City of Hamilton launches dashboard on state of housing affordability and homelessness system

HAMILTON, ON – Today, the City of Hamilton launches its Housing and Homelessness Dashboard that will be used to inform ongoing efforts to address unmet housing needs and advance permanent solutions to homelessness.

Hamilton’s Housing and Homelessness Dashboard consolidates data about the state of homelessness and access to affordable housing. The dashboard supports evidence-informed action and will illustrate progress towards the goals established in Hamilton’s Housing and Homelessness Action Plan and Hamilton’s Homelessness Ending Strategy.

Hamilton’s Housing and Homelessness Dashboard

The dashboard published today highlights:

• In March 2022, 1,596 people were actively experiencing homelessness, having used the shelter system at least once in the three months prior.
• In March 2022, 248 individuals were newly experiencing homelessness, and 226 individuals exited the homeless-serving system.
• From January-March 2022, 87 individuals were housed from homelessness directly through City-funded homelessness programs. In 2021, 382 individuals were housed from homelessness directly through City-funded homelessness programs.
• As of April 2022, there are 693 beds in Hamilton’s emergency shelter system.

These metrics are included in the dashboard:

• Average market rent
• Active households on the Access to Housing waitlist
• Active households housed off the Access to Housing waitlist
• Inflow/Outflow to Homelessness
• Shelter Occupancy
• Shelter Bed Capacity
• Number of individuals experiencing homelessness for less than six months and more than six months
• Number of individuals housed through City-funded Homelessness Programs

The information reported on the Housing and Homelessness system dashboard complements existing local efforts to report on the demographic profile of those experiencing homelessness such as the Point in Time Connection  and helps to ensure available resources are used as efficiently and effectively as possible to meet Hamilton’s goal that everyone has a home.

The dashboard will be updated quarterly. Each metric is accompanied with a data note that defines how the data are collected, frequency of data collection, and how the data are used. Metrics included in this dashboard do not reflect the totality of work and investments undertaken through the Housing Services Division, community partners, and other levels of government. The City of Hamilton remains committed to expanding its housing and homelessness system reporting capabilities. Additional metrics will be added over time as reporting capabilities are enhanced.

Housing and Homelessness Strategy

The City of Hamilton serves an important role in the coordination and delivery of housing services and benefits as Service Manager on behalf of the Government of Ontario, and the Government of Canada. Serving as the lead systems planning organization on homelessness at a local level, the City has accountability for funding allocations, performance management, strategy development and implementation, in collaboration with service providers, other governments, and those with living/lived experience of homelessness.

The City has a comprehensive Housing and Homelessness Strategy, which is guided by the Council approved 10-year Housing and Homelessness Action Plan. In Hamilton’s Systems Planning Framework: Coming Together to End Homelessness, our community has laid out a roadmap for ending chronic homelessness by 2025. The City’s Housing Services Division administers a gross operating budget of approximately $120 million annually, including an average of $54 million in annual municipal investments to advance these objectives:

• Investment and leadership of coordinated access to an integrated system of homelessness supports grounded in Housing First
• Manage Access to Housing through preservation of units and housing subsidy to get and keep people housed
• Accelerate building community housing units and bringing units back online to maintain and increasing the supply of affordable housing.

Quick Facts

• Investments specifically targeted towards housing-focused interventions to prevent and end people’s experience of homelessness total more than $26 million annually in regular funding and $63 million in pandemic response funds. Together these funded programs make up a wholistic homeless-serving and prevention system, which includes: Prevention and Diversion, Housing-focused Shelters, Street Outreach, Rapid Rehousing, Transitional Housing, Intensive Case Management, and Permanent Housing with Supports.
• In 2021 the City prevented homelessness and provided housing stability for 683 households through the Rent Ready program for residents impacted by the loss of employment or federal benefits due to the pandemic and who may face eviction due to missed rent payments.
• Over the past 18 months Hamilton has received and leveraged $34.45 million through the Government of Canada’s Rapid Housing Initiative. Through the tremendous efforts of staff, partner agencies, leveraging other funding pots and municipal investments, 155 new affordable housing units will be generated. These units will be completed by end of 2022 and will house people from Hamilton’s Access to Housing Waitlist and the By-Name Priority List.
• In 2022 the City increased funding through the following programs to repair and preserve Hamilton’s community housing units:
  • The City contributes $35.7 million annually which is a $1.8 million increase over 2021 towards supporting housing providers for operating costs which include increased utility costs and general maintenance which insures the preservation of housing units for those in need.
  • An increase of $1.2 million in the annual municipal contribution to support housing providers with operating costs which include state of good repair maintenance.
  • $1.26 million boost in dedicated annual funding for a total of $111 million municipal contribution towards the National Housing Strategy Co-Investment Fund Repair and Renewal Stream’s $145.7 million loan repayment which will see the repair and renewal of 6,290 CityHousing Hamilton units.