'Housing first' advocate wants policy brought to Yukon

A specialist in the 'housing first' movement says it costs more to pay for homelessness than it does to give a home to someone living on the street.

Wally Czech works with the City of Lethbridge, Alta., and he spoke at the Northern Housing Conference in Whitehorse Tuesday.

"Homeless people are human beings... people who are homeless are not social inadequates. They are just people without homes," he said.

Czech says that's the essence of the 'housing first' approach: it sees the people, not their circumstance.

He says once that principle is endorsed, everything else - health, freedom from addictions, employment, and education - can follow.

"It is a basic human right to have a roof over your head... so housing first says we need to get them into housing and then we provide those supports."

Czech says with the housing first policy, the number of homeless people in Lethbridge has plunged from 72 to five.

He points to a Calgary study, which shows a homeless person costs about $134,000 annually in public money, while it costs just $36,000 to maintain that same person in housing.

Czech says it's critical that tenants in a housing first program have a solid support person to help them with daily struggles.