“We now have a team in place that will significantly contribute to service improvements and reductions in homelessness,”
A large-scale, collaborative research project will look to improve services for homeless people in the Okanagan.
Researchers at UBC Okanagan, Interior Health, Okanagan College, the Central Okanagan Journey Home Society and various human and health service sectors across the BC Interior, have received federal money to explore ways to better support people experiencing homelessness.
Funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) combined with funds from UBC and the Vancouver Foundation, brings the support total to $218,000.
John Graham is the director of UBC Okanagan's School of Social Work. He is also leading the research project which will bring together scholars and grad students in engineering, medicine, neuroscience, management, nursing, the social sciences and social work. The group is evaluating three priorities.
“The first: improvements in technology—including database management improvements, and phone apps,” said Graham. “These are important in helping to make homelessness strategies more responsive, efficient, and at the same time, increasing the number of people who are able to be off the street.”
The second priority is examining how the homeless experience stigma and how business owners, neighbours, and service users and providers might better understand each others’ viewpoints.
“We are developing and evaluating a number of health and human service improvements. We need better delivery of the specific service needs of those who have experienced traumatic brain injury, versus a major mental disorder, a substance misuse, generalized trauma, each of which often frequently co-occurs.”
In 2018, the City of Kelowna adopted the Journey Home Strategy—a five-year plan to address homelessness with a focus on ensuring everyone has a place to call home. Journey Home’s goal is to ensure a coordinated and easy-to-access system of care for those in the region who have lost, or are at risk of losing, their home.
“We now have a team in place that will significantly contribute to service improvements and reductions in homelessness,”
