Atlas Pilot(e) - Risk of Homelessness / Risques de l’itinérance

Presentation of the project
(Canada): Comparing variables across time
: Economic Risk of Homelessness
: Aging Social Housing Stock
: Logements sociaux et populations ayant des difficultés financières pour se loger
: Renters Vs. Owners

“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”. Article 25, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations.

« Toute personne a droit à un niveau de vie suffisant pour assurer sa santé, son bien-être et ceux de sa famille, notamment pour l'alimentation, l'habillement, le logement, les soins médicaux ainsi que pour les services sociaux nécessaires; elle a droit à la sécurité en cas de chômage, de maladie, d'invalidité, de veuvage, de vieillesse ou dans les autres cas de perte de ses moyens de subsistance par suite de circonstances indépendantes de sa volonté ». Article 25, Déclaration universelle des droits de l'homme, Nations Unies.

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Presentation of the Project

Introduction
Presentation of the project
Partnership
Atlas Team
Glossary

Absolute Homelessness: “People sleeping rough, which means in the street, in public places or in any other place not meant for human habitation are those forming the core population of the `homeless. Those sleeping in shelters provided by welfare or other institutions will be considered as a part of this population. Persons or households living under these circumstances will furthermore be defined as houseless''. As this definition avoids the use of characteristics that may vary by regions (like climatic conditions, cultural or traditional variables) it should be acceptable to all countries. An individual with no access to housing will be considered as houseless all over the world” (Springer, 2000:480).

Affordable Housing: According to the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation “the cost of adequate shelter should not exceed 30% of household income. Housing which costs less than this is considered affordable. However, consumers, housing providers and advocacy organizations tend to use a broader definition of affordability.”

Affordable, Appropriate Housing (AAH) QOLRS Indicator: housing is one of the most important variable components of consumer expenditure, and these indicators reflect the quality, affordability, and availability of housing. The domain also includes a measure of absolute homelessness as a further indicator of housing affordability. The AAH QOLRS variables are: 30%+ Income Spent on Shelter, Vacancy Rates, Core Housing Need, Substandard Units, Changing Face of Homelessness, 50% of Income Spent on Shelter, Rental Housing Starts and Monthly Rent.

Census Division (CD): The QoLRS relies on 2001 CD or CSD boundaries as the standard geographic unit. Statistics Canada defines a Census Division as “the general term for provincially legislated areas (such as county, municipalité régionale de comté and regional district) or their equivalents. Census divisions are intermediate geographic areas between the province level and the municipality (census subdivision).” Reliance on Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) data excludes several QOLRS municipalities and Census Divisions (CDs) represents actual city or municipal boundaries. Several QOLRS municipalities have amalgamated resulting in boundary changes since 1991. To ensure consistency, compatibility and comparability over time and space, all QOLRS time-series data are based on 2001 municipal boundaries. Boundaries have not changed since 2001.

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Census SubDivision (CSD): The QOLRS relies on 2001 CSD or Census Division (CD) boundaries as the standard geographic unit. Statistics Canada defines a CSD as “the general term for municipalities (as determined by provincial legislation) or areas treated as municipal equivalents for statistical purposes (for example, Indian reserves, Indian settlements and unorganized territories)”. Reliance on CMA data excludes several QOLRS municipalities and CDs represents actual city or municipal boundaries. Several QOLRS municipalities have amalgamated resulting in boundary changes since 1991. To ensure consistency, compatibility and comparability over time and space, all QOLRS time-series data are based on 2001 municipal boundaries. Boundaries have not changed since 2001.

Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) : “Créée le 1er janvier 2001, la Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal est un organisme de planification, de coordination et de financement qui regroupe 82 municipalités. Elle compte une population de 3,6 millions de personnes réparties sur un territoire de 4360 kilomètres carrés dont 525 de surfaces aquatiques et 2218 de terres agricoles, soit 58 % du territoire" (CMM ).

Concealed/invisible houselessness: “Under this category fall all people living with family members or friends because they cannot afford any shelter for themselves. Without this privately offered housing opportunity they would be living in the street or be sheltered by an institution of the welfare system. This phenomenon is extremely difficult to enumerate, above all in countries where the system of the extended family takes care of its members if necessary. Furthermore, more and new strategies of sharing housing units are developed as the pressure on the housing market increases (e.g. Eastern Europe) making the exercise of enumerating these situations even more challenging.” (Springer, 2000:480). Another group living under the threatThis also includes youth who are couch surfing and/or males or females who exchange services for a place to stay the night.

Core Housing Need: is a term developed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) as part of the National Occupancy Standard. In core housing need “refers to households which are unable to afford shelter that meets adequacy, suitability, and affordability norms. The norms have been adjusted over time to reflect the housing expectations of Canadians. Affordability, one of the elements used to determine core housing need, is recognized as a maximum of 30 per cent of the household income spent on shelter”.

Dissemination Area (DA): is a Statistics Canada geography that “is a small, relatively stable geographic unit composed of one or more adjacent dissemination blocks. It is the smallest standard geographic area for which all census data are disseminated. DAs cover all the territory of Canada.”. DAs have a populate between 400 to 700 persons. DAs came into effect in 2001 and have replaced Enumeration Areas (EAs).

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Dwelling, Tenant-occupied Private: refers to a private dwelling, other than one situated on a farm and occupied by a farm operator, which is not owned by some member of the household. FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 & 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Dwellings, Owner-occupied Private: refers to a private dwelling, other than one situated on a farm and occupied by a farm operator, which is owned or being bought by some member of the household. FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 & 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

GraphoMap: “The cyber cartogram gravitational (or GraphoMap ) has been designed to improve visual analysis of complex spatio-temporal data. It provides the means for representing simultaneously the three dimensions intrinsic to geospatial information: space (or location), theme (or event) and time (specific moments). The cartogram does so using three major components: (1) a one-dimensional geographical space represented by a semi-circle centered on a specific location (e.g. Canada); (2) certain geographical entities (e.g. cities) are polarized by this location according to specific attributes; and (3) an interactive timeline offering the possibility to explore the temporal dimension of the information. Combining these three components provides multiple possibilities for the spatio-temporal analysis of different forms of proximity, including economic, cultural, social and demographic proximity.”

Habitation à loyer Modique (HLM) : this is the equivalent to RGI. The Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal states “les paramètres du programme permettent aux locataires de ces logements de payer un loyer correspondant à 25 % de leur revenu, plus certains frais pour l’électricité et, s’il y a lieu, l’utilisation d’un stationnement ou d’un climatiseur. Le déficit d’exploitation des logements est financé par les gouvernements fédéral (55 %) et provincial (35 %) de même que par la CMM (10 %)”. (OMHM HLM )

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Household Type: refers to the basic division of private households into family and non-family households. Family household refers to a household that contains at least one census family, that is a married couple with or without never-married sons or daughters, or a couple living in common-law with or without never-married sons or daughters, or a lone parent living with or more never-married sons or daughters (lone-parent family). One-family household refers to a single census family (with or without other non-family persons) that occupies a private dwelling. Multiple-family household refers to one in which two or more census families (with or without other non-family persons) occupy the same private dwelling. Non-family household refers to either one person living along in a private dwelling or to a group of two or more people who share a private dwelling, but who do not constitute a census family. Data Source: FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 & 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Household: refers to a person or a group of persons (other than foreign residents), who occupy the same dwelling and do not have a usual place of residence elsewhere in Canada. It may consist of a family group (census family) with or without other non-family persons, or two or more families sharing a dwelling, of a group of unrelated persons, or of one person living alone. Household members who are temporarily absent on Census Day (e.g. temporary resident elsewhere) are considered as part of their usual household. Unless otherwise specified, all data in household reports are for private households only.

Housing Starts: The rental, condominium and private house completions variable is a count of units and structures completed that are intended for the rental or sale market. Data Source: FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), Starts and Completion Survey, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Income: refers to money received from the following sources by persons 15 years of age and over: wages and salaries; net farm self-employment, net non-farm self-employment income from unincorporated business and/or professional practice; federal Child Tax Benefits; Old Age Security pension and guaranteed Income Supplement; benefits from Canada or Quebec Pension Plan; benefits from Unempployment Insrance; other income from government sources; Unemployment Insurance; investment income retirement pensions; and other money income.

Back to introduction / Table of Content

LICO – Low Income Cut Off / Incidence of Low Income: this is a Statistics Canada measure of what is a “consistent and well-defined methodology that identifies those who are substantially worse-off than average. These measures have enabled Statistics Canada to report important trends, such as the changing composition of those below the LICOs over time”. “Measures of low income known as low income cut-offs (LICOs) were first introduced in Canada in 1968 based on 1961 Census income data and 1959 family expenditure patterns. At that time, expenditure patterns indicated that Canadian families spent about 50% of their total income on food, shelter and clothing. It was arbitrarily estimated that families spending 70% or more of their income (20 percentage points more than the average) on these basic necessities would be in "straitened" circumstances”.

Logement abordable : Le logement abordable un volet social et communautaire qui permet “à des coopératives, des offices d’habitation, des organismes et des sociétés acheteuses à but non lucratif de réaliser des projets d’habitation communautaire et sociale avec une contribution minimale de leur milieu. Ces logements doivent être destinés aux ménages à revenu faible ou modeste, dans les municipalités où le taux d’inoccupation est inférieur à 3 %.”

Logement social : “Un logement est qualifié de social lorsque son loyer est fixé en fonction du revenu des locataires et indépendamment du marché du logement. Les locataires de Habitation à loyer Modique (HLM) et les bénéficiaires du Programme de supplément au loyer (PSL) ne consacrent jamais plus de 25 % de leur revenu brut au loyer. Un logement communautaire est réalisé dans le cadre des programmes gouvernementaux de subventions et est géré par un organisme à but non lucrative (OBNL) ou une coopérative d’habitation. Un certain nombre des logements de ces coopératives et OBNL est offert sous forme de logement social (les résidants ne paient alors pas plus de 25 % de leur revenu) alors que les autres logements peuvent être qualifiés d’abordables, leur loyer étant inférieur au loyer médian du marché.” (Module du Grand Montréal).

Lone Parent Families: are led by a single parent living with at least one never-married son or daughter, Data Source: FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Lone Parent, Private Households Living in Rental Dwellings Spending 30% or more on Shelter Costs: Data Source: FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 and; 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Lone Parent, Private Households Living in Rental Dwellings Spending 50% or more on Shelter Costs: Data Source: FCM QoLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 & 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Organisme a but non lucratif (OBNL) : Non profit organization.

Owned Dwellings:

Private Households Living in Rental Dwellings Spending 30% or more on Shelter Costs: definition of affordable housing. The data are from the FCM QOLRS report. These data were acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Private Households Living in Rental Dwellings Spending 50% or more on Shelter Costs: Spending 30% of household income on shelter is considered to be affordable. More than that is considered to increase the possibility of the risk of homelessness. Spending more than 50% of household income on rent, depending on household composition, means the household is spending more on shelter than all other household expenditures combined. This leaves little room to recover should any calamity occur in the household (e.g. death, layoff, illness, etc.). Data Source: FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Programme supplement au loyer (PSL) : Rent geared to income program.

Quality of Life Reporting Ssystem (QOLRS) Municipalies: “The QOLRS is a member-based initiative. Starting with 16 communities in 1996, the QOLRS has grown to 23 communities in seven provinces. QOLRS reports and data correspond to the municipal boundaries of member communities. The participating 24 communities account for more than 50 per cent of Canada’s population. They comprise some of Canada’s largest urban centres and many of the suburban communities surrounding them, as well as regional centres. QOLRS members generally have populations of at least 200,000 people”.

Rent Geared to Income (RGI) Housing Units: Each QOLRS community has its own particular way to fund RGI housing units. Most are funded by a combination of city, provincial, and/or federal funding and/or special interest groups such as seniors associations. There are many types of RGI Housing Units that range from private landlord rent supplements, or subsidized cooperative housing, non-profit housing, private non-profit, rural or native housing programs and public housing. RGI Housing Units and social housing in general in each city are also not uniformly managed by one entity. These data were collected from QOLRS communities via a FCM Municipal Survey. Data Source: FCM Municipal Survey Database, at the Municipal geography.

Renter Households: Data Source: FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 & 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Risk of Homelessness / Houselessness: “those facing the risk of losing their shelter either by eviction or the expiry of the lease, with no other possibility of shelter in view. Prisoners or people living in other institutions facing their release and having no place to go to are considered as part of this population.” (Springer, 2000:480). These are also individuals or families whose living spaces do not meet minimum health and safety standards, and do not offer security of tenure, personal safety and/or affordability. In the FCM QOLRS, the technical team has selected a variety of indicators associated with the risk of homelessness and these are: those that spend more than 50% of their income on rent, people living in substandard housing, those on social housing waiting lists, the poor and those who are living on low, insecure or feeble incomes, people on fixed incomes such as seniors or those receiving social assistance, and some demographic groups such as lone parent families. Also see the definition Affordable, Appropriate Housing (AAH).

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Social Housing Registry Waiting List: refers to households with dependents who are have registered on the social housing registry waiting list.

Social Housing: Social Housing refers to rental housing developed with the assistance of government and that is subsidized by government for people with low to moderate incomes, seniors, or people with special needs who can live, with support, in the community. Usually, a municipal or city housing services is responsible for administering Social Housing Program requirements and funding.

Taux d'innoccupation : Vacancy rates.

Tenure: refers to whether or not some member of the household owns or rents the dwelling, or whether the dwelling is Band Housing (on an Indian reserve or settlement). A dwelling is classified as ‘owned’ even if it is not fully paid for, such as one which has a mortgage or some other claim on it. The dwelling may be situated on rented or leased land or be a part of a condominium (whether registered or unregistered). A dwelling is classified as ‘rented’ even if it is provided without cash rent or at a reduced rent, of if the dwelling is part of a cooperative. Data Source: FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Statistics Canada, Census Division, 1991, 1996, 2001 & 2006 at the Census Division (CD) and Census Subdivision (CSD) geography.

Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC):

Vacancy Rate: reflects the number of units that are available for rental. For example, a vacancy rate of 3 percent indicates that three out of every 100 rental units are vacant and available for rental. Rather than provide a single average for all types of units, the indicator will distinguish between vacancies at the high-end and low-end of the rental market. A unit is considered vacant if, at the time of the survey, it is physically unoccupied and available for immediate rental. The source for the data is the CMHC’s Rental Market Survey. The Rental Market Survey only includes units in privately initiated rental buildings with three or more units. The data are for all types of dwellings and by quintile.Data Source: FCM QOLRS report data acquired from Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC), Rental Market Survey for 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 at Census Division (CD) and Census Sub-Division Geography (CSD).

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Presentation of the Project

Introduction
Presentation of the project
Partnership
Atlas Team
Glossary

The Pilot Atlas of the Risk of Homelessness aims to provide a geographic understanding of the variables associated with the risk of homelessness in selected Canadian municipalities with the objective to inform public policy and infrastructure decisions toward a focus on efforts prevent households from becoming homeless.

The 2008 FCM Trends and Issues in Affordable Housing and Homelessness Report estimates that the absolute homeless population in Canada is between 150 000 to 200 000 people. The former number represents the entire population of Kingston while the latter the population of Regina. These are extremely high numbers for a prosperous country like Canada where homelessness is now considered a national disaster.

These numbers are also considered to be an underestimate since it is notoriously difficult to count the invisible homeless population. The causes of homelessness are many, and to name a few are: personal issues such as mental health; addiction and/or abuse; issues related to the political economy including poverty; the lack of affordable housing; availability of scarce social housing; the conversion of existing affordable apartments into condominiums; rising rents and the disproportionate number of people who spend more than 50% of their income on accommodation; and finally demographics groups such as lone parent families and some urban aboriginal populations.

This Atlas will include some of the FCM developed measures of the risk of homelessness in Canadian communities based on seven indicators monitored by the QOLRS. The measure provides an indication of the extent to which factors commonly associated with homelessness are prevalent in a given community. Measuring this risk also demonstrates how homelessness is an indicator of a broader set of quality of life issues affecting a much larger proportion of the population.

These indicators do not definitely mean that a household will become homeless, but as indicators they are points on a continuum that can, under various circumstances, lead directly to absolute homelessness. Detailed descriptions and reporting on the FCM measure can be found in FCM QOLRS Theme Report #1: Incomes, Shelter and Necessities. Surprisingly to most, the face of homelessness in Canada includes the working poor, seniors, aboriginal people, families with young children and new Canadians.

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Atlas Team

Introduction
Presentation of the project
Partnership
Atlas Team
Glossary

Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre (GCRC)

D. R. Fraser Taylor , Primary Investigator
Tracey P. Lauriault, Lead Researcher
Sébastien Caquard, Cartographer
Christine Homuth, Geomatician
Amos Hayes and Glenn Brauen, Technology Specialist

Acacia Consulting and Research

Michel Frojmovic, Liaison

Federation of Canadian Municipalities Quality of Life Reporting System (QOLRS) Municiplalities

Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal

- Nathalie Chicoine, Direction des Politiques et interventions de développement

- Philippe Rivet, Analyste, Politiques et interventions de développement

- Michel Rochefort, Conseiller à la direction générale

City of Calgary

- Sharon Stroick, • Sharon Stroick, Ph.D., MCIP, Research Social Planner, Community and Neighbourhood

- Derek Cook, Research Social Planner, Community and Neighbourhood Services, Social Policy and Planning Division

City of Toronto

- Harvey Low, Social Policy Analysis and; Research Section, City of Toronto

- Toronto Community Housing Corporation

- Housing Connections

Federation of Canadian Municipalities

- Joshua Bates, Policy Advisor, Policy and Research, Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)

Maps, Data, and Government Information (MADGIC), Library, Carleton University

Wendy Watkins, Data Librarian
Joel Rivard, GIS/Data Technician
David Sharp, Geomatics Specialist

Back to introduction / Table of Content

Atlas Pilot(e) - Risk of Homelessness / Risques de l’itinérance

Presentation of the Project

Presentation of the Project

Partnership

Atlas Team