Homelessness

When it comes to understanding the causes of homelessness, or houselessness, the urban experience tends to be prioritized, mainly due to the “visibility” of unsheltered individuals in large urban centres. The issue of homelessness in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities is far less understood and acknowledged because of its “hidden” nature, often occurring as couch surfing, overcrowding, living in vehicles, etc. Recent data suggests that rural homelessness is prevalent at rates equivalent to or greater than larger urban centre per capita rates (Schiff et al., 2022). And yet, as the cost of living and inflation rise, these communities are facing unique challenges while lacking the capacity and resources to respond to them. 

Our team has many capacity-building resources, and we provide services to support with developing and implementing solutions. In addition, RDN is the Reaching Home Community Entity for Rural and Remote Alberta and is responsible for distributing this funding from the Government of Canada to communities across the province to address and respond to homelessness. These communities include First Nation and Métis Settlement communities amongst others.  

Recently, there has been a push to shift language when talking about homelessness towards terminology like “houselessness” or “unhoused” to better reflect the experiences of Indigenous community members and their understandings of home. As we try and shift our language and generally encourage a broader understanding of houselessness in communities, we have started using the term “housing insecurity” or “housing insecure” as a means to bridge the gap between understandings of homelessness and houselessness. 

Our approach aims to empower communities, build capacity, and implement data-driven strategies to address homelessness, housing, and service needs.