An additional 40 people who face multiple barriers to finding safe, stable, affordable housing will get a roof over their heads, thanks to additional funding for Pacifica Housing’s Streets to Homes program.
For the past three years, the program has been assisting chronically homeless clients in securing housing. The program helps them maintain that residence with support in the form of intensive case management and referrals to community resources.
Administered by Pacifica Housing, the program is funded in part by B.C. Housing, the Victoria Foundation and the United Way.
The Victoria Foundation recently increased its support for the program, enabling Pacifica Housing to increase the number of clients to 160 from 120.
“The Victoria Foundation showed strong leadership by their increase in support of the program,” said Dean Fortin, executive director for Pacifica Housing. “We were able to take their contribution and leverage it with matching funds from the City of Victoria and the province.”
Every year, the program successfully places 125 adults into permanent market housing. The program says that more than 80 per cent of participants have retained stable housing for longer than one year, and two-thirds of the clients who were in the program prior to 2013 have been able to maintain stable housing.
Its success stems from tailoring supports to the unique needs of each client. The program draws on support services to attend to people with mental-health problems, substance abuse, generational poverty, brain injury and other significant health concerns. The program is cost-effective — participants can be housed for about $7,500 per year — half the cost of emergency shelters.
The stabilizing effect of housing also tends to reduce their interaction with law-enforcement and emergency medical services. Fortin credits Pacifica Housing’s full-time staff of nine for the achievement.
“The program’s success highlights their dedication to the clients we serve.”
For more information, go to pacificahousing.ca.
