Homelessness Crisis Case Study

5. What should the government do about the homelessness crisis?

According to Chumir (2008), Canadian governments should “address homelessness and inadequate housing as a national emergency” (p. 11) Chumir suggested that Canada restore or expand social housing programs for those in need. This includes improving and accurately insisting on anti-discrimination legislation in the field of housing, increasing shelter allowances and social support rates to reasonable levels, and providing enough support services for individuals with disabilities. Another reason why housing and homelessness requires a federal strategy is that poverty has become a major causal factor in homelessness. Dealing with Canada’s growing income gap is essential to addressing both housing affordability and homelessness. Thus, we need governments, especially our federal government, to meet them halfway. We need a national plan on housing and homelessness.

Chumir (2008) argues that if we want to address Canada’s poverty and homelessness crisis, we need to re engineer the welfare state and make Canadians more involved in their communities by helping the homeless. Chumir (2008) states that “safe, affordable and healthy housing is a holistic and

The fact sheet #1 (2008), states that “despite the disproportionate number of mentally ill people among the homeless population, the growth in homelessness is not attributable to the release of seriously mentally ill people from institutions” (p. 240). The fact sheet #1 (2008), state that patients were released from the mental health hospital in the 1950s and 1960s while homelessness began in the 1980s as a result of changes that people face because of income and housing problems. The fact sheet #5 (2008), also state that people with mental health have problems carrying out their activities of daily living (ADL) “such as self-care, household management and interpersonal relationships” (p.