EveryOne’s Home: Red Deer’s Five Year Plan Towards Ending Homelessness identifies “sufficient housing options to meet diverse and changing needs of our community members” as a fundamental require­ment to meet the goal of ending homelessness by 2018. Increasing the stock of permanent affordable housing options is crucial, as is ensuring that there are appropriate supports for the most vulnerable community members, including Aboriginal people, active substance users, individuals with mental illness and/or chronic physical health conditions, women and children fleeing domestic violence, newcomers to Canada, seniors, and individuals leaving institutional settings.

In early 2014, the Red Deer and District Community Foundation retained OrgCode Consulting, Inc. to:

• Provide an analysis of the extent to which the current housing inventory meets the needs of target groups;
• Assess future housing needs and determine the housing shortfall, including an analysis of gaps that currently exist for groups including seniors, immigrants, families and youth;
• Evaluate the implications of The City of Red Deer’s existing housing and land use policies, assess how these policies fit with provincial housing objectives, and provide recommenda­tions around how The City of Red Deer might implement promising housing and land use policies;
• Provide recommendations for key city stake­holders to meet the needs of target groups and a long-term monitoring framework.

This report is the culmination of that work. It as­sesses Red Deer’s current housing needs, makes recommendations for policies and practices that can encourage the creation of affordable hous­ing options, and provides a “Housing Options Framework” that will serve as a tool for the future governance entity of the EveryOne’s Home project, The City of Red Deer, and other community partners to identify future needs and monitor progress.