Pardis's blog

In Fall 2018, we held a contest asking organizations to submit their programs for a chance to win a free evaluation consultation with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness’s social enterprise, Hub Solutions. We received over 30 incredible submissions from organizations across Canada. We feel so grateful to all who entered, as it gave us the chance to get to know their programs and their evaluation needs more closely. 

I was recently invited to give a presentation at a two-day event discussing the overdose crisis and First Nations, with a focus on southern Alberta. My presentation (slide deck available here) focused on homelessness, substance use, harm reduction and Housing First.

With this in mind, here are 10 things to know:

I had the opportunity to review a recent study from St. Louis colleagues Kube, Das and Fowler called Allocating Interventions Based on Predicted Outcomes: A Case Study on Homelessness Services.

Here’s the gist:

Whether you’re in school now, or have been finished for a while, you can imagine what a typical day school day is like – rushing to class, shifting between engagement and boredom, interactions with other students and teachers (both positive and negative). 

Women are largely overrepresented amongst the population of peoples experiencing homelessness in Canada, and face many unique challenges. Unfortunately, many of these challenges remain invisible and unaddressed in the homelessness sector, in part because women-identified peoples and their children are more likely to experience forms of hidden homelessness

In this bi-weekly blog series, Abe Oudshoorn explores recent research on homelessness, and what it means for the provision of services to prevent or end homelessness. Follow the whole series!

In 2008, Alberta committed to ending chronic homelessness through a Housing First approach. Developed in New York City, Housing First emphasizes that housing is the first need for someone experiencing homelessness. Clients are offered permanent housing in the community, followed by any services they may need. As Housing First has spread internationally, it has been adapted to local contexts.

As members of Montreal-based universities, community groups and research collectives, we wish, with the following blog post, to take a common stance in publicly decrying the harmful impact which public institutions are having on the Park Extension neighbourhood. Among these, we most specifically point out the lack of investment of funds in a coordinated housing strategy, and the displacement of residents resulting in part from the imminent arrival of Université de Montréal’s Campus MIL.

In this bi-weekly blog series, Abe Oudshoorn explores recent research on homelessness, and what it means for the provision of services to prevent or end homelessness. Follow the whole series!

This April 1st marked a key turning point in the Canadian response to homelessness with the launch of the Federal Government’s ten-year Reaching Home strategy. With this launch, the Government of Canada revealed more details about the program design and its operations. The full directives of Reaching Home were developed through extensive community and