Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF) supports the federal government’s development of a Canadian Poverty Reduction Strategy. We eagerly anticipate a Strategy that reflects the need to ensure all Canadians, especially those most vulnerable, have access to the supports and services that will improve their economic well-being.

While poverty is not always about homelessness, homelessness is always about poverty. Calgary remains the epicentre of homelessness in Alberta, with 3,222 individuals enumerated in the 2016 province-wide Point-in-Time Count of Homelessness held in October. Calgary represents 60% of the provincial homeless population, but just 29% of the province’s total population. As a community, Calgary’s Plan to End Homelessness (2015), identifies 15,600 Calgarian households in extreme core housing need. These households spend over 50% of their income on shelter and have incomes less than $20,000 per year, placing them at high risk of homelessness.

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