NUMBER OF HOMELESS NEARS RECORD NUMBER OF 5000

Homeward Trust latest count of homeless has increased to 4,697 in September which is an increase of almost 2000 since last year. Homeward Trust includes people: staying in shelters, without any shelter, those with provisional accommodation and those who have no stable housing.

Two methods of counting are used to measure homelessness. The first method is the point in time (PIT) count, which is conducted on a single day and the method is the By Name List (BNL), which relies on data from 65 service providers and agencies. Susan McGee, CEO of Homeward Trust, says providing an accurate snapshot of a complex problem like homelessness is extremely difficult, and no method is perfect.

On Monday, NDP housing critic Janis Irwin referenced the Homeward Trust figure of "nearly 5,000" while Jason Nixon, minister for Seniors, Community and Social Services insists the numbers continue to hover around 1,700 to 1,800 people in the city of Edmonton.

Whatever the real numbers are it will be way too many and proof positive that all that has been done to curb homelessness has failed miserably.