From shelter to market housing: Ben’s Story
By: Jasmine Salazar
“I didn’t have any friends that were in a position to help me and give me shelter, and neither were my parents, so I went to the streets,”
Ben did what lots of young people do with their hard-earned money: spend it.
He liked hanging out with his friends and going out on the weekends. He had a steady job, working at a moving company, and he had his own apartment.
Unfortunately, some bad decision-making and reckless spending habits led him into a path of homelessness.
“It was a series of making poor choices for a long period of time. I was bad at money management,” said Ben. “It took me a long time to get out of that.”
As a result of those choices, Ben experienced homelessness off and on over the course of three years, sleeping in temporary overnight shelters between Edmonton and Calgary.
Ben’s struggle with money management and budgeting is not unheard of, especially among young people. Most people have experienced a time in their life where they have spent their money on a new car or clothes instead of saving it. According to a 2019 survey from Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, 51 per cent of Canadians reported that they do not have a budget. The same study reported that 1 in 6 Canadians say their monthly spending exceeds their income.
What’s more, not everyone has access to financial advice or education that could help them better manage their day-to-day finances and bill payments. This can result in tragic consequences if not properly managed, as in the case with Ben.
Some people may be fortunate to go to parents or friends for help should things get bad financially. But this is not always possible especially if the parents or friends are not financially stable themselves. 53 per cent of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque (BDO Canada Affordability Index 2019) and are unable to save for unexpected emergencies, let alone lend it out to others.
“I didn’t have any friends that were in a position to help me and give me shelter, and neither were my parents, so I went to the streets,” said Ben.
Ben left Edmonton for a bit to try out Calgary where he managed to land a seasonal job.
He was living with an ex-girlfriend at her parent’s home and the income from his seasonal job went to paying their rent, bills and groceries.
“Now, I’m broke. We break up, and I’m back at square one,” revealed Ben.
Ben returned to Edmonton. He managed to find some work but admitted that it was difficult to maintain it.
“There are a lot of x-factors that cause road bumps for you that people don’t typically consider like taking a shower, having a new set of clothes to wear or reliable transportation,” he said.
Without access to these things, maintaining a job, letting alone finding a job, is just another added obstacle to the existing challenges of living on the streets.
“When you’re on the streets, your time is spent on trying to survive,” he said. “Most of my days were spent lining up for food or shelter.”
The difference: The path out of homelessness
The onset of COVID-19 resulted in a centralization of essential services for people experiencing homelessness at Tipinawâw, a 24/7 accommodation space in the Edmonton Convention Centre (ECC) that opened in late October 2020.
While at Tipinawâw, Ben decided to check out the on-site housing services. Community members are fully supported on their path toward stable housing through the assistance of the city’s Housing First partners. Staff collect personal information, current living situation, how long they’ve been without a stable home, their short-term and long-term needs and other relevant details. This information is entered into a By Name List, which is a list, by name, of everyone in Edmonton who is experiencing homelessness and sought out housing services.
The premise of Housing First is simple: it provides immediate access to housing with no preconditions and then connects people with the supports they need to stabilize and retain their housing.
Prior to that, Ben hadn’t considered connecting with housing services because he didn’t think he would be eligible.
“I never even thought to reach out. I thought you needed to meet a certain amount of criteria to even qualify for it and I didn’t think I could qualify for housing assistance,” he revealed. “[ I considered myself] low-priority because I’m young and can still work. My own morals caused me to not reach out for housing help for a long time.”
Even after that initial connection, Ben didn’t think much would come out of it.
“I didn’t put a lot of eggs in the housing basket. I figured it would be two years until I got housed,” said Ben.
Then, in early December 2020, Ben caught COVID and was sent to a hotel where he could safely isolate. In addition to the temporary overnight shelter space, Edmonton’s homeless-serving sector has been operating isolation spaces for people experiencing homelessness with COVID-like symptoms. When he was in isolation, the head nurse connected him to Jake, one of Homeward Trust’s Housing Outreach Workers (HOW), to continue the process he began with housing services at Tipinawâw.
“I really appreciate[d] what Jake did and Homeward Trust.”
Jake frequently checked in with Ben and provided him with updates on the housing search, describes Ben. Then one day, Jake informed Ben of a vacancy for a one-bedroom apartment in market housing.
“I looked at the pictures and told him that I wanted it,” said Ben.
Just before getting released from isolation, Ben learned that he had been approved for the apartment and on Dec. 21, 2020, he moved in.
“Everything that I have been trying to do has become 80% easier, because I have my own place,” he said. “I thought this was going to be me in three years from now.”
“I really appreciate[d] what Jake did and Homeward Trust.”
Housing First operates as a client-centered, individualized program to focus on what success looks like for each person, because needs differ. Housing First providers work with individuals to determine what they want, what is holding them back from housing and what they need to be successful.
Once housed, participants like Ben are assigned a Follow-up Support Worker (FSW) who works with them in maintaining their housing. Ben receives weekly home visits and monthly rental assistance until he can increase his income.
Ben confessed that he felt scared about getting a home, because he feared that he would lose it again without securing a job first. The difference this time is that he’s supported through Housing First
“They don’t just give you an apartment and then say ‘see ya!,’” he said. “There’s so much extra beyond just housing. They’re very involved.
“Homeward Trust has alleviated [my worry] and has set me up for a long time where if I can’t succeed with what Homeward Trust has given me then the problem lies with me.”
Now that Ben is housed, he has big ambitions. He hopes to start his own moving company and plans to enroll in some business classes to make that dream a reality. He’s also been actively pursuing his hobbies—making music and drawing—which he said he wasn’t able to do when he was experiencing homelessness.
Ben added that none of this could have happened if he hadn’t been housed.
“Housing takes care of everything—mentally and physically. If you don’t have a safe place to call home, then how can you improve? [Housing] needs to be the first thing,” he said. “It’s way too hard to do anything else if you don’t have a home.”
Ben is one of 13,197 people to have been housed through Edmonton’s Housing First program since 2009 (Edmonton BNL, October 2021).
