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A year-and-a-half-long push by the Drop-In Centre to get homeless Calgarians into their own housing has resulted in a 47 per cent drop in chronic homeless clients, the facility says.

Sandra Clarkson, executive director of the shelter, said the number of chronic users peaked at 433 but has dropped to 240 as of June. The shelter defines chronic homeless clients as someone who’s visited the shelter more than 75 per cent of the time — or 267 days — in a calendar year.

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“Prior to making our shift to being a housing-focused emergency shelter, a lot of those people had been living in shelter for many, many years — some, for decades,” said Clarkson. “We recognized we wanted to provide more than emergency shelter and move beyond just the provision of basic need, and really intentionally shift our strategy to getting people reintegrated and reconnected to the community in homes that worked for them.

“In the past, I think that the Drop-In Centre has always been a place that welcomes everybody and welcomes people where they’re at — that, for me, hasn’t changed (but) what has shifted is the conversation.”