As has been stressed repeatedly throughout the tent-city controversy, homeless people are human beings, with faces, stories, families 鈥� and names. The federal government should record those names.
This isn鈥檛 about compiling a watch list so authorities can keep track of troublemakers, it鈥檚 about taking a scientific and reliable measure of homelessness. It鈥檚 about gathering data that can be used to make changes, instead of merely measuring what has happened.
In partnership with designated communities across the country, the federal government conducted its first homeless count in the first quarter of this year, using what is called a point-in-time approach. That produced a set of numbers, not a list of names.
The point-in-time count in the capital region, conducted during a 12-hour period on Feb. 10, found 1,387 people categorized as homeless. The count included those living in emergency shelters, transitional housing and outdoors.
Housing advocates have recommended to the government that it compile by-name lists, which would allow municipalities to allocate resources better, based on current conditions, rather than responding to a point-in-time count that is already out of date by the time it is compiled. Experts say the point-in-time count is like trying to drive a car forward while looking in the rearview mirror.
A by-name list is 鈥渓ive data, so any time someone is assigned to a case manager, they鈥檙e taken off the list and people are added when they come into our system,鈥� said Ali Ryder, housing programs administrator for Kingston, Ont., which has one of the more advanced by-name lists in the country.
The by-name list gives housing and homeless-service providers a real-time view of almost everyone in a community who is homeless, what services are in demand and what services are missing.
The by-name approach is also more accurate. With names on a computerized list, it鈥檚 a simple matter to cross-check to avoid duplication, and to update as conditions change 鈥� homelessness can be a fluid situation for many.
Lest anyone think it鈥檚 a matter of Big Brother trying to snoop, putting names on lists is a time-honoured practice. Names have been part of census-taking as long as sa国际传媒 has been a country. Strict rules are put in place to ensure rights are protected and privacy is not violated.
In the case of by-name homeless counts, people consent to have their names recorded when they register with a service provider, so each person鈥檚 situation can be evaluated and ranked in terms of need.
Advocacy groups already make a point to get names.
鈥淓very homeless person is known by name because someone has deliberately gone out onto the streets, into shelters and wherever necessary to find them, assess their needs and meet them where they are at,鈥� says the website of the 20,000 Homes Campaign, a national initiative from the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.
The value of a census is in its accuracy and its completeness. The more accurate the homeless count is, the more effective assistance to the homeless can be. It鈥檚 not enough to know merely how many are homeless, we also need to know who they are.
