Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness is the largest national research institute devoted to homelessness in Canada. The COH is the curator of the Homeless Hub.
- About Homelessness
- Doing Research
- Community Profiles
- Solutions
- Blog
- About Us
The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness is the largest national research institute devoted to homelessness in Canada. The COH is the curator of the Homeless Hub.
Canadian Observatory on Homelessness- Search
- Our Work
- Journal
- Search Library
Search Library
Author(s): Tim Aubry
Organization: European Journal of Homelessness
Publication Date: 2020
This paper provides an analysis of the Pathways Housing First model (based on the framework of the Ideal Features of a Mental Health Intervention), discusses the limitations of the current research base, and identifies directions for future research on Housing First.
Author(s): Amandeep Bassi, John Sylvestre, Nick Kerman
Publication Date: 2020
Aims
This study explored community integration among women participating in a Housing First program. Physical, social, and psychological dimensions of community integration were examined.
Methods
This study used neighborhood walk‐along and photo‐elicitation interviews to explore 16 formerly homeless women's experiences of community integration.
Results
Participants described limited community integration. Health, poverty, service inaccessibi...
Author(s): Andrew Clarke, Cameron Parsell, Margarita Vorsina
Publication Date: 2020
Despite widespread enthusiasm for Housing First approaches to addressing homelessness, conditional models of support that require ‘housing readiness’ persist in many jurisdictions. Existing research cites an ongoing commitment to conditionality amongst homelessness services providers as a key reason for its persistence. In this paper, we argue that State housing policies also play an important role in perpetuating conditionality in the homelessne...
Author(s): Anya Ahmed, Iolo Madoc-Jones
Publication Date: 2020
In this article – a review article preceding a series of articles in this themed section considering specific aspects of the impacts and implementation processes of the Welsh legislation – we contextualise the introduction of the prevention agenda in Wales by defining homelessness and highlighting the shift towards prevention policy in an international context. We consider the nature of prevention, and examine related theoretical debates, critiqu...
Author(s): Matthew H. Morton, Shannon Kugley, Richard Epstein, Anne Farrell
Publication Date: 2020
Objective
This systematic review synthesizes effectiveness evidence on interventions to prevent and address youth homelessness. It was conducted primarily for a United States policy and practice audience but involved an international synthesis of evidence.
Method
We conducted an international search that included eleven major academic electronic databases, 13 additional relevant institutional web-based publication databases, and a professional ou...
Author(s): Jo Axe, Elizabeth Childs, Kathleen Manion
Publication Date: 2020
At a time when homelessness, inequality and poverty plague Canadian society, an organization in Whistler, British Columbia has been working for over 20 years to combat some of the associated issues faced by vulnerable youth. This multi-year research project explored one of the programs offered by the organization with the intent of gaining an understanding of the short- and long-term impact, the future requirements for sustainability and growth,...
Author(s): Yinan Peng, Robert A. Hahn, Ramona K. C. Finnie, Jamaicia Cobb, Samantha P. Williams, Jonathan E. Fielding, Robert L. Johnson, Ann Elizabeth Montgomery, Alex F. Schwartz, Carles Muntaner, Veronica Helms Garrison, Beda Jean-Francois, Benedict Truman, Mindy T Fullilove
Publication Date: 2020
Context:
Poor physical and mental health and substance use disorder can be causes and consequences of homelessness. Approximately 2.1 million persons per year in the United States experience homelessness. People experiencing homelessness have high rates of emergency department use, hospitalization, substance use treatment, social services use, arrest, and incarceration.
Objectives:
A standard approach to treating homeless persons with a disabil...
Author(s): European Observatory on Homelessness
Publication Date: 2020
Editorial
This is the first edition of the EJH to appear since the emergence of covid-19, the subsequent lockdown and the tentative gradual easing of earlier restrictions. For those experiencing homelessness, while it is not yet clear how many deaths occurred as a consequence of the virus, what is clear is that the standard response to homelessness, the provision of congregate temporary shelters is no longer a tenable response due to covid-19. Sh...
Author(s): Jason M. Rodriguez, Marybeth Shinn, Bridgette Lery, Jennifer Haight, Mary Cunningham, Mike Pergamit
Publication Date: 2020
Background
Homelessness is a risk factor for family involvement with child welfare services (CWS). Housing interventions are promising—but reasons for this are not well understood, and housing resources could be better targeted to families at risk of increased CWS involvement.
Objective
We sought to better understand the relationship between homelessness and CWS involvement and examine whether homeless shelter data could combine with CWS data to...
Author(s): Nadine Reid, Amie Kron, Thanara Rajakulendran, Deborah Kahan, Amanda Noble, Vicky Stergiopoulos
Publication Date: 2020
Little is known regarding the types of interventions most effective in supporting wellness and recovery of victims of gender-based violence, particularly those simultaneously experiencing homelessness. This qualitative study explored the experiences of 18 young women experiencing gender-based violence and homelessness who participated in a community-based, trauma-informed group intervention in Toronto, Canada. Participants completed audio-recorde...
Author(s): Zachary S. Glendening, Marybeth Shinn, Scott R. Brown, Kyndra C. Cleveland, Mary K. Cunningham, Michael R. Pergamit
Publication Date: 2020
Supportive housing is a promising intervention for insecurely housed families in the child welfare system. This study examined factors associated with housing and child welfare outcomes to understand whom supportive housing benefits the most. Analyses included 500 insecurely housed families involved in child protective services across five U.S. sites. Researchers randomized families to receive supportive housing or the usual services offered to f...
Author(s): Myra Gayle Gabriel, Aishia Brown, Maria León, Corliss Outley
Publication Date: 2020
While people across the globe adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, young people have been the center of many news stories. Millions of young people are required to stay home due to school closures, and adults are forced to consider alternative structures to support youths’ needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed multiple injustices and forms of oppression experienced by the most vulnerable in our country, which includes young people experiencing pove...
Author(s): Melissa Perri, Naheed Dosani, Stephen W. Hwan
Publication Date: 2020
This open-access article takes an equity-informed perspective on emerging trends and interventions in the homeless-serving sector to reduce the adverse impact of COVID-19 on people experiencing homelessness in North America.
Trialing the feasibility of a critical time intervention for youth transitioning out of homelessness
Author(s): Sean Kidd, Nina Vitopoulos, Tyler Frederick, Scott Leon, Wei Wang, Christopher Mushquash, Kwame McKenzie
Publication Date: 2020
Little is known regarding the specific types of service models and collaborations that are necessary to support diverse populations of youth in transition out of homelessness. Transitional supports addressing the complex needs of this population are needed to stabilize the array of housing arrangements that youth access. This study was a pilot randomized controlled trial of one such critical time intervention, called the Housing Outreach Program—...
Author(s): Laura Packard Tucker, Amy Dworsky, Molly Van Drunen
Organization: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago
Publication Date: 2020
Despite remarkable resilience and high aspirations, many youth in foster care still struggle to complete their education, secure steady employment, build connections with supportive adults, develop critical life skills, and remain stably housed. One manifestation of the challenges these young people face is a high rate of homelessness.
The Alameda County Social Services Agency (SSA) developed and implemented the Youth Transitions Partnership (YTP...
Author(s): Earl J. Edwards
Publication Date: 2020
Youth homelessness is a growing crisis impacting urban high schools across the United States. Black youth, in particular, are disproportionately affected. While the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is designed to provide educational access to students experiencing homelessness, the extent to which the policy supports Black students is unclear. This qualitative study uses structural racism as an analytic framework to examine the narratives o...
Author(s): Stephen Gaetz
Publication Date: 2020
Mass homelessness emerged in Canada in the wake of neoliberal policies that reduced government production of housing and other supportive measures. Efforts to reduce homelessness have occurred in three stages: 1) an emergency response in the 1990s that consisted mostly of investment in shelters, soup kitchens, and day programs, 2) the implementation of community plans to end homelessness, combined with the adoption of Housing First as a strategy...
Author(s): Kristelle Alunni-Menichini, Karine Bertrand, Laurence Roy, Astrid Brousselle
Publication Date: 2020
This paper presents an assessment of the current emergency response to homeless people who use substances in Montreal, a major North American city. This project addresses the rising concern about homelessness in high-income countries. Several studies have shown that homeless people frequently use emergency services (i.e., police, paramedical, and hospital), especially in the context of substance use. Yet, the key actors’ perspectives are poorly d...
Author(s): Tim Aubry, Gary Bloch, Vanessa Brcic, Ammar Saad, Olivia Magwood, Tasnim Abdalla, Qasem Alkhateeb, Edward Xie, Christine Mathew, Terry Hannigan, Chris Costello, Kednapa Thavorn, Vicky Stergiopoulos, Peter Tugwell, Kevin Pottie
Publication Date: 2020
Permanent supportive housing and income assistance are valuable interventions for homeless individuals. Homelessness can reduce physical and social wellbeing, presenting public health risks for infectious diseases, disability, and death. We did a systematic review, meta-analysis, and narrative synthesis to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of permanent supportive housing and income interventions on the health and social wellbei...
Author(s): Abe Oudshoorn, Erin Dej, Colleen Parsons, Stephen Gaetz
Publication Date: 2020
While some progress has been made in addressing chronic homelessness through supportive models, a comprehensive solution for housing loss must include prevention. The purpose of this article is twofold: to conduct a review of the literature on the domains of the Framework for Homelessness Prevention; and to use literature on the concept of quaternary prevention, preventing the harms of service provision, to theorise an additional domain. The Fram...