Supporting communities in tackling homelessness

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 29, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities announced the Homelessness Reduction Innovation Fund, a $50 million fund to help communities develop innovative projects to prevent homelessness and accelerate new homes for people currently experiencing homelessness.

The funding is part of the federal government's $1 billion commitment to Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy, that was announced in Budget 2024.

The Minister announced this initiative at the annual Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness Conference (CAEH) in Ottawa. Through CAEH, funds will be distributed to communities to help channel investments into targeted, data-informed projects that reduce homelessness. The CAEH will offer one-on-one guidance and coaching to communities on their initiatives and share successful approaches with other communities across the country.

Further acknowledging the importance of partnerships in combatting homelessness, Minister Fraser also announced that the CAEH will receive more than $1.3 million in funding from the Veteran Homelessness Program to support their work with 26 communities working to end homelessness for Veterans through their Built for Zero Canada program. To date, three Built for Zero Canada communities have achieved functional zero Veteran homelessness: London, Ontario, St. Thomas-Elgin, Ontario and Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Eliminating chronic homelessness will take a coordinated effort. The federal government is committed to helping our most vulnerable and to working with communities and partners, including Veteran organizations, Indigenous partners, and housing providers to maintain safe, stable and affordable housing and eliminate chronic homelessness across the country.

Quotes

"Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. We will continue working with our partners, like CAEH, to tackle homelessness and provide Canadians in need with the support they deserve." 

The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

"Millions of Canadians have served and sacrificed for our country – one of these service members experiencing homelessness is one too many. That's why we're partnering with organizations across the country to bring an end to Veteran homelessness. The project led by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness project will meet communities where they are, build partnerships and share tried-and-tested practices to be there for Canada's Veterans."

The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence

"As homelessness surges across the country, communities are struggling to respond. This fund is designed to support the kind of data-driven, rapid cycle continuous improvement that's at the heart of all successful efforts to reduce homelessness. Taken together with new housing investments, we're hopeful we can begin to reverse the lethal trajectory of homelessness in Canada."

Tim Richter, President & CEO, Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness

Quick facts

• Since 2015, the federal government has helped almost two million Canadians find a place to call home.
• Reaching Home is a community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness across Canada. This program provides funding and support to urban, Indigenous, territorial and rural, and remote communities to help them address their local homelessness needs.
• This fund is intended to foster sector partnerships and expertise to help communities in the development and use of data to accelerate efforts to reduce homelessness.
• The Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec will collaborate on strategies to implement this funding in Quebec.
• In September 2024, the federal government announced $250 million to address the urgent issue of encampments and unsheltered homelessness. The government is working with provincial, territorial, and municipal leaders to deliver this funding in communities across the country.
• In 2024, the federal government announced $79.1 million over five years for the Veteran Homelessness Program, to fund local organizations that provide rent supplements, wraparound supports for veterans, and to provide funding for projects that build capacity to serve veterans experiencing homelessness.
• The Veteran Homelessness Program funds projects under two streams:
  • Services and Supports Stream – $72.9 million for rent supplements and wrap-around services such as counselling and treatment for substance use.
  • Capacity Building Stream – $6.2 million for research and improved data collection; increase capacity of organizations to deliver tailored programs.
• CAEH's Sustain, Strengthen, & Expand Support for Communities to End Veteran Homelessness project will work with 26 participating communities using coaching, tools, and peer learning to support local real-time comprehensive data on Veteran homelessness, partnerships between homelessness response systems and Veteran-serving organizations, and local system improvements towards reducing and ending Veteran homelessness using a data driven approach.
• Through Reaching Home, the Government of Canada is already investing $4 billion over 9 years to address homelessness. This includes investments announced in Budget 2021 and Budget 2022.
• In December 2023, the federal government provided an additional $100 million to Reaching Home in order to help communities respond to unsheltered homelessness during the winter season.

Associated links

Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy
Canada's National Housing Strategy
Canada's Housing Plan

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SOURCE Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities

Contacts: For more information (media only), please contact: Sofia Ouslis, Press Secretary, [email protected], Office of the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities; Media Relations Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada, 613-960-9251, Toll-free: 1-877-250-7154, Email: [email protected]