Canadians are invited to share their ideas on how to better prevent and reduce homelessness across Canada

Newswire.ca
July 17, 2017

The Government of Canada is committed to preventing and reducing homelessness in Canada. To support this commitment, the Advisory Committee on Homelessness, chaired by Adam Vaughan, Parliamentary Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs) to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, was recently announced.

To assist the Advisory Committee with its work, an online engagement process has been launched to gather feedback and ideas from Canadians on how to prevent and reduce homelessness in Canada. All Canadians are invited to share their views and ideas through the online survey and by sharing their stories before the end of August 2017.

The Advisory Committee will consider the feedback and ideas from the engagement process and will provide the Minister with options for the redesign of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS).

Quote

"Homelessness is a reality for too many Canadians and a challenge for every community in Canada. This engagement process is crucial to providing practical solutions on the redesign of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy. We need to hear directly from Canadians, stakeholders and partners to make sure the best options to prevent and reduce homelessness are put forward.ˮ

- Adam Vaughan, Parliamentary Secretary (Housing and Urban Affairs) to the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Member of Parliament for Spadina-Fort York

Quick Facts

• The Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) provides almost $600 million over five years (2014-2019), with a focus on the Housing First approach to help people secure stable housing while providing them with support for underlying issues such as mental health and addiction.
• Budget 2017 proposes a total investment of $2.1 billion over the next 11 years to expand and extend funding for the HPS beyond 2018-2019 in order to better prevent and reduce homelessness.
• This new investment builds on funding provided through Budget 2016 of $111.8 million over two years ($57.9 million in 2016-2017 and $53.9 million in 2017-2018) to give communities the support and flexibility they need to help prevent and reduce homelessness and test new and innovative approaches – particularly among specific homeless populations such as Indigenous Canadians, youth, women fleeing violence and veterans.
• Since 2007, nearly 35,000 Canadians who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless benefitted from education and training opportunities; over 17,000 individuals have received help to find part-time work and 17,000 have received help to find full-time employment; more than 6,000 new shelter beds have been created; and over 82,000 people were placed in more stable housing between 2007 and 2014.