Collaborate with service delivery agencies to ensure that Indigenous residents in nonmarket housing have access to culturally appropriate programming and spaces.

Barrier: Issues with utility of funding

First Light has identified a number of barriers to ensuring that Indigenous individuals have adequate housing.

First, many funding sources have restrictive policies on how funding may be used. This can place strain on an organization’s ability to support Indigenous individuals in need. Providing holistic support to Indigenous people ensures the recipient has both the direct source of support (e.g. physical shelter) and the cultural and social supports that will enable them to benefit fully from the direct support. For example, an Indigenous person in crisis who needs housing may not be able to benefit from the availability of shelter without supports for their mental, physical, cultural, and spiritual wellbeing. Restrictive limitations on how funding may be spent can prevent an organization from providing holistic care, which can render the funding inefficient or ineffective.

Second, reporting structures often value quantitative measures of services provided over qualitative outcomes. This approach can be at odds with the relational and reciprocal ways of knowledge sharing that are more common among Indigenous cultures. Quantitative data do not necessarily represent the true benefits of services and may be cumbersome to collect and report. Allowing for qualitative and storytelling approaches to reporting would be more representative of the effects of funding on Indigenous recipients.

Third, times for funding support can be slow, which can create downstream problems and amplify the need for funding and service provision. For example, if a person is applying for support for their cost of housing and the application processing takes too long, they may lose their existing housing in the interim. 

First Light: Opening transitional housing space

First Light is scheduled to open a transitional housing space for Fall 2024. This project includes 10 accessible, affordable one-bedroom units and a vibrant communal space. Residents will have access to on-site support services and cultural programming to help them on their path to self-sufficiency.

End Homelessness St. John’s: Added Indigenous Housing Navigator position

End Homelessness St. John’s hired an Indigenous Housing Navigator in partnership with First Light which will help to advance this Call for Change.

City of St. John’s & First Light: Knowledge shared during Indigenize Downtown Community Feast

The City of St. John’s, in close partnership with First Light, hosted the Indigenize Downtown Community Feast on March 21, 2024 to gather perspectives of the urban Indigenous Community in St. John’s on the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan. The purpose of the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan is to create a land-use plan to guide future development of the downtown core, define opportunities for growth, protect and enhance cultural and historic assets, and identify opportunities for economic development and community connections. Conversations included discussion of the need for affordable and supportive housing in the downtown area, which has helped improve City Councillors’ understanding of the needs of Indigenous people with housing downtown. Safety and inadequate policing were also identified as related challenges.

For agencies providing funding to address housing and homelessness:

• Work towards decolonizing reporting processes, which includes a reduced focus on quantitative data and flexibility in reporting the effectiveness of programming.
• Allow greater flexibility for funding recipients on budget allocations, to ensure the availability of holistic services and resources for Indigenous people.
• Coordinate more closely with service delivery agencies to ensure that funding targets the root causes of homelessness.