RELEVANT
FOCUSED
READY

Communicating Potential Hazards to Homeless Populations
Mark Haynes

Introduction

Arguably, among the most vulnerable in our communities are those who are
chronically homeless. Failure to develop effective plans to communicate
potential hazards and to provide emergency aid to this vulnerable
population could result in preventable casualties. It has been identified that
during the 2002-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in
Toronto, there were a number of communication shortfalls with regards to
information getting to homeless populations and the homeless service
providers (Leung, Ho, Kiss, Gundlapalli, & Hwang, 2008).

Background

In Canadian local (municipal or regional) emergency plans, the emergency
managers are responsible for communication to the public about potential
threats and hazards. For example the British Colombia Local Authority
Emergency Management Regulation includes the “impact on people and
property” but does not distinguish between groups or specific categories of
people (Local Authority Emergency Management Regulation, B.C. Reg.
380/95 s. 2(1)(b)). Significant research has been undertaken in the United
States on communication with homeless communities in the event of a
disaster or emergency to ensure that this segment of the population is
reached. Very little research or information is available from Canadian
studies or resources. Therefore, this research paper endeavours to address,
from a Canadian perspective, the following questions: In what ways do
emergency managers and homeless service providers (HSPs) communicate
in order to ensure that information relating to potential hazards and threats
are passed to homeless populations? What formal processes are currently in
place to communicate information to homeless communities and how is
that done?

Methods

A literary review was completed using journals, academic papers,
government publications and reports. Questionnaires were sent to both
Canadian emergency managers and Canadian HSPs (N=30). The information
obtained from the completed questionnaires was compared to that
obtained in the literary review to see if there are any common themes
between Canada and the United States.

Results/Findings

After conducting research on communication between emergency
managers, HSPs and homeless populations, three themes have become
apparent. First, emergency management organizations rely heavily on HSPs
to communicate emergency information to homeless communities in the
United States (US). Secondly, HSPs in the US do not have the expertise to
develop business continuity plans or provide training to staff to help
homeless communities to become more resilient. Thirdly, a common
question is being asked: Who is responsible for communication with
homeless and other vulnerable communities? In the US advice and guidance
is given to emergency managers but there does not appear to be any
consistency in how it is applied. The data from Canadian emergency
managers (n=5) show that 80% of municipal emergency plans do not have
communications plans with homeless populations included; 80% do not
provide assistance to HSPs to develop business continuity plans (BCPs); and,
40% do not have contingencies in the event that the HSP is unable to
operate. The data received from the HSPs also indicates that 25% of HSPs do
not have a BCP; 25% do not receive any threat or hazard information; and,
25% of HSPs do not participate in municipal emergency planning.
Comparing the new data with the literary review it is evident that Canada
and the US have the same three themes. Sundareswaran, Ghazzawi and
O'Sullivan (2015) conducted a Canadian study, acknowledged that
emergency managers usually communicate with the homeless service
providers, but suggested that communication needs to be strengthened
(Sundareswaran et al., 2015, p. 3). This is supported by the questionnaires
where 20% of emergency managers are unaware of their responsibility to
communicate with homeless populations and 25% of HSPs do not receive
information about hazards or threats.

Gary Blassi. 2 December 2014. (26 year old woman who lives on skid row trying to
keep dry). Retrieved from https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-1123blasi-homeless-emergency-declaration-20151123-story.html

Bachelor of Emergency and Security Management Studies

Discussion

The same themes from the literary review became apparent in the data
obtained from the questionnaires. In Canada, emergency management
organizations (80%) rely heavily on homeless service providers to
communicate information to homeless populations. With regards to training
and assistance, 25% of service providers do not have a business continuity
plan and 80% of emergency managers do not have programs in place to
assist the HSPs with completing BCPs and 40% do not have contingency
plans for when the HSPs stop operations. The additional resources needed
to address this vulnerable population in the event of an emergency would
likely be far greater than the cost of assisting the service providers to
continue operations by developing a BCP. However, it would appear that
80% of emergency planners (n=4) are not even aware of the scale of
homeless populations in their community. In both the United States and
Canada, there does not appear to be any organization who is legally
responsible for communication with homeless populations in the event of an
emergency. In the United States three federal departments do supply
guidance to emergency planners in how to make their plans inclusive of
homeless populations. A review of a number of Canadian emergency plans
shows that the planners use the words “the public”. As there are no
exclusions, one can infer that municipal emergency managers are accepting
responsibility, on behalf of the city or region, for communicating emergency
information and warnings to the public, whether they live in homes or tents
or cardboard boxes. From the data collected in the questionnaire, 20% of
municipal emergency management teams (n=1) only inform the homeless
service providers of the emergency information and not homeless
populations themselves. Does this mean they have met their responsibility
and their legal obligation under provincial legislative framework and,
sometimes, municipal by-laws?

Conclusions

The information obtained from the literary review was compared with the
new information received from Canadian emergency planners and service
providers via a questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire reveal that,
similar to the United States, there are three consistent themes that
emerged. First, emergency planners rely very heavily on service providers to
communicate with homeless communities in the event of a disaster. While
the cities fund service providers, more can be done by the cities to mitigate
the risk that service providers can’t continue operations. Secondly, service
providers need training and assistance in developing business continuity
plans. In return, they can help the city to prepare for the possibility that
service providers need to close in the event of an emergency. Thirdly,
homeless populations are part of the community and communication with
them, either directly or via the service providers, is required to ensure their
safety in the event of an emergency. Further research into best practices in
Canada could be conducted with a view to developing a guidance document
for Canadian emergency planners. This could provide an opportunity for
consistency and inclusive planning from coast to coast to coast.

References

Leung, C., Ho, M., Kiss, A., Gundlapalli, A., & Hwang, S. (2008). Homelessness
and the response to emerging infectious disease outbreaks: Lessons from
SARS. Journal of Urban Health, 85(3), 402-410. doi:10.1007/s11524-0089270-2
Local Authority Emergency Management Regulation. B.C. Reg. 380/95
Sundareswaran, M., Ghazzawi, A., & O'Sullivan, T. L. (2015). Upstream
disaster management to support people experiencing homelessness. PLoS
Currents. doi:10.1371/currents.dis.95f6b76789ce910bae08b6dc1f252c7d

Gerald Herbert, 23 Jan. 2016. (Man pushing belongings across a snow covered
street) Retrieved from https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865646168/

Justice Institute of British Columbia