Search Library
Organization: Dixon Hall Neighbourhood Services, Toronto Shelter Network
Publication Date: 2021
Vulnerable populations, including people experiencing homelessness, have been hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Toronto, a rapid emergency response to protect homeless populations was undertaken, resulting in a significant restructuring of the 24-hour emergency homelessness system (shelter system). In order to document the impact of this transformation, the Toronto Shelter Network (TSN), in partnership with Dixon Hall Neighbourhood Servic...
Organization: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, Blue Door
Publication Date: 2021
Founded in 1982, Blue Door provides safe and supportive emergency housing, housing services, and supports for people who are at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness in York Region. In order to enhance their current service offerings and meet emerging client needs, Blue Door partnered with Hub Solutions, a social enterprise of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH), to engage in a process to develop a new supportive housing progr...
Publication Date: 2021
The aim of this meta-synthesis was to draw together the available research to further understanding of the experiences of staff working with homeless people. An overarching theoretical construction of the internal experiences of support staff in managing the demands of the role along with their own needs was developed. This theory may provide the basis for testable hypotheses in future research and inform the development of support and training...
Publication Date: 2021
This webinar presents findings from a research project focused on the implementation of the Host Homes model in Canada. The presenters will discuss the key elements of the Host Homes model, contextual considerations needed to implement a Host Homes program, and training and technical assistance needs. Panelists include Host Home operators and researchers from the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness.
Download the report here.
Publication Date: 2021
There is a significant gap in knowledge of factors associated with unstable housing specifically among people who use drugs. This open-access journal article aims to identify these factors to support the effective targeting of housing interventions and resources for this population.
Organization: The Supportive Housing Network of New York
Publication Date: 2021
Conducted by prominent anti-racist educator Marc Dones, this workshop recording explores how the historical roots of racism have informed the current homelessness crisis and the glaring racial disparities in homelessness trends and trajectories. Although U.S.-based, learnings are relevant to other countries.
Publication Date: 2021
It is frequently assumed that when individuals secure a tenancy following homelessness, that their life naturally improves for the better in most or all areas of their lives. Unfortunately, recent research suggests that many individuals who secure housing after homelessness continue to live in a state of survival. While the importance of supporting individuals to secure and sustain housing cannot be understated, other aspects of a person’s life i...
Organization: Making the Shift (MtS)
Publication Date: 2021
The human right to housing in Canada is key to preventing and ending homelessness. In this short video, Michèle Biss from the Right to National Housing Network explains what the right to housing looks like in Canada currently, and what is still needed for the right to housing to be fully realized.
Publication Date: 2020
The premise of this paper is that Indigenous Peoples are multiplicatively oppressed and that these intersecting sites of oppression increase the risk of Indigenous Peoples in Canada becoming homeless. Hypotheses were tested using the 2014 panel of Canada’s General Social Survey, including 1081 Indigenous peoples and 23,052 non-Indigenous white participants. Indigenous identity, involvement in the child welfare system, and level of educational ach...
Publisher: Statistics Canada
Publication Date: 2021
Data on people experiencing homelessness often come from time- and labour-intensive cross-sectional counts and surveys from selected samples. This study uses comprehensive administrative health data from emergency department (ED) visits to enumerate people experiencing homelessness and characterize demographic and geographic trends in the province of Ontario, Canada, from 2010 to 2017.
Publisher: Canada FASD Research Network, University of Alberta
Publication Date: 2018
This document is organized into five parts. First, the authors situate the reader in the work. Second, they provide background information to acknowledge the complexities involved in housing. In the third section, they describe the responsive harmonizing framework. That is followed by a section on implementing the framework. In the fifth section, the authors suggest that harmonization and responsivity will light the way forward to ensure we are m...
Publisher: Canada FASD Research Network
Publication Date: 2020
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a multifaceted disability, associated not only with complex brain- and body-based challenges, but also with high rates of environmental adversity, diverse sociocultural contexts, and lifelong difficulties with daily living. It is important to consider the complexities of FASD, and the ways in which FASD requires unique considerations to develop and employ specialized research, practice, and policy initiat...
Organization: Horizon Housing
Publication Date: 2021
This report was born from a recognition that Indigenous Peoples who live at Horizon Housing — a non-profit affordable housing provider in Calgary — experience disproportionately high levels of housing instability as a result of non-voluntary exits. Horizon engaged consultant, Nick Falvo, to explore this issue.
Publication Date: 2021
The aim of this paper is to address this gap in knowledge and contribute to the emerging social procurement debate in construction by exploring the role that construction employment can play in reducing the risk of homelessness.
Open-access.
Organization: Hub Solutions, Raising the Roof
Publication Date: 2021
The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) partnered with Raising the Roof (RtR) to conduct a developmental evaluation of strategies to scale up the Host Homes model in Canada. The project received funding from Innoweave.
The evaluation questions were co-created by the COH and RtR. The original questions to be answered were:
How can the Host Homes model be adapted to meet the needs of diverse Canadian contexts (i.e., urban vs. rural, differe...
Organization: Hub Solutions, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Publication Date: 2021
Background
Hoarding disorder is recognized as a distinct mental health diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5). It is commonly defined as feeling compelled to collect and save items, and a persistent difficulty to discard items (Kress et al, 2016; Dozier & Ayers, 2017). The compulsion to collect leads to an over-crowding of living spaces which can spread outside of living areas, and sign...
Publication Date: 2018
The persistent overrepresentation of Black people among the population experiencing homelessness is a troubling reality across the United States, and Los Angeles is no exception. In recognition of the urgent need to dedicate focused attention to better understand and address this critical issue, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Commission called for the creation of an Ad Hoc Committee on Black People Experiencing Homelessness t...
Publisher: Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research
Publication Date: 2021
Human experience is complex. Our choices and behaviours, including using substances, are influenced by numerous factors including our biology, our history and social values, and the physical and social environments we live in. People have been using a wide variety of psychoactive (mindaltering) drugs for thousands of years to celebrate successes; to help deal with grief, sadness, and other uncomfortable feelings; to mark rites of passage and to p...
Organization: Western University
Publication Date: 2021
Homelessness is gendered and yet there is limited uptake of gender- based approaches to community planning across Canada. This research report explores if/how communities use a gender-based approach to community planning to prevent and end homelessness.
Key Findings/Outcomes
Women and girls (cis and trans) are under-recognized and underserved.
While service providers recognize the unique needs of women and girls, they encounter barriers to the br...
Publication Date: 2021
Research consistently suggests school-based programs are key to identifying children at risk, preventing homelessness, and improving learning outcomes for those who do experience homelessness. At a minimum, schools can intervene in educational harms, such as low attainment and early school leaving, that are associated with high mobility, a lack of support, cumulative trauma, and stigma. Addressing administrative and practical barriers to homeless...