Execs, charities plan to end Calgary homelessness

A new committee that includesthe heads ofenergy companies, Calgary's bishop andleaders of non-profitgroups will try toend homelessness in the city in a decade.

The Committee to End Homelessness was launchedat TransAlta's headquarters in Calgary on Tuesday. Its memberspromised to draw up an action plan bynext yearfor ending the city's growingproblem with homelessness.

"The challenge for a lot of people nowin Calgary, of course,is they have a job here, but they can't find a place to live," said Steve Snyder, chief executive officer of TransAlta, and chair of the newcommittee. "We need a find a more effective way to help these people who are struggling to find a place to stay at night."

The24-person committee includes the chief executive officers of Suncor Energy, Canadian Pacific, Imperial Oil, andthe Calgary Flames,as well asthe chair of Calgary's United Way, Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, and the president of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

It alsohas representatives from the City of Calgary, the province, and the federal government.

Snyder said the committee will model their plan on recent U.S. successes to decrease homelessness in that country through the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Dermot Baldwin, the head of the Calgary Drop-In Centre, isn't on the committee,but called the announcement encouraging.

"It's good to have a goal and it's good to set a timeline.I think it's a reasonable one, as opposed to something that's maybe two years or three."

A May count found 3,400 homeless people in Calgary, up 32 per cent from 2004.

Baldwinsaidthe increase in homelessness in Canada can be traced back to government decisions in the 1990s to cut funding for affordable housing, addictions treatment and mental health care.