Agenda Package - City of Vernon

Evaluation of Homelessness Strategy for the North Okanagan
Lønd Trust - the Portners lor a Sofe and Heatthy Community brought in the founder oÍ the
cotgory Land Trust to speok on the lond trust concept. Sociol Plonning council has
apptied for funding for stort up costs ond is currently working with community Futures to
find chømpions to creote a land trust society in Vernon'
Employment Programs ond Chítdcare 'The North Okanagan Child Care Centre opened The
Junction Chitd Care Centre on April L6, 2007. Families wilt be occepted through o referral
process with priority being given to pørents who need port-time child core to ottend
treatment or pre-employment progroms' counseling, parenting groups' etc'
Homelessness Wehsite/Dotabose - Social Plønning Counè¡t is hosting the website
atwww.vernonhomelessness.co which contains informotion from this strotegy as well os
the Vernon Survivol Guide (o brochure of services for homeless people) to be printed ond
distributed by front line workers."
lncreosed Community Aworeness obout Homelessness - the Action Network on Poverty ond
Homelessness hos received funding from the united Way to continue its work in the
community and to monitor the implementation of the homelessness strotegy'
Since adoption and beyond those initiatives noted above'4, a number of Strategy
recommendations and other initiatives have been pursued and measurable results recorded' An
overview of some of these activities can be found on the Partners in Action website2s and
specifically within quarterly and annual reports. A synopsis of relevant activities follows:26 The
actions that were added to the strategy after 2OO7 are shaded to indicate that these were not
part of the initial plan. (" As with most plans, there needs to be some flexibility to respond to
emerging issues and oppoftunities." )'
23 Soon after development it was determined by the Partners ln Action Comm¡ttee that the webs¡te
www.vernonhomelessness.ca would not be maintained - and that it would be easier to host information on the social
Planning Council's website rather than update/maintain another site'
2a lncluding complementary efforts and or enhancements'
2t http://www.socialplanning.ca/partners/index.html
* Noï ;il of the identified efforts and results as found in the Quarterly and Annual Reports of the Partners in Action
Committee relate specifically to the recommendations within the Strategic Plan inasmuch as the mandate for the
partners in Action Comm¡ttee has a broader focus than homelessness. "The Homelessness Strotegy ¡s just one
Ìnitiative thotfits underthe umbrello of the Committee (atthough it ís one of the main focuses/'" Underthe banner of
,.Eliminate Homelessness" several initiatives are listed, some directly drawn from the Strategy and others which seem
to have evolved logically over time and thus the connection back to the Strategic Plan ¡s pretty clear' However, there
are other activ¡ties not listed under ,'Eliminating Homelessness" that do in fact have obvious and significant ¡mpacts
on the broader homelessness challenge as defined within the Strategy's Vision: "the North Okonogon vision ¿onsists
of o community where there ore sulficient emergency services such os shelter and food; sufÍicient supportive'
tronsitionol ond low cost housing units; suflicient support services ín pløce for those needing help beÍore or ofter they
ore homeless.,, These are included in the narrative and overall evaluative effort because ofthis connection, e'g'
lncrease Number of safe Affordable Housing units, and lncreasing sense of safety Downtown'
Lochaven Management Consultants Ltd.
November 2010
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