Mayor says Fort McMurray's rural homeless need to be counted

Although the long-term trend suggests homelessness in Fort McMurray is on the decline, the region's recent surveydid not include the region'srural communities.

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo released its point-in-time homeless count in July.Funded by the federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy, the count was conducted in Fort McMurray in April 2018.

But Wood BuffaloMayor Don Scott said the count doesn't give a complete picture.

"There's definitely work that needs to be done," Scott said. "My understanding is that there has never been a rural homeless count in our region ever. This is the council that is taking action on that."

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In March,council voted to conduct a rural count and the municipalitydedicated $15,000 toward the program.

'It is incomplete'

The Wood Buffalo Housing Corporation said it and other organizations need an accurate count ofrural areas to better understand what the housing needs are.

"I don't think the numbers are complete unless we count the rural communities," said HenryHunter, the corporation's CEO. "It's the Wood Buffalo region so without the rural community count, it is incomplete."

The Centre for Hope is a Fort McMurraydrop-in centre forhomeless, whichoffers a range of services. Its executive director,Amanda Holloway, said the non-profit sector and the municipality needto know if they shoulddecentralize outreach programs.

"For information purposes, absolutely, it would definitely be good information for us," Holloway said. "Considering that now our services are focused on the urban centre."

Scott saidthe municipality can use the data from a rural homeless count to lobby the government for more dollars.

"I am going to demand the other levels of government take action," Scott said, pointing out housing is a federal and provincial responsibility.

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While thelatest numbers focused on Fort McMurray, the data showedthehomeless population has decreased from a high of549 in 2008 down to 200 this year.

Although numbers were lower in 2016than 2018, the municipality says 2016was an anomaly with the wildfire evacuation driving residents and theregion'shomeless out of the city.

Connect with David Thurton, CBC'sFort McMurraycorrespondent, onFacebook,Twitter,LinkedInor email him atdavid.thurton@cbc.ca