Saskatoon coalition hopes to house 150 homeless people by 2019

A coalition of Saskatoon homelessness organizations has set a target of, among other goals,housing 150 chronically and episodically homeless people by 2019.

"It's about homelessness being rare, brief and that it doesn't reoccur," said Saskatoon Housing Initiatives Partnershipexecutive director ShaunDyck."So, the word 'rare' speaks back to preventionand keeping people housed."

The Housing Initiatives Partnership, the United Way and a host of other groups have drafted Saskatoon's Homelessness Action Plan, a four-pillar approach to house more of the city's chronically homeless.

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"Homelessness has been rising in Saskatoon," saidDyck. "Between 2008 and 2015, it effectively doubled.While the process of doing a point-in-time count has improvedand we're finding more people, we do know that it is rising."

The plan aims to better co-ordinate between homelessness agencies, expand housing placement programs, prevent homelessness before it occurs and add more affordable housing to the market.It also seeks to decrease the number of people who need emergency shelter in the city.