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Publication Date: 2019
This paper is based on the analysis of data collected from the National Canadian Homeless Youth Survey and addresses the question: why do some youth who received support from social service agencies that cater to the needs of homeless youth self-identify as being homeless while others do not? According to self-report survey data obtained from 1103 young people from over 50 youth homeless service centres from across Canada, findings show that yout...
Publication Date: 2020
As states move beyond simply managing their homelessness crises to looking for ways to reduce and ultimately end homelessness, broad-scale efforts to prevent homelessness are lacking. Experiences of homelessness are often harmful, traumatic, and costly, making a compelling case for why homelessness prevention should be prioritized. In recent years, countries such as Australia, Finland, and Wales have shifted their focus to prevention, but there r...
Organization: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness; A Way Home Canada; Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Demonstration Lab
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press
Publication Date: 2020
This framework introduces and provides an overview of Family and Natural Supports (FNS), a preventive approach to addressing youth homelessness. FNS is a key component of a larger systemic shift in responses to homelessness, away from emergency service provision and instead toward the prevention of youth homelessness. This framework explains FNS, its core principles and guiding philosophy, presents considerations for implementing FNS in communiti...
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...
Organization: Making the Shift
Publication Date: 2020
Youth Reconnect (YR) is a community-based early intervention program that is designed to help young people (ages 13–24) who are at risk of or in the early stages of homelessness.The goal of YR is to help young people stay connected to their family, community and school, and to strengthen connections to natural supports in order to prevent and/or reduce the risk of homelessness. It builds on the practices of Family and Natural Supports (FNS) and i...
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...
Organization: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Publication Date: 2020
Being homeless means you are more vulnerable to the spread of infectious disease than are people with housing. Building on his research concerning pandemics and homelessness during the H1N1 influenza outbreak, Dr. Stephen Gaetz was asked to contribute recommendations for addressing homelessness considerations for UN-ECE Member States as they confront COVID-19. Download the fact sheet for his recommendations.
Publication Date: 2020
Homelessness has negative implications for mental well-being and quality of life. This paper identifies the quality of life variables that contribute to positive or negative wellbeing, reporting on a regression analysis from 343 individuals experiencing homelessness in Canada. Results indicate that a lack of sleep duration and quality reduced mental well-being for both genders, not having access to food and/or hygiene facilities decreased men’s w...
Organization: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness; A Way Home Canada
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, A Way Home Canada
Publication Date: 2018
It is time for a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to youth homelessness. The Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness is designed to help service providers, policy makers, communities, advocates, researchers, and all people in Canada better understand the meaning of youth homelessness prevention. It provides a clear definition of youth homelessness prevention, a prevention typology, and a common language for policy and practice,...
Organization: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Publication Date: 2017
Prevention makes sense. To prevent disease, we vaccinate. To prevent traffic deaths, we install seat belts. While we recognize intuitively that preventing homelessness is a good idea, there has been little movement in Canada to make that happen on a national scale. A New Direction: A Framework for Homelessness Prevention sets out to provide the language and clarity to begin that conversation.
Since mass homelessness emerged in the mid-1980s, we...
Organization: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness; A Way Home Canada
Publication Date: 2017
In recent years, policy-makers and service providers have expressed concerns about whether and how Housing First can be applied to the population of young people who experience homelessness. In response, A Safe and Decent Place to Live was developed to provide a workable framework for Housing First for Youth (HF4Y). It is important to note that the development of this framework was the result of a collaboration between the Canadian Observatory on...
Organization: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness; A Way Home Canada; National Learning Community on Youth Homelessness
Publication Date: 2016
Youth homelessness continues to be a seemingly intractable problem in Canada. We believe there are solutions, and that means leveraging the best knowledge we have to do things differently.
The Without a Home study is the first pan-Canadian study of young people who experience homelessness. With 1,103 respondents from 47 different communities across 10 provinces and territories, this study’s sample size has enabled us to conduct detailed analyses...
Organization: The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, A Way Home Canada
Publication Date: 2018
Are we making significant headway on youth homelessness in Canada? Are we stopping young people from becoming homeless? Are we ensuring that young people transition out of homelessness quickly, and that they do not become homeless again?
It is time that we started taking a good, hard look at these questions. In our efforts to end homelessness, we have primarily focused on providing emergency services and supports to young people while they are...
Publication Date: 2018
Purpose: People experiencing homelessness are high-users of hospital care in Canada. To better understand the scope of the issue, and how these patients are discharged from hospital, a national survey of key stakeholders was conducted in 2017. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach: The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness distributed an online survey to their network of members through e-mail and social media. A sample...
Organization: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness
Publication Date: 2016
Mass homelessness in Canada emerged in the 1980s, following a massive disinvestment in affordable housing, structural shifts in the economy and reduced spending on social supports. Since then, stakeholders across the country have tried and tested solutions to address the issue. These responses, largely based on the provision of emergency services, have prevented meaningful progress. Fortunately, there are many signs that we are entering a new pha...
Publication Date: 2019
In North America, the key performance indicator of success in community strategies to address homelessness is whether a homeless person is housed or not. In this article, we argue that for young people experiencing homelessness, we need to advance a broader consideration of outcomes to include a range of well-being indicators designed to understand the needs of developing adolescents and young adults and contribute to housing stability. We articu...
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, A Way Home Canada
Publication Date: 2018
It is time for a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to youth homelessness. The Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness is designed to help service providers, policy makers, communities, advocates, researchers, and all people in Canada better understand the meaning of youth homelessness prevention. It provides a clear definition of youth homelessness prevention, a prevention typology, and a common language for policy and practice,...
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, A Way Home Canada
Publication Date: 2018
In this report we tackle the critical issue of housing stabilization for youth who have exited homelessness – a key component of any comprehensive approach to youth homelessness prevention. Housing stabilization for youth should include a focus on well-being embedded within each form of housing stabilization:
Housing Supports
Health & Well-being
Access to Income & Education
Complementary Supports
Social Inclusion
This report also conside...
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, A Way Home Canada
Publication Date: 2018
In this report we tackle the critical issue of evictions prevention – a key component of any comprehensive approach to youth homelessness prevention. This report outlines five key forms of evictions prevention:
Strengthening Laws and Legislation Protecting Tenants
Provision of Information and Advice for Youth and Their Families
Provision of Financial Supports for Tenants
Access to Legal Supports, Advice, and Representation
Targeted and Timely C...
Publisher: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, A Way Home Canada
Publication Date: 2018
In this report we tackle the critical issue of early intervention – a key component of any comprehensive approach to youth homelessness prevention. This report outlines a system of care for early intervention, drawing together three key areas of focus: (a) Integrated Services, Integrated Systems; (b) Coordinated Entry; and (c) Case Management. This system of care provides the framework for implementing five early intervention program areas, inclu...