateman said.
Participating communities need to have completed their local surveys by the end of April. Pateman said the Prince George count will likely be carried out in early April.
