Agenda Package - City of Vernon

Evaluation of Homelessness Strategy for the North Okanagan
From a variety of research reports and academic treatises we are aware that ¡n the
effort to manage, control and/ot eliminate homelessness that community/regional
programming that has been independently deemed to be successful in a variety of jurisdictions
throughout North America and internationally has encompassed and/or been characterized by
the following descriptive attributes:3e
1. An interactive process between the organization and the client that requires
patience and perseverance.
Z. A compendium of actions that is coordinated, comprehensive and accountable to
the community.
3. A range of responses to address the multi-dimensional character of homelessness.
There is no single silver bullet.
4. A pro-active rather than a reactive approach.
5. Designed to treat the whole person'
6. Premised on a fundamental respect for the client.
7. Relationship-buildingthroughoutthe process.
8. Starting from the premise that meeting basic needs is an important first step.
9. Targeted at non-priority as well as potentially priority homeless households,
10. Serving people who have difficulty accessing services.
11. lntegration of the homeless into the community.
12. Flexibility and creativity.
13. Community awareness and education.
Observations on Performance RE: Comparisons Wit-h Best Practices from other
Jurisdictions
It is clear that the foundations, structure, approach and implementation of efforts
within the North Okanagan are yielding beneficial impacts. lt is also very clear that the efforts
currently underway are conducive with the overwhelming majority of identified best practices
from other jurisdictions. Particular success is evidenced in such areas as " o compendium of
octions that is coordinated, comprehensive ønd accountoble to the community " and "ø ronge of
responses to oddress the multi-dimensional character of homelessness" and "a pro-octive rother
than q reactive approoch" and "community owareness ond educotíon". From observation and
input from client/service provider interviews those areas that might be found lacking full
attention are the following: (1) relationship-building throughout the process; and (2) integration
of the homeless into the community. This is not to say these efforts are completely overlooked
or lack inclusion in some of the programming, rather the degree of attention paid to these "best
practices" is perceived by some to be somewhat less than ideal.
Ltr';
3e see: Homelessness Resource centre, Best Practices For Providers http://homeless'samhsa'gov: Evaluating
Homelessness Prevention, Department for Communities and local Government, Homelessness Research Summary,
Number 3,2006; STRATEGIES for Preventine Homelessness. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Office of Policy Development and Research, May 2005.
Lochaven Management Consultants Ltd.
November 2010
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