I<\/p>\n
n 20 years of studying homelessness, Carol Kauppi has observed three disturbing trends: the number of people experiencing homelessness is growing, they\u2019re more visible, and Canadians have become more accepting of the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings have gotten worse,\u201d said Dr. Kauppi, who is director of the Centre for Research in Social Justice and Policy at Laurentian University. Homelessness used to be hidden, with people existing more on the margins of communities, she noted. \u201cNow we see the encampments, people panhandling on the streets and in shopping centres.\u201d Meanwhile, the public \u201cseems to have accepted this as part of our society. How can that be, in a country so affluent?\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting to the root causes of homelessness is \u201cabsolutely urgent,\u201d she said. That\u2019s the focus of On the Move,<\/em>\u00a0a study launched in partnership with York University\u2019s\u00a0Canadian Observatory on Homelessness<\/a>\u00a0(COH). As part of that study, Dr. Kauppi is examining homelessness through the eyes of 60 Indigenous and 60 non-Indigenous people between the ages of 13 and 30 in the northern Ontario cities of Sudbury, Timmins and Cochrane. Information gleaned from these interviews will feed into a larger, nationwide project called Making the Shift, on prevention and providing solutions.<\/p>\n While research on what impact the pandemic has had on the homeless is still emerging, Dr. Kauppi is mostly hearing about housing affordability. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge gap between what people are either able to earn, or what they receive from government benefits,\u201d and the rising cost of living, she said. \u201cPeople simply don\u2019t have enough to make ends meet.\u201d<\/p>\n