On Thursday, June 28th, 2018, Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF) hosted our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and released our 2018 Report on Progress and our Management’s Discussion & Analysis and Financial Statements.
Diana Krecsy, CHF President and CEO and Luana Comin-Sartor, CHF Board Chair, spoke to homeless-serving sector representatives, members of the public, and individuals with lived experience of homelessness. Celebrating the successes of CHF, Krecsy and Comin-Sartor also congratulated the successes of all of the agencies working in Calgary’s Homeless-Serving Sector. Since 2008, Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care, and the individuals who are committed to our shared vision of ending homelessness, have housed over 9,300 individuals and added over 558 permanent supportive housing units to the sector – while maintaining a client/resident housing stability rate of 91%. Overall, Calgary is still on track to house 10,000 individuals by the end of December 2018.
CHF’s 2018 Report on Progress highlights Fiscal Year 2017/2018 and outlines key achievements, strategic directions, treasurer’s report and statement of operations, along with a special thank you to our valued donors and sponsors who empower us to end the experience of homelessness for many. It looks back over the past two decades to celebrate the many achievements that have been made, and it turns an eye to the future of the homeless-serving sector in our city to better focus our collective efforts towards helping more people find their way home.
Over the past fiscal year, CHF focused on:
- Systems Integration: Continuing to foster community service networks, collaborations and partnerships; influence and advance local mainstream systems integration with Alberta Seniors and Housing, Community & Social Supports and Health Services.
- 3 Things: Galvanize broad stakeholder investment and action in support of community priorities for December 2018: People First in Housing First; increasing permanent supportive housing; and maintaining a high-performing system of care.
- Internal Operations: Continue to develop and refine CHF’s internal operations and capacities to uphold the delivery of our 5 Year Strategic Blueprint and enhance CHF’s proficiency as the system planner in service to community.
Highlights from CHF’s Fiscal 2017/2018 year include:
- 820 residents were placed in housing, bringing the community total to 9,301.
- Providing 2,092 housing spaces with support. 1,595 were singles, 332 families and 165 youth.
- Providing funding for 57 programs in 23 agencies within Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care.
- The opening of Prelude and Murray’s House, CHF’s fourth and fifth purpose built affordable housing building through the RESOLVE Campaign. Two more new buildings, the Maple and The Clayton broke ground.
- Training 1,121 front-line staff to increase skill levels in the Homeless-Serving Sector.
- Maximized client and fiscal impact through research, evidence and analysis of Calgary-specific data and the recalibration of the allocation and distribution of program funding for singles.
- Bringing 110 community programs online utilizing the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS).
- Hosted our first annual Trail Blazer Breakfast, a unique opportunity for Calgary’s leaders, innovators, risk-takers and change makers to connect and support us in our goal of ending homelessness in our city.
Our Report on Progress also outlines our next steps and strategic directions for the upcoming year. These are:
- Generate and present Calgary’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness: Summative Report to stakeholders by December 2018 and position Calgary for future work of Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care. (CHSSC)
- Secure and grow financial investment in CHSSC aligned to the need and to optimize client outcomes.
- Continue to listen, learn, build upon and honor Indigenous wisdom in all that we do.
- Continue internal capacity building including modernization and leveraging of technology infrastructure and professional development of people in service of community.
Another very important part of CHF’s strategy for Fiscal 2018/2019 is to continue to work with the Indigenous community in Calgary and surrounding areas. We know that a high percentage of individuals experiencing homeless in Calgary identify as Indigenous, and we are focused on funding programs and services to best serve their needs, as well as working hard with Indigenous members of our community to best recognize how to honor their wisdom and worldview within all of the work that we do. This is crucial in our efforts to end homelessness in our city.
As a participating agency in the I Heart Home community initiative, we work hard to ensure the success of Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care. Through Systems Level Leadership and mobilization of collective impact CHF is a catalyst of transformation for Systems and Service Agencies to optimize client success. We address gaps and identify best practices to continually enhance Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care.
We look forward to the year ahead and to reporting on the cumulative results of our collective efforts over the past decade – and seeing how that shapes our future post 2018. Together, we have done so much, and on December 13 of this year, we will hold a community celebration to look back on our ten year journey and share what the future holds.
