Edmonton’s faith leaders pledge to end homelessness
EDMONTON, AB - From Anglican to Zoroastrian, the leaders of 23 faith communities have publicly committed, on behalf of the people they serve, to end homelessness in Edmonton by 2018.
"I can't think of a faith where looking out for your neighbour isn't a basic precept," says Jay Freeman, executive director of the City of Edmonton's homeless commission. "And when we start to look at various ways to attract volunteers, people of faith probably have the most sticking power. They're not going to give up on this easily."
Last month, the leaders gathered in a public ceremony to sign a "call to action" pledging their support for Edmonton's 10-year plan to end homelessness. "I'm not aware of other communities where so many diverse faith groups have come together," Freeman says.
"That was amazing," says Bob Gal, president of the Edmonton Evangelical Ministerial Association. "I sat between a Jew and a Buddhist and felt very comfortable."
In particular, they signed on to a new program called Welcome Home. Its mandate is to connect formerly homeless persons and families now living in transitional housing with new neighbours who will make friends with them and help them get settled.
"It's not to replace the social service support network," says Bob McKeon, associate director of the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton's Office for Social Justice. "But simply being supported by paid workers is very different than having friends, having mentors, being grounded in the neighbourhood that one's becoming part of."
It also helps make sure the newly housed do not give in to loneliness, which Freeman says is the number one reason some end up back where they came from. "When they get in trouble," he says, "is when often out of loneliness, they invite their former friends and acquaintances back to their place and things spiral out of control."
The program is expected to get underway in a couple of months. To encourage people of faith to participate will be the task of so-called "endorsers."
"We're going to ask individual congregations, service agencies, church or faith men's groups, women's groups, all the different ways our faith communities are organized, to become endorsers," McKeon says. "Already hundreds have signed up for that."
Gal says many of the city's 150 evangelical churches seem eager to be part of Welcome Home, despite some skeptics who contend "it's impossible to end homelessness, because the word will get out, 'Go to Edmonton. They'll find you a place to live.'"
"When I speak to churches and individuals," Gal adds, "I'll say, 'Our Master, Jesus Christ, was homeless for three years. So when we help someone homeless, how much closer can you get to actually reaching out to Christ?' I can't say everyone agrees with me, but no one will challenge that."
Freeman believes the program's success will depend in part on whether or not the faith community is willing to shift from just putting a "Bandaid" on the problem to actively striving to eliminate homelessness.
"Faith communities - and I'm not taking anything away from them - have done yeoman service in terms of supporting shelters, opening up church basements, providing meals, etc. But unfortunately, all of that is doing nothing to end homelessness," he says.
"So it's partly getting the faith community to say, 'We're going to be part of the solution.' I'm confident that they will. Frankly, they're chomping at the bit here to move forward with this program."
Two years into its 10-year plan to end homelessness, Edmonton has succeeded in housing more than 1,300 homeless people. And yet a survey it conducted last fall found approximately 2,400 still had no home.
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