Calgary researchers have developed a short list of questions that could identify people at risk before they lose their homes.

Touted as a "first-ever screening tool," the Homeless Asset and Risk Tool (HART) asks 20 questions such as:

  • Have you had trouble paying for housing based on your income?
  • Have you had trouble with landlords?
  • Have family members shown concern for your mental health?
  • Do you have substance abuse issues?

"The ultimate goal is to provide them resources, services, to prevent them form going down that road to homelessness, which is a pretty bitter trail," said Leslie Tutty, a social work professor at the University of Calgary, on Friday.

Social agencies may not realize someone is at risk of losing their home because that person has come to them with a more pressing issue, such as addiction.

"People present with different problems and housing might not even be something that's on the top of their list," she said.

"Lots of people who become homeless go through a cycle of being inadequately housed, or they do what's called couch surfing, they stay with friends."

Madelyn McDonald, who works with youth at Wood's Homes, said losing a home can happen quickly.

"All of a sudden they lose their job, they have no income and they're kicked out of their house. So it happens so quickly and it happens very quickly that you think the person is fine and then the safety net falls out," McDonald said.

Asking right questions

Tim Richter, head of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, which funded the project, said they needed a way to ask the right questions.

"You've got to think about homelessness as there's a flow of people through and we can't concentrate just on who are there at that point in time so we need to look a bit further upstream and see where are they coming from and can we prevent their homelessness in the first place," said Richter.

To prove if the screening questions work, the project has applied for federal government funding to follow 750 Calgarians for a year. Other cities have expressed interest in adopting the screening questions, said Tutty.

According to the foundation, 72,000 households in Calgary are one paycheque away from losing the roof over their heads.