The City of Grande Prairie’s five-year plan to end homelessness is in full swing and officials want to share the results. A session will be held on July 5th to present some of the information gathered from year four of the project.
Research and Evaluation Analyst Forrest McGregor says the event will give people a chance to learn about homelessness from a number of different perspectives.
“[They can] get information from real people from mingling and talking to staff from different organizations, meeting some people who may have experienced homelessness before and just expanding what you know about it.”
The Five Year Plan to End Homelessness was approved in 2015. It included building more affordable and supportive housing and setting up a rent bank that can provide low-interest loans to people at risk of becoming homeless.
This event is held annually by the Community Advisory Board on Housing and Homelessness to go over what progress has been made since the beginning and what could be improved on.
While McGregor wasn’t willing to go into details on the specific findings until the 5th, she says the report looks at a number of things including youth and Indigenous homelessness.
“[We] look at how funding has been used locally to take people out of homelessness and put them into housing in the community. We look at [the] number of people who made that transition and then also look at [the] number of people who have been successful in the program.”
The free event will take place at Teresa Sargent Hall from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with a barbeque set for noon.
