From planning to action: Three agencies come together to address rising number of First Nation homelessness in London

By Colin Graf

LONDON— Advocates for First Nations people going through homelessness have a new plan to help deal with some shocking statistics and bring their clients out of the cold.

Numbers gathered and presented by Atlohsa Healing Services show that while First Nations make up 2% of the London, Ont., population, they represent at least 29% of those without homes, says Andrea Jibb, Atlohsa’s Director of Community Planning.

The Giwetashkad Indigenous Homelessness Plan calls for new programs and approaches designed by and targeted specifically toward First Nations homeless people in London, says Jibb, including the creation of an “Indigenous Housing Hub” with emergency resting space beds, and a culture-based outreach program, as described in the text of the new plan. The programs should employ, and be led by, First Nations people, the document says.

The realization that in spite of London’s city administration having a “pretty robust” homeless plan, First Nations homelessness is continuing to increase there. This increase has prompted three agencies working with urban First Nations people, Atlohsa, Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre (SOAHAC), and the N’Amerind Friendship Centre, to get together about four years ago to figure out why the increase was happening and how to approach the problem, Jibb explains.

In developing the plan, organizers spoke with 78 clients, finding many who wanted help in various ways, including strengthening strained family ties. Many described a need for services to support family reconciliation, healing, and integration while a person is settling into a new home through mentorship and connection, according to the plan.

Many individuals want to see one-on-one assistance from Indigenous workers who could “take you around and help you do whatever,” in particular by helping to facilitate apartment viewings, acting as a referral, assisting with interpreting and completing forms, or even intervening prior to evictions, enabling individuals to maintain housing stability, the plan’s writers relate. The desire for Indigenous outreach to combat loneliness and prevent isolation amongst those experiencing homelessness was also voiced.

During the client consultations, it became clear that “for Indigenous people, being homeless is not just being without a dwelling, it’s about being displaced from land through the processes of colonization,” according to Jibb. In developing their plan, the advocates heard from Knowledge-Keepers from the nearby Chippewas of the Thames First Nation (COTTFN), who “could draw a direct line between the history of colonization and homelessness in London today,” Jibb says.

They told organizers when First Nations children were sent to the Mount Elgin residential school formerly located on COTTFN territory in decades past, they could often finish school in their teen years without a home to return to. Those were days when the land was “being parcelled out” to families and the process did not take into account children who were away at school, Jibb relates.

“That was a story that was shared with us about how people were literally displaced from their communities by going to residential school.”

Given this unique history, Jibb says one goal of the new plan is to create an Indigenous-led support network made of service managers and clinical leadership from the various agencies in London working with homeless First Nations people to learn more about their clients.

“What we heard a lot is that service providers were not well-educated on who we are as Indigenous people,” she adds.

The community engagement also showed that being able to engage in cultural practices such as smudging was extremely important to First Nations homeless in London. Cultural supports are important to help them build mental health and plan for a future life in proper housing, Jibb says.

“If we understand homelessness as the product of colonization, if we understand the land is the source of how to live a good life, we can remind people of who they are as Indigenous people,” she explains. “Through reconnection to cultural practices, it’s our hope they will make decisions for themselves coming from a place of wellness.”

The Atlohsa plan also calls on governments to make changes, beginning with a push for the creation of “formal relationships” between First Nations in the London area and City Hall. Jibb says that should help build understanding about the needs of urban First Nations people in the city. Civic employees do not always understand their situation, according to Jibb. She has heard workers give the opinion that someone who is homeless should be able to go back to their First Nation, not realizing that the city is where many, such as young people coming for education or work experience, need to be. If their financial situation changes, they cannot always return home as housing opportunities on reserve “are quite limited,” she describes.

Jibb also wants to see the federal government name London as a “designated Indigenous community,” a change that will free up more money for First Nations’ services. Even though London has the sixth-largest urban First Nations population in Ontario, smaller communities such as St. Catherine’s have been granted the designation that has so far escaped London.

Jibb and her partners are about to move from planning to action thanks to a $370,000 grant from the London Community Foundation. The biggest steps she hopes to take soon will be to bring agency workers and political representatives together to create her inter-agency action group, led by First Nations workers.

At present, Atlohsa has close to 30 staff working on the homeless situation, Jibb says, including those running their resting space emergency shelter. The resting space had to change its operation in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and was moved to a local motel in April with nine separate rooms available. Since the shelter opened in Apr. 2019, 285 people have stayed there.

Finding stable housing for the homeless is “the question every single service provider is asking in London,” but Jibb says with a low vacancy rate and rents climbing, that goal is beyond Atlohsa’s reach right now.

“We’re a service provider, not a builder,” she states. “[But the agency] will investigate all the opportunities we can.”

She points to three First Nations housing co-ops in London as good models for the future.

“There are so many people in the community who are willing to do that work, to come together to make things happen so there can be affordable housing for Indigenous people in London. We need land; that’s ultimately what the plan comes down to. If Indigenous homelessness is the result of colonization, which is displacement from land, then arguably, the solution to it is to provide that land.”