Homelessness has reached “outbreak” status in Guelph, Wellington County and beyond, believes Jeff Wilson, who’s involved in an emerging effort to identify the root causes and tackle them head-on.
“We're planning to use outbreak response methodology to manage the outbreak of homelessness,” said Wilson, who has doctorates in pathology and epidemiology. “This is perfect for the outbreak response.”
Wilson is president of Puslinch-based for-profit social enterprise Novometrix, which has established a leadership team to look into the causes from a community level. That team includes social workers, epidemiologists, Downtown Guelph business representatives and people working directly with the unhoused.
One or two unhoused individuals will also be included on the leadership team.
The epidemiological approach has a proven track record of success, said Wilson, pointing to Novometrix’s involvement in addressing the issues of honey bee and pollinator sustainability, as well as sustainability of the global poultry industry, and outbreak management including the Walkerton E. coli crisis in 2000.
The goal is to identify exactly what’s contributing to the growing situation, come up with potential solutions, figure out the best implementation for each, put the solutions into action at every possible opportunity, then assess success and adjust.
The situation involves layers upon layers of issues, Wilson said, noting they stretch beyond the lack of adequate funding for social programs, mental health and addictions services and access to affordable housing.
Additional factors to be considered, he noted, include life experience traumas, the impacts of inflation and service levels available in nearby communities, which may be attracting unhoused individuals to Guelph.
“We need changes in how we govern and manage ourselves,” Wilson said. “We inherited systems that might have worked OK 20 years ago but they don’t work in this kind of environment.”
Establishing the leadership team was the first step in the process.
Next up is to gather real-life details about what’s led to the outbreak, identify gaps in knowledge and begin working on actions aimed at addressing those root causes.
Then, Wilson explained, it will be up to local, provincial and federal politicians to advocate for changes at their respective government levels, with others involved left to implement any additional interventions they can.
“This is kind of outside the box. What we’re doing inside the box, although a lot of people are working hard at it, just does not seem to be working,” said Barb Minett, co-founder of The Bookshelf, which has offered some office space for the initiative.
“I think it’s time for the general public to get involved and not just leave it to … politicians and government,” she continued. “I know many people in Guelph are just walking around with a black cloud over our heads when we experience or think of what is happening to members in this community. It’s something that was almost unimaginable five years ago.”
Community involvement is key, said Wilson.
“We wanted to show that you could bring an entire community together as a network to solve wicked problems,” said Wilson, noting Novometrix generates revenue through government and corporate grants and sponsorships while conducting research and analysis on issues of social importance.
“It's not about Novometrix running this, owning it, it's not about us repeating things that are being done. Our role is really to see the big picture and then help people knit it together and get skills that they don't necessarily talk about.”
