Edmonton has reduced homelessness by over 40% in the last decade

Nov 5 2019, 8:59 pm

The seventh annual National Conference on Ending Homelessness is being hosted in Edmonton this year as a result of the city’s “significant strides” in combatting homelessness.

Since 2009, Edmonton has halved its homeless population numbers and housed nearly 10,000 people, according to the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH).

“Edmonton has reduced 43% of its overall homeless numbers and an additional 15% of its chronic homeless population since January 2019,” says a release from the CAEH.

The conference is currently taking place from November 4 to 6 at Edmonton Convention Centre, and is held by the CAEH to help provide “policy makers, funders, researchers, advocates, community leaders and front line workers with the inspiration, information, tools and training required to combat homelessness.”

According to the CAEH, over 235,000 Canadians will experience homelessness this year, and 1.7 million people are living in core housing need.

“There is still more to do, but Edmonton is proving what everyone here believes to be true – that homelessness can and will end,” says Tim Richter, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness.

“We are meeting here now at a time of great hope, great promise and achievement at a scale that few of us would have dared to dream possible even five years ago.”

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson also addressed conference attendees to discuss Edmonton’s success in cutting homelessness by half since 2009 — from 3,200 to 1,600 people experiencing homelessness.

“Homelessness is a choice: do we choose to allow homeless to persist or do we solve it? It is a matter of will,” says Mayor Iveson.

Rumneek JohalRumneek Johal

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