REPORT CARD ON HOMELESSNESS FOR NELSON, BC

Each year the Nelson Committee on Homelessness releases an Annual Report Card on Homelessness in Nelson BC. The Report Card helps the community have a better understanding of who is homeless in the Kootenays, the causes, and what work is being done in our community to address this issue.

The Report Card collects a variety of data, including housing indicators like vacancy rates, rental rates and how government income assistance and other programs are meeting the needs. By tracking trends and making them available to the community and other stakeholders, the report supports decision making to address homelessness.

The Report Card also features voices and stories of people who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness and shares information on the incredible community partnerships and work being done to address poverty and homelessness in Nelson.

Nelson continues to have high numbers of people experiencing homelessness and poverty. The 14^th Annual Report Card on Homelessness for Nelson provides data illustrating the issues and proposes solutions. The results from the 2022 Point-in-Time (PiT) Service Enumeration and PiT Surveys are included, with data from Nelson’s new Coordinated Access/By-Name List service. You can download the report here for printing as legal-size booklet, or here in a single page letter-size format.

NELSON COMMITTEE ON HOMELESSNESS

Homelessness affects the whole community. Homelessness doesn’t have just one cause, or a simple solution- and is too large for any one organization to address on its own.

In 2001 Nelson CARES Society helped start the Nelson Committee on Homelessness (NCOH) to bring together the various organizations seeking solutions. We believe through communication and collaboration among various government, business and service organizations we can make a difference.

Meeting once a month, NCOH shares information about developing issues in affordable housing and homelessness affecting Nelson. The group shares best practices, discusses plans and strategies, supports plans and initiatives of its participants and collaborates to sponsor new initiatives – its own or of participating groups. NCOH also researches issues to help all stakeholder agencies make better and more effective decisions.

Working with other agencies, NCOH has successfully supported the creation of several community programs. The Nelson Food Cupboard, Stepping Stones Emergency Shelter, Ward Street Place, Our Daily Bread, Adult Support Recovery Beds, Street Outreach, Transitional Support Worker and Nelson’s first Homelessness Point-in-Time Count are all examples of initiatives that stem from the NCOH table.

Read NCOH’s Terms of Reference HERE.

NCOH’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) and projects are funded in part by the
Government of Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.
“The opinions and interpretations expressed are those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Canada.”
NCOH projects are administered through Nelson CARES, as decided by the CAB.

NCOH acknowledges our respect for, and deep gratitude to, all the ancestors and keepers of the land on whose traditional territories we are honoured to live and work.