City of Toronto Homeless Initiatives FundThe Community Services Committee recommends the adoption of the following report (January 4, 2000) from the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services:

Purpose:

This report gives an overview of activities funded through the City of Toronto Homeless Initiatives Fund (CT-HIF) in 1999 and outlines plans to consolidate and streamline funding for homeless services in 2000.

The City received an allocation of $1.02 million from the Province for the CT-HIF in 1998/99 following the creation of the Provincial Homelessness Initiatives Fund in October 1998. In April 1999, the Province announced an increase in its funding to the City. As a result of the increase, the City received $4.724 million for 1999/2000.

This report outlines how these funds were spent and gives details of three Proposal Calls used to select projects.

This report also recommends that up to $450,000.00 be set aside for winter emergencies and emerging priorities and for additional projects directed towards the Aboriginal community. It also recommends that authority to allocate these funds be delegated to the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services.

Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

The City of Toronto Homeless Initiatives Fund includes a 1999/2000 allocation of $4.724 million to the City of Toronto from the Province as well as an allocation of $881,100.00 from the City in the 1999 approved budget for the Consolidated Grants Program.

All funds are available in the 1999 Operating Budget. An in-year adjustment to the 1999 budget was set up in order to accommodate the Provincial grant of $4.724 million and spending for 1999/2000. A year end liability has been established for the outstanding balance to cover any remaining payments paid out to agencies in 2000 relating to 1999.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) authority be delegated to the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services to allocate up to $350,000.00, available in the City of Toronto Homeless Initiatives Fund, for winter emergencies and emerging priorities;

(2) authority be delegated to the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services to allocate up to $100,000.00, available in the City of Toronto Homeless Initiatives Fund, for projects that address Aboriginal homelessness as described in this report; and

(3) the appropriate City officials be authorized and directed to take necessary action to give effect hereto.

Background:

This report summarizes the activities undertaken through the CT-HIF over the past year. The CT-HIF has combined the City's Homeless Initiatives Fund and the Provincial Homelessness Initiatives Fund into one program with a common application, selection and evaluation process. The CT-HIF has grown considerably over the past year both in the number and geographical distribution of projects. In 1998, the program was limited to the former City of Toronto. With the additional Provincial funding and the City's policy of "levelling-up" grants programs to include all Community Council Districts, the CT-HIF now funds approximately 100 community-based projects across the City.

Funding for the CT-HIF comes from two sources. The City received a 1998/99 allocation from the Province of $1.02 million and a second allocation of $4.724 million in 1999/2000. In addition, the City approved an allocation of $881,100.00 in the 1999 approved budget for the Consolidated Grants Program.

The intent of the CT-HIF is to expand the City's responses to homelessness across the City by funding a range of community-based initiatives that meet one or more of the following "outcome" areas established by the Province as a condition of funding:

(1) moving people from the streets to emergency accommodation;

(2) moving people from emergency to permanent accommodation; and

(3) preventing homelessness by supporting the retention of permanent accommodation.

In addition, priority is given to:

(4) developing strategies which result in longer term solutions to homelessness;

(5) funding projects which create efficiencies elsewhere in the "system";

(6) providing direct services to homeless people or those at risk of homelessness;

(7) including homeless people in projects through employment and in the planning, (8) implementation and evaluation stages; and

(8) including quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods to ensure that the program meets its goals and objectives and that individual projects are effective.

The CT-HIF uses the recommendations of the Mayor's Homeless Action Task Force as a base for establishing priorities for funding and consults with City staff and with community groups that work with homeless people to ascertain the emerging needs in the community. Specific projects are selected through a Proposal Call process.

Types of Funding:

In the first year of the expanded CT-HIF all projects that received funding in 1999 will fall into the following two categories:

- Innovations: One year funding of up to $10,000.00 to develop new ideas, attract other funders, build partnerships with other sectors etc. These are small scale projects that help smaller organizations build on the ideas of their clients, staff or volunteers as a response to homelessness. Flexible and creative ideas are encouraged in such areas as volunteer development, peer initiatives and creative arts.

Eighteen projects will have received $189,155.00 in funding from CT-HIF with 1998/99 and 1999/2000 allocations.

- Pilot and Demonstration Projects: The bulk of project funding from the CT-HIF has been directed to new community projects across the City. Funding will be provided for up to three years for new initiatives that provide services that are currently not available. Projects are evaluated after each year to determine their eligibility for additional funding.

Ninety projects will have received $4,139,743.00 in funding from the CT-HIF with 1998/99 and 1999/2000 allocations.

Over the course of 2000 and 2001, staff will be undertaking a "service review" of the City's continuum of supports to homeless people. Responsibilities and service funding has changed significantly over the past year. As of January 1, 2000, the Province has downloaded to the City two programs which are 100 percent Provincially funded: the Community Partners Program and the Supports to Daily Living Program. These programs provide supports to people who are looking for housing or need supports in order to maintain their housing. In addition, new funding will be provided to hostels through the Hostel Redirection Initiative. CT-HIF projects will be reviewed in relation to these new programs and the need for services to address homelessness across the City. After the service review process is complete, funding programs will be streamlined and CT-HIF projects that demonstrate that they provide essential services and develop long-term solutions to homelessness will be eligible to apply for ongoing funding. These projects could be cost-shared with other levels of government.

In addition to summarizing the activities of the CT-HIF over the past year, this report provides information on the status of projects selected through the Proposal Call process, provides an update on the reporting and evaluation process and service review plan for 2000, and recommends that the balance of funding for 1999/2000 be set aside for winter emergencies and other priorities identified before 2000/2001 funding is received.

Comments:

In October 1998, the Province established the Provincial Homelessness Initiatives Fund and allocated $1.02 million to the City. A Proposal Call was issued in December 1998 and funds were allocated to 25 projects. In April 1999, the Province announced an increase in its allocation to the City. As a result of the increase the City received $4.724 million for 1999/2000. In order to handle the increased volume of projects, two Proposal Calls were issued, one in July and one in November 1999. Because the City received two allocations from the Province between October 1998 and April 1999, a total of three Proposal Calls were issued.

In previous reports to the Committee it was reported that there was some urgency in developing new projects and services for homeless people across the City. For this reason authority was delegated to the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services to allocate funding to projects for RFP 1 and RFP 3.

The status of the projects selected from the three Proposal Calls is as follows:

(1) Request for Proposal (RFP) 1 (January 8, 1999, Deadline):

Twenty-five projects were selected following the December 1998 Proposal Call. These projects have almost completed their first year of operations and have submitted their final project reports that outline project activities for the year. Staff has prepared a report to the Province which summarizes the work done by each project and compiles aggregate services statistics for the projects as a whole. This information has been filed under a separate report. A list of projects is attached as Appendix "A".

(2) RFP 2 (July 16, 1999, Deadline):

Fifty-one projects, selected through the second Proposal Call, were approved by Council at its meeting in September 1999, and have just begun operation. This group of projects includes significant resources directed towards eviction prevention, such as an expanded Rent Bank, which will help chronic hostel users break their cycle of homelessness and secure and maintain permanent accommodation, as well as comprehensive projects which help isolated people living in parks and ravines access shelters. A complete report on these projects and the selection process involved was submitted to the Committee in September. An interim report on these projects which details the work they are undertaking and the impact they are having will be submitted to the Committee in March 1999. A list of projects is attached as Appendix "B".

(3) RFP 3 (November 26, 1999, Deadline):

Thirty-two projects, selected through the third Proposal Call have been approved for funding by the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services. Council delegated authority to allocate funds to projects selected through this Proposal Call to the Commissioner in order to expedite the approvals process and give community agencies the time to hire staff and get projects up and running in the winter months. A list of projects, area of service and a description of the services to be provided is attached as Appendix "C".

Additional Priorities for the Aboriginal Community:

In September, City Council authorized the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services to establish an Aboriginal Steering Committee. Following up on the Mayor's Homelessness Action Task Force Recommendations, the Aboriginal Steering Committee will determine shelter, housing and support needs of the Aboriginal population in the City. It is comprised of representatives from all levels of government and the Aboriginal community.

In addition to the projects funded through RFP 3, it is recommended that $100,000.00 be made available for projects to address Aboriginal homelessness in the City. Project priorities will be determined by the Aboriginal Steering Committee as part of the implementation of an Aboriginal homelessness strategy. Projects will then be selected by staff through a "mini" Proposal Call to be issued in the winter of 2000. Funding will then be allocated to projects by the Commissioner.

The extent and complexity of Aboriginal homelessness was recognized by the Mayor's Homelessness Action Task Force. Although only 1 percent of the general population in Toronto are Aboriginal, they represent approximately 15 percent of the homeless population. The Task Force, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and other studies have recommended that Aboriginal specific strategies are needed to address the issues. The CT-HIF will have funded five projects to support Aboriginal agencies that help people move from the streets to shelters, from shelters to permanent housing, or prevent homelessness. A number of other strategies are still needed including a follow-up to Task Force recommendations to facilitate the development of supportive housing and a clinical detox unit. It is hoped that CT-HIF funds will lever additional funds from other levels of government.

Winter Emergency Fund:

Our experience in developing the expanded CT-HIF indicates that that there are often emergencies or rapidly escalating situations that demand immediate responses. While staff have been careful to develop new programs which will provide a range of responses to some of these issues, it is often the case that some problems are not anticipated. An example of such a problem was the increased number of people sleeping or congregating in City parks over the summer of 1999. Council authorized the Commissioner to allocate up to $150,000.00 to projects to address emerging issues. Six projects were funded.

It is recommended that the balance of the 1999/2000 CT-HIF allocation, approximately $350,000.00 be set aside for winter emergencies and other situations which require an immediate response purpose and that the Commissioner of Community and Neighbourhood Services be delegated authority to allocate these funds. Staff will report back on how the funds were used and plans to develop long-term solutions to these emerging problems.

Plans for the CT-HIF in 2000:

The Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness recommended that the City take a lead in addressing service challenges by adopting a service planning approach to homeless services. This approach will focus on how to co-ordinate services for different population groups across different service sectors. It will help break down existing service silos and enhance service co-ordination by creating opportunities for cross-sectoral collaboration. It will also allow the City and other service providers to better identify gaps, clarify service and funding mandates, enhance prevention initiatives and improve access to services. CT-HIF projects and the range of services they offer will be an intregal part of the service planning process.

As Council approved in September, funding for Homeless Services will be administered in the context of a consolidated CT-HIF. In 2000, the CT-HIF will include the projects described in this report plus 58 projects previously supported through the former Metro Emergency Support Fund now known as the Homeless Support Services Fund (HSSF). Although in 1999 funding for these two programs was allocated in two different streams, staff from Social Development and Administration and Shelter, Housing and Support worked together to co-ordinate allocations and ensure that there was no overlap. In 2000, these two funding streams will be administered together through the CT-HIF.

The HSSF provides a range of funding to community agencies including Drop-in and Outreach services. This consolidated program will fund over 150 community-based projects. These projects provide services that respond to a diverse array of needs among homeless people. Services differ according to such factors as the length of time a person has been homeless, whether they live on the streets or in a shelter, complicating factors such as mental health or substance use issues, as well as age, gender and family type. In addition, an increasing level of support is provided for homelessness prevention.

Ongoing Monitoring and Support:

While there is a significant amount of collaboration and co-ordination that takes place among service providers in the community, there are a number of areas in which improvements can be made. In the context of the CT-HIF, staff will be working with projects in groups or "clusters" according to their service area. Seven "Housing Help" projects have already been meeting monthly to develop common strategies, share resources and information. Staff will be working with other groups of projects to develop a more comprehensive "system" of services across the City.

In addition, there are new programs that will help service providers work more intensively with their clients to develop solutions to their housing problems. For example, the Hostel Redirection Initiative which will allow the City to redirect a portion of the funding they receive from the Province for hostel services to preventative programs will give shelter operators additional resources to help their clients access and maintain more permanent forms of housing. The Province has also downloaded to the City two programs that are 100 percent Provincially funded: the Community Partners Program and the Supports to Daily Living Program. Staff will also be examining the role these programs play in the range of services to homeless people and their relationship to CT-HIF and other City programs.

Reporting and Evaluation:

Early in 2000, we will be engaging the services of Consultants who will help us develop a more comprehensive system of information management and evaluation for the CT-HIF. We will be working with the community groups that operate CT-HIF projects to develop more efficient methods of reporting on their projects so that, in turn, our staff can report to Council on the successes of the projects, the gaps in service that have been identified and as a way to help inform our policy making process. Staff will be using this information to evaluate individual projects as well as the program as a whole.

Conclusions:

1999 has been a year of remarkable change in terms of the new resources that have been available to the City. New funding from the Province for the CT-HIF has enabled us to develop a wide range of needed services across the City and particularly in the suburban Community Council Districts where there have been very limited services available for homeless people or those at risk of homelessness. This additional funding has also enabled us to respond to many of the recommendations in the Mayor's Homelessness Action Task Force report.

In 2000, the focus will shift from building the program to co-ordinating program activities in conjunction with the service planning process, evaluating project outcomes, identifying gaps in service and developing more effective responses to complex homeless problems. Staff will also be working with other funders to develop collaborative funding initiatives which will enable the City to lever its own funding. A recent example of such collaboration is the Toronto Homeless Community Economic Development Program which the City, through the CT-HIF, is jointly funding with the Federal and Provincial Governments and the United Way.

Contact:

Simon Liston,

Agency Review Officer

Shelter Housing and Support Division

Tel: 392-0602/Fax: 392-0548

_________

Appendix "A"

Projects Selected from CT-HIF Request for Proposals No. 1

Appendix "B"

Projects Selected from CT-HIF Proposal Call No. 2

Appendix "C"

Projects Selected Through the CT-HIF Request for Proposals No. 3