The CHF’s Client Action Committee (CAC) actively conducts research, alongside the CHF Research Team. Historically, their research activities have included everything from conducting interviews, hosting focus groups, holding community forums, data entry, coding data, and subsequent analysis.

 One of our ongoing projects as a Committee this year has been to develop an understanding of homelessness and human rights – answering questions like, “What are the human rights of people experiencing homelessness? Do those rights come into conflict with other rules and regulations? How do those rights get exercised or violated in real life?” – to eventually develop some materials and resources to ensure people are informed and empowered to exercise their rights, whether they be in the workplace, in searching for an apartment, or in spending time in our city’s streets. Ultimately, this project is a reminder that all Albertans have human rights, that each Albertan is valuable and has freedoms that must be respected.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, CAC coordinated and hosted a community forum about homelessness and human rights, as a key stage in the research project and a way of ensuring that we – as the researchers – were on track with what we had heard and understood so far.

Twenty-six diverse individuals from the homeless sector and nine CAC members spent an hour at the resource space in the Memorial Park Public Library discussing and debating the issue. Each CAC member played a key role – to facilitate discussion, to distribute paperwork or take care of guests, to take notes.

It was one of the most powerful aspects of the forum –  as people talked, and relaxed, helped themselves to coffee – every person in attendance felt respected and listened to because they understood that they were meeting around the table as peers.

Everyone’s voice was equal. Everyone’s experience was real. Everyone’s story mattered.

And everyone listened with intensity, intentionality, and a passion for taking those stories forward – and then doing something about it.

At the CAC debrief after the event, the nine of us on the committee sat on the grass in the park, passing around notes from the session and soaking in the sunshine as everyone reflected back to the group their individual experiences. As always, opinions were diverse, but there was an underlying sense of victory, of success, of having accomplished something truly meaningful.

One committee member faced the group and said: “I feel great about it. I feel like we’re really doing something about these issues, y’know? …I feel empowered.”

What a brilliant moment it is when so much can be accomplished, in so many different ways, when a group rallies around the unifying goal of ending homelessness and restoring dignity and honouring our basic right to being treated fairly and respectfully as human beings.

 Article submitted by CHF Research Department — Nicole Jackson and Meaghan Bell. Special thanks to Maria, Britany and Jedd for lending a hand during the event!

Volunteers make so much of what we do possible. They help keep our buildings looking spruced-up and in tip top shape. Without volunteers we would never be able to hold the Point in Time Count, or even our annual Fundraiser! Speaking of which, if you haven’t bought your tickets yet to this year’s HOME OPENER with our new Premier set to drop the puck on the last period of Calgary’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, click HERE to purchase your tickets.

One volunteer who has made a difference is a filmmaker and This is My City Arts Society (TMC) volunteer, Kevin Jesuino. Throughout the days leading up to the kick-off event for Stepping Stone Manor in the Beltline, Kevin was busy capturing everything on film on behalf of TMC, the event curator.

This is the story he created about the kick-off event.  (Thank you The Calgary Foundation for your support of the event) Stepping Stone Manor is being constructed by Cedarglen Living and  is one of 8 new developments CHF will be building over the next four years as part of the RESOLVE Campaign.

So stay tuned, we’ll be kicking off another project in the fall — watch for news about the upcoming Yarn-bombing TMC will be hosting at our soon to be built Hillhurst Sunnyside apartment building, Aurora on the Park. Like all our buildings, Aurora on the Park is made possible through funding from the Government of Alberta, Municipal Affairs and one of 8 Calgary Homebuilders participating in the RESOLVE Campaign. Thank you Qualico for your support of Aurora on the Park.

 

It’s always good when Members of Parliament invest their time and energy to learn first-hand what Calgary is doing to end homelessness. On Saturday, July 12th, Tom Mulcair, Leader of Canada’s New Democrats and the Official Opposition, took a tour of three housing first locations owned by the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

Karen Crowther, Executive Director of Keys to Recovery, provided Mr. Mulcair an overview of the work her agency does to end homelessness for individuals leaving addictions treatment who, without Keys, would be released from a recovery program back to homelessness. “It’s hard to maintain your hard-won sobriety in a shelter environment,” said Ms Crowther. “There are so many opportunities to slip, which is why it’s so important we provide housing and supports.”

Karen shared their findings of the impact of housing on 9 of their clients after one year of being housed. Keys determined that based on the decrease in hospital stays, shelter costs, EMS, Fire and police interactions as well as incarcerations and ER visits, $810,445 in savings were realized. Without housing and Keys interventions, the nine individuals studied accounted for $1,023,618 in systems useage costs versus $213,173 after one year of housing.

Kelly, a long term resident with Keys, shared his story of addiction which began at the age of 9 and ended when he finally got housing with Keys 2 years ago.

From the Keys managed apartment building in Cliff Bungalow, Mr. Mulcair and his aide, George Smith, toured two Alpha House locations, The Madison, a 15 unit apartment building for Veterans with lived experience of homelessness, and Sunalta, a 33 unit single room occupancy low-barrier apartment building for singles. When asked what Mr. Mulcair can do to support the work over ending homelessness, Kathy Christiansen, Executive Director of Alpha House was quick to reply, “I have two words. Affordable Housing. We need a national strategy because without the housing, we can’t move people out of homelessness. It is critical.”

Mr. Mulcair promised to take the message back to Ottawa, not just about the need for Affordable Housing but also around the amazing work CHF and its agency partners are doing to end homelessness here in Calgary. With six years of experience, data and research, we are leaders in Canada.

 

We planted flowers yesterday. We raked the lawn, tidied the hedges, swept the walk and laughed and joked and connected as a team and a community.

We were at one of the buildings owned by the CHF to help out with spring cleaning. It was fun and fulfilling and, a nice break from ‘the office’.

And when we finished, we went to a local pub for a late lunch. We laughed and joked and shared in the harmony of having spent some time outside working together.

A year ago, this was a problem location. The neighbours were up in arms. A group of citizens were banding together calling for the shutting down of the Foundation’s housing first program in their neighbourhood.

We had meetings and talks and emails and phone calls. We worked together; the agency that manages the programming in the building and works with the tenants, all of whom have long-term lived experience of homelessness; the police who respond to calls and were concerned by the high level of calls to the building; and the citizen group that was looking for action. We worked with the community, the businesses in the area and the Alderman’s office to find a path to common ground, to that place where the label ‘homeless’ doesn’t equal ‘criminal’, undesirable or any host of other names we throw at people whose lives we do not understand and whose condition often scares us.

This was our second year of planting flowers and gardening at the building. No one came out to help last year. No one came out to chat.

Yesterday, one of the tenants came out and helped us garden.

Yesterday, a woman sat on the front steps and shared snippets of her journey.

Yesterday, a woman chatted from her balcony and told us how pretty the flowers looked. Another man chatted from his balcony and eventually came down to chat some more and have his picture taken. He even asked if he could have a pot of flowers for his balcony.

And as I was leaving, another man called out to me from behind his screen door. “Didn’t you use to work at a shelter?” he asked.

“I did,” I told him.

“I remember you,” he said. And then he shared what it was like to be housed. To have a home. To have a place to call his own. “It’s hard,” he said. “I don’t always remember how to be here.” and then he laughed. A shy, quiet laugh. There was no nervousness in his laugh. No trying to hide some unnamed discomfort. It was an honest commentary on his situation. “It sure is better than where I was,” he added.

And yesterday, at lunch at the local pub, I chatted with the manager with whom the agency from the building and I had met a year ago to talk about his concerns about the building and its tenants. “It’s been quiet since we met,” he said. “The agency has done a fantastic job of dealing with our issues.”

It is always the challenge of this work. Our perceptions. Our fears. Our misconceptions interfere with seeing there is a path to common ground. There is a way to live together in harmony. It may not be ‘normal’, but it can be better than living on separate sides of the equation, fighting each other for our right to stand our ground.

We say, not in my backyard, in the hopes that by declaring our sacred ground, we will not have to step across the line to see the view from someone else’s perspective. We hope that by holding onto our fears, we will not have to drop our guard to acknowledge that we each have a right to find our way home, no matter our condition.

To find common ground, we must let down our guard.

Yesterday, I worked alongside my team on the ground around a building that is home to several formerly homeless Calgarians.

It was a good day for community building.

C

Celebrating the kick-off event for CedarGlen Living’s Stepping Stone Manor

The sun was shining and the Lilac Festival was in full swing as volunteers worked to remove the photos from the front facade of the house at 222 15 Ave SW to move them to the construction fencing. The move is necessary as the house is about to be demolished in preparation for the soon to be construction 30 unit Affordable Housing apartment building that will be erected on the site.

The new construction is part of Calgary’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, where lack of affordable housing is recognized as one of the greatest deterrents to ending homelessness in our city. Seventy-percent funded by Alberta Municipal Affairs the remaining third is being contributed by Cedarglen Living as part of its $1.4 million commitment to the RESOLVE Campaign. Along with 11 other builders, Cedarglen Living has committed to provide the remaining 30% funding needed to build CHFs 8 new purposefully built apartments. In total, 240 units of housing will be built over the next 3.5 years.

We are excited.

The fence looks great and the future looks even brighter for the 30 individuals who will eventually call Stepping Stone Manor home. Thank you everyone who came out to support this exciting new development! In particular, thank you Carlos and Linda Hawke for your amazing work!

Monday’s kick-off of Stepping Stone Manor, our new project in the Beltline Community was a wonderful success. Over 100 people attended the formal event and later, over 100 people dropped by to view the art, chat and hang wishes in the Wishing tree.

Huge kudos to the CHF Housing and Communications teams as well as Linda Hawke and This is My City Art Society (TMC) for their amazing work on the This is Where I Belong art project for the house and to The Calgary Foundation for your financial support.

And big thanks to everyone who came out to see, to chat, to write wishes and to support the event and the project. You are the people who make community great.

Stepping Stone Manor would not be in development without the support of Alberta Municipal Affairs, Alberta Human Services, the RESOLVE Campaign, Cedarglen Living and the other 11 home builders who have stepped up to ensure we have the resources necessary to build and house homeless Calgarians – and thus, end homelessness. Thank you Albi Homes, Brookfield Residential Properties, Calbridge Homes, Cardel Homes, Cedarglen Living, Centron, Homes by Avi, Hopewell Homes, Jayman MasterBUILT, Morrison Homes, Qualico and Shane Homes. 

Thank you also to the Beltline Community Association, The Victoria Park BRZ and all the business and home owners in the area who shared their feedback and their community with us. We look forward to being good neighbours!

Thank you also to the ‘models’ who allowed TMC photographer Azriel Knight to photograph them and to put their faces up on the house. You not only look amazing, you are amazing!

The event and project generated a lot of media attention. The Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, Global TV, CBC radio and TV, CITY TV, CTV, Alberta PrimeTime, Metro Calgary, 660 NEWS all turned up either on the day of or before the event to share it with Calgarians. Thank you.

As with all great things, it takes great people to make it happen. Thank you everyone.

Some memorable moments from the day

Watching people write and hang wishes on the trees. In particular, the great niece of Dorothy who lived on one side of the house for over 40 years.

A member of Grateful or Dead who hung in memoriam wishes to people he knew who had died on the streets.

Three performers from Cavalia who stopped by at the end of the day and who scoffed at the idea of using a ladder to reach the upper branches. Instead, they simply took off their boots, one performer climbed onto the shoulers of the other and hung her wish. Incroyable!

It was an amazing day everyone! Thanks again. See you at the next one…

Meaghan Bell and Nicole Jackson, work every week with the CHF Client Advisory Committee to ensure the critical client voice that measures the ‘on the street’ impact of the work we do has a place to be heard and acknowledged. Recently, Meaghan and Nicole invited the members of the Committee to give a noon-hour presentation on their recent findings from a Community Consultation they held to gather community feedback on the updating of the 10 Year Plan.

Of the five members of the committee who came to present, one is still living in shelter, with another individual in transitional housing waiting for a placement in permanent housing. Two of the individuals found housing through their own efforts with one being housed through CHF programming. However, one individual’s program was ending which means he is again working with an agency to secure new housing. The other is a senior who is currently on a waitlist for affordable housing as spending 60% of her income on housing is taxing her limited resoures. It is, she said, an aspect of life that is not uncommon for seniors living in poverty.

Throughout their presentation, the group was articulate, organized and passionate. Most of them have worked with the Committee for a year or more and care deeply about their peers whom they represent. This was poignantly apparent when one of the presenters talked about some of the responses attendees at the Community Consultation had written on the sheets that asked the question, “Who are you?”

“They answered, mother, father, artist, carpenter, kind, hard-working, and then one person wrote, ‘I am a human being’,” one presenter commented, obviously distressed by the answer. “Why does anyone have to write that they are a human being? Aren’t we all?”

“Several people wrote that,” another presenter chimed in.

We all share a desire to be heard, to be seen, to be known. Within homelessness however, there is often a feeling of being dehumanized, less thank, invisible.  

It is a sad reality of homelessness. The very condition that we all share, our being human, is what people often feel they lose in this place called homeless.

No matter the condition of their lives, each individual is working with the Advisory Committee to give back, to make a difference, to make life better for others. They didn’t rant and rave about the injustice of the homeless condition, they didn’t strike out against government and agencies and their fellow man. They spoke up for dignity, human caring, the right of every individual to be treated with respect, consideration and fairness.

Matt Vermunt, CHF Manager of Acquisitions and & Developments spoke for everyone present when he said, “You have helped make me become better at my job, and you’ve helped me be a better human being,” he said.

We all have a story. We all have wounds we carry close to our hearts, hurts and pains we harbour beneath our skin. Homeless or housed, we are all the same kind of different in our being human. 

For individuals working on the front-line of homelessness, recognition can be hard to come by. The successes are often private, while failures can often be public. Now more than ever, it has become increasingly important to tell the stories of these individuals. Not because they need it, but because they deserve it.

On March 6th, the Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF) hosted the 7th Annual Arthur Smith Awards, which recognize staff and volunteers who exemplify excellence in providing housing with support to vulnerable people in Calgary. The recipients are nominated by colleagues or peers in the community with letters of support from partnering agencies or in some cases, directly from the people they have supported over the years.

I was lucky enough to see the whole process unfold. I was asked to sit on the CHF staff selection committee. I carefully read each application. I was moved by the words and thoughts expressed in each application, telling very personal stories of hope, compassion and commitment. The staff committee (it was hard as each was so deserving) selected the top three nominees from each category – frontline, volunteer and team. From there, the final selection was made by a committee of CHF Board members. The whole process culminated on March 6th with CHF hosting a lovely lunch event at the McDougall Centre where the awards were presented.

Recipients

Front-line Employee Award:

Cheryle Sklapsky, Keys to Recovery

The Front-line Team Award:

Sunalta Lodging House Team, Alpha House Society

Volunteer Award:

Harry and Irene Simmelink, Sonshine Community Services

Each recipient was introduced by the individual who nominated them. For me, a common thread throughout the speeches was how each recipient went above and beyond to help those in need. Whether it’s sitting outside the apartment of a woman in emotional pain until she comes out to talk, making a dinner for a group of men to share a meal in their new home, or holding a woman and her children staying at second-stage domestic violence shelter, each recipient was commended for looking beyond the issue, listening without prejudice and providing a glimmer of hope.

Calgary’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness speaks to the principles of ‘person-centered’ case management and housing supports, but what does that really mean? On paper, it means “building a relationship with a vulnerable person without agenda or expectation” (Rogers 1979). Yet, in practice, especially for the recipients of the 2014 Art Smith Awards, it means thinking outside the box, being creative, and doing whatever it takes to help an individual become the best they can be.

“You can tell the character of the city by how they treat their most vulnerable populations”, said one woman at the event. For me, the Annual Art Smith Awards provide an incredible opportunity to recognize the successes of people on the front-line doing this amazing work, and even more, it can inspire others to join them in the journey to end homelessness.

I graduated with my Masters in Public Policy not long ago. Among the most basic tenets of making good policy – making any good kind of decision, really – is asking the people who that policy will affect for their thoughts and contributions. There are lots of ways our sector talks about this – meaningful involvement, public consultations, community forums, roundtable discussions, client or peer-led initiatives – all of which are undertaken to consult and include people who are affected by the policies, projects and decisions in question.

But given the constantly changing landscape of homelessness in Calgary, where data is revealing new things, new projects are starting, existing programs are changing, the meaning of contribution and consultation becomes more of a process than a project. It’s not a one-time question posed to a group – it’s an ongoing, continual, iterative thing that requires constant attention.

The Client Action Committee at the Calgary Homeless Foundation was started in July 2012, as a part of the work of the Policy and Research Team. The group’s stated aim is “to engage a diverse group of individuals with lived experience of homelessness in discussions related to research priorities and implementation of strategies for Calgary’s 10 Year Plan. Opportunities are provided to share stories and develop, carry out and take part in research projects.”

And that’s what we do – each week, we take over the foundation’s boardroom with our papers, our coffee, and our stories from the week. We check in with each other, get updates from each other about where people are living, how old friends are doing, what the rough moments of the week have been, where the victories are. And then we get to work.

Over 100 people have sat at this table – some only once, some for months at a time, and a handful since the very beginning. When people come to the table, they bring the sum of their experiences: here and elsewhere, housed and homeless.

Since the committee started, the work has included a wide range of projects and research activities – doing surveys in shelters, facilitating focus groups, coding transcripts, promoting and then hosting events, speaking to committees, boards, school classrooms and elsewhere, working on documentaries, and various writing exercises.

And each time we ask the committee for their help, they show up with a tenacity and enthusiasm that is humbling to me as a researcher. When we ask for their ideas, their priorities, what they would like to focus on, ideas come tumbling onto the table, informed by their own experience and that of their peers, all aimed at justice and inclusion for the street community.

The ideas, stories, experiences and battles of that committee get back to decision-makers in a handful of ways – through direct presentations and participation, reports and research – and often, through the people who have sat with client committee itself. We approach other tables bearing those stories, as yet another piece of evidence about what is working and what isn’t, where the gaps are, and what needs to be urgently pushed forward.Engaging