The Voice of Canada News:

Homelessness has an economic and social impact on communities and vulnerable Canadians across the country. The Government of Canada is taking action to help communities build capacity to prevent and reduce homelessness in Canada.

Judy Sgro, Member of Parliament for Humber River—Black Creek, on behalf of the Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, announced $581,379 over the next three years to the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness through the new Community Capacity and Innovation (CCI) funding stream under Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.

This Summer, the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness is launching an online platform called the Homelessness Learning Hub, representing an innovative use of technology to enhance knowledge sharing and networking for the homelessness sector and beyond. The Homelessness Learning Hub will help communities by providing a wide array of resources and professional development tools for frontline staff, homelessness service providers, Community Entities and Community Advisory Boards across Canada.

Quotes

“When one person is forced to live on the streets, we’re all diminished. Homelessness is a reality for too many Canadians and a challenge for every Canadian community. Through Reaching Home, we’re working with other levels of government, NGOs, Indigenous partners and communities across Canada to provide more stable housing to people experiencing homelessness and increasing support for vulnerable groups. Supporting projects like these is only the beginning and one of many initiatives that will make a real impact on the lives of vulnerable Canadians. By working together, we can reduce chronic homelessness in our communities by 50% by 2027–2028.”
– The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

“I’m proud that through Reaching Home and the new Community Capacity and Innovation funding stream, we’re able to work with organizations like Canadian Observatory on Homelessness to develop innovative solutions that will support the homeless-serving sector. Supporting our service providers, frontline staff and communities with the right tools and resources ensures that we are equipping communities across Canada with the capacity to prevent and reduce homelessness.”
– The Honourable Judy Sgro, Member of Parliament for Humber River—Black Creek

“York University is proud to support the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, one of the largest research institutes of its kind in the world, dedicated to understanding the needs of homeless people in Canada. The Homelessness Learning Hub brings together academics, policy makers, service providers and government to create safer and more sustainable housing options. The website also maximizes the impact of the work in communities across the country extending the network of those seeking to solve homelessness and sharing approaches based on evidence. We commend the federal government for their ongoing support of initiatives that mobilize knowledge around this important issue.” 
– Rhonda L. Lenton, President and Vice-Chancellor, York University

Quick facts

• The Government of Canada has committed a total of $2.2 billion over 10 years to address homelessness. By 2021–2022, this will double annual investments compared to 2015–2016.’
• Through Community Capacity and Innovation funding stream this stream, $74 million over the nine years will be dedicated to support training, technical assistance and innovative projects.
  
• The aim of the new Community Capacity and Innovation (CCI) stream is to support communities in their implementation of Reaching Home by providing them with training and technical assistance and to foster innovation in the sector. This stream replaces the former Innovative Solutions to Homelessness and National Homelessness Information System streams.
• On April 1, 2019, Reaching Home replaced the Homelessness Partnering Strategy. Reaching Home supports communities’ efforts to prevent and reduce homelessness in Canada and supports the goals of the National Housing Strategy, including a 50% reduction in chronic homelessness nationally by 2027–2028.
• On June 21, 2019, the Government of Canada entrenched into law the Poverty Reduction Act, ensuring a long-term federal commitment to reduce poverty. The Act sets out concrete poverty reduction targets, with the first target of reducing poverty by 20% by 2020 already reached a full three years ahead of schedule.