This past week has been another busy one here at the Hub!

Last Monday October 7th we marked World Habitat Day by launching our free Housing First In Canada e-book. It is the first book that looks at how Housing First policies have worked in Canada. The book takes 8 communities from around the country that have used Housing First and breaks down their successes, hardships and lessons learned. You can get a free e-copy here or you can buy a hard copy here.Housing First in Canada

If you are a bit unfamiliar with Housing First and want a quick breakdown before jumping into a book checkout Stephen Gaetz's blog post this week. He gives a nice overview of how the Government of Canada has been tackling homelessness and how Housing First fits into a greater policy scheme for ending homelessness. 

On Tuesday we also had our first ever tweetchat using the hashtag #SOHC2013. Researchers from across Canada tuned into twitter in real time to answer any questions you may have had about homelessness. If you missed it don't fret because we'll be holding another one soon. Oh, and you can get access to the whole conversation right here!

In case you missed it, October 10th was both World Homeless Day AND World Mental Health Day. World Homeless Day was established in 2010 as a global day to stop and think about the needs and experiences of homeless people locally. World Mental Health Day is run annually to commemorate the work of the World Federation of Mental Health. Often we forget that in Canada, persons with mental illnesses make up a disproportionate percentage of the homeless population. Check out an Ask The Hub question on mental health and homelessness that we got over the summer for more information.

On the political end of things, there's been a lot of buzz lately about the American Government shut down. Last week, our friends at the National Network For Youth went into what the shut down means for homeless youth south of the border.