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Publication Date: 2013
Research on street youth in Canada suggests these young people are heavily ‘at-risk’ of becoming involved in criminal activities. Street youth, however, become involved in criminal activities to different degrees, ranging from not at all to high rates of participation. The types of offenses they engage in also vary, and can include property crimes, distribution of drugs, and violent crimes such as robbery and physical altercations. Research has d...
Publication Date: 2013
Canadian literature has not fully uncovered the relationship between youth homelessness and mental health, and how they are related to both risks and resources present in pre-street and homeless circumstances. It is clear that homeless youth experience high rates of poor mental health, and that many youth are immersed in an environment characterized by substantial risk. Evidence suggests that many youth are subjected to tremendous adversity, incl...
Publication Date: 2013
Housing First is a treatment, service and social policy approach based on the idea that a homeless individual’s primary need is to attain secure and stable housing before other issues in the individual’s life can be dealt with. Its fundamental principle is that housing is a basic right, and should be made available regardless of whether individuals, particularly those with mental health concerns and/or addictions, desire treatment. Despite the fa...
Publication Date: 2013
In Ontario, youth between the ages of 16-18 can apply to the Courts to terminate a Society or Crown wardship order. Young people involved with the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) in Ontario commonly talk about “signing out of care” when they turn 16. This expression makes it hard to see the complicated institutional work that is involved in ending a wardship order with child protection services, not to mention the challenges youth face after leaving...
Publication Date: 2013
Homeless youth in rural settings face unique circumstances including fewer housing options and services to meet their needs. They are frequently forced to leave their communities and social networks in order to receive services or find shelter. Moreover, research suggests that homelessness is often one of several traumatic experiences these young people will face in their lives. While understanding the causes of youth homelessness (such as trauma...
Publication Date: 2013
Adolescent development is generally viewed as a gradual process that is guided by supportive adults, particularly family members. This focus shifts however, when we think about homeless youth and family becomes viewed as the ‘problem’, and youth are pushed to become ‘self-sufficient’. However, this oversimplifies the nature and composition of families and relationships. More importantly, it overlooks families as potential partners in working towa...
Publication Date: 2013
Over the last few decades, social policies and social services for people experiencing homelessness have focused on increasing their participation in the work force by addressing the factors that prevent full participation. These factors include drug and alcohol use and abuse, mental health, physical disability and a lack of human capital (the set of skills which an employee acquires on the job, through training and experience, which increase tha...
Publication Date: 2013
Research has shown that homeless people suffer from high rates of physical and mental illness, substance use and addictions. Yet, even with universal health insurance, homeless people face barriers to accessing health care and social services to meet their needs. While there has been increasing interest in meeting the health needs of shelter users, there have been very few studies over the last ten years that describe the types of care needed o...
Publication Date: 2012
Canada is committed to energy efficiency as part of its national Green Plan, which addresses the environmental issues of climate change, and reducing energy consumption. However, lacking a national housing strategy, and with social housing provision responsibility downloaded to provinces and municipalities, home energy efficiency policies have not been well regulated nor have they been widely implemented. As such, many buildings are operating a...
Publication Date: 2012
Many middle and upper class households moved to the suburbs after World War II, leaving the downtown core to be occupied by lower income households, including homeless people. The suburbs provided both an escape from the “problems of the city” for those who could afford a car and a home, and a place for them to exercise their individual freedom in the form of private property. However, with gas prices and traffic congestion on the rise, and long...
Publication Date: 2012
People living with HIV most at risk of homelessness are women, Aboriginal populations and new Canadians. Housing is known to be fundamental to the health and well being of individuals, and therefore one of the most urgent unmet needs for people living with HIV. Many families affected by HIV experience near homelessness as a result of social and financial challenges. HIV positive parents experience a number of interconnected barriers to living...
Publisher: Homeless Hub
Publication Date: 2012
One out of fifty children experiences homelessness at some point in their lives and the numbers are growing. Along with the loss of a home, safety, well being and the satisfaction of supporting oneself are lost when one becomes homeless. Single mother households are the poorest of all families and they make up the majority of homeless families. Most homeless mothers have been sexually or physically abused at some point in their lives and half...
Publication Date: 2012
Between 340,000 and 440,000 people in Australia will experience homelessness over a given twelve-month period. Although the Australian government understands homelessness to be a preventable social problem and has set an ambitious goal to cut homelessness in half by 2020, current interventions mirror those that are in place in the UK and the US, which focus mainly on addressing the problem at the individual level, without regard for the root caus...
Publication Date: 2012
Our society often stresses personal success, often unrealistic standards of achievement, and little tolerance for those who fail to measure up. This emphasis on individual responsibility ignores the structural forces that shape the lives of vulnerable populations. Childhood abuse, family conflict, mental health and addictions are the forces that can have an influence on the lives of youth. Still, homeless youth are largely considered, by mainstre...
Publication Date: 2012
Homelessness has become an important social and political issue over the past 10 years. Ten thousand Canadians are homeless on any given night. Homeless people suffer more from physical and mental illness, substance abuse issues and tend to die earlier than the general public. The street homeless population, compared to the hidden homeless, is the most challenging homeless group to work with because of their complex needs and their minimal use of...
Publisher: The Homeless Hub
Publication Date: 2012
Unequal health outcomes and unfair access to health care has been identified as a major problem in Canada, even though publically health care is available for all residents. People who use drugs and are street involved face major barriers to health care and their life expectancy is lower than those of the general public. A person’s social position is strongly tied to his/her quality of life and those at the bottom of the social ladder generally h...
Publication Date: 2012
Shelters are mainly separated based on the sex that one was born (female or male), making it extremely difficult and unsafe for many females-to-males (FTMs) to navigate and find refuge in. Men’s shelter providers have described being unable to safely serve FTMs and women’s shelters have been viewed as an inappropriate alternative, leaving FTMs with no safe place to turn for shelter.
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Invisible Men: FTMs and Homelessness...
Publisher: The Homeless Hub
Publication Date: 2011
This research studies housing stability success of a sample of homeless individuals in Ottawa, in an effort to highlight the diversity that exists within the homeless population. It identifies the various health-related problems suffered by distinct groups of homeless individuals and examines the impact these problems have on exiting homelessness and achieving housing stability. It also attributes the rise in the Canadian homeless population to a...
Publisher: The Homeless Hub
Publication Date: 2011
This research studies trends in tuberculosis (TB) within the homeless population in Toronto, Ontario. It attempts to understand and address the extent of TB within this vulnerable group, and reviews the health outcomes of homeless people with TB. This research also offers suggestions on how to curb the spread of TB to others.
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Active Tuberculosis among Homeless Persons, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1998–2007 was published...
Publisher: The Homeless Hub
Publication Date: 2011
Homeless youth often engage in high-risk survival behaviours such as prostitution, theft and drug dealing to meet their basic needs. They often have histories of depression, low self-esteem, trauma, self-harm, substance abuse, and physical and sexual abuse. However, due to inadequate and non-existing treatment options directed at homeless youth, they tend to have limited service utilization. Low service utilization combined with high-risk behavio...