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How many organizations across Canada offer Shelter Diversion (SD) and Eviction Prevention (EP) programs and what's the key to their success? That’s what our new project aims to discover, with your help! Tell us about your SD or EP program, so that together we can create tools to help other communities implement successful SD and EP programs to prevent and end homelessness.
What are Shelter Diversion and Eviction Prevention programs?
Shelter Diversion focuses on helping people who show up at emergency shelters by identifying immediate alternate temporary housing arrangements in their communities, and if necessary, connecting people with services and financial assistance to help them return to permanent housing.
Eviction Prevention is a form of both early intervention and housing stabilization for people at-risk of becoming or returning to homelessness. In practice EP refers to a range of strategies and program interventions designed to keep individuals and families at (imminent) risk of eviction in their homes with tenure and thereby help them avoid entering into homelessness.
Shelter Diversion and Eviction Prevention are the most effective and cost-efficient interventions to end homelessness and can be implemented in any community in Canada.
About this Research Project
This project ultimately aims to build the capacity of communities to implement SD and EP programs. We’ll be partnering with six communities in Canada that operate SD and EP programs to co-develop evidence-based program models and training resources. With guidance from the COH’s Indigenous Advisory Circle and an inclusive Advisory Group, the project will include four different activity phases:
- Community engagement and sector engagement
- Research and evaluation
- Resource development
- Knowledge mobilization
We’ll use an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) lens to ensure that our work is responsive to the needs of all communities seeking to address homelessness and meaningful participation in the process by marginalized people. Our work will also involve collaborating with people with lived experience of homelessness in evaluating SD and EP interventions as well as co-designing program models.
Importantly, we are dedicated to sharing our learnings and equipping communities with standardized and inclusive resources for guidance on how to implement successful SD and EP programs.
This project is also timely. The Government of Canada’s Reaching Home program has prioritized prevention, with two of the mandatory outcomes areas for Community Entities focusing on: a reduction of inflows into homelessness, and a reduction in returns to homelessness. SD and EP are two practical approaches to achieving these goals.
If you are a service provider that has implemented an SD or EP program or you are interested in implementing SD and EP in your community, please complete this survey in English or French.
If you are a community entity that has implemented an SD or EP program or you are interested in implementing SD and EP, please complete this survey in English or French.
For questions about this research project, email Catherine Tarimo at ctarimo@yorku.ca.
Note: This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada's Reaching Home program.
