COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

We need to dramatically shift our approaches to
youth homelessness to ensure systems no longer
contribute to the problem.
Systems change is difficult work, requiring an integrated systems approach where multiple
departments across governments work collectively towards the goal of better outcomes for
all youth. This requires expanding the role of systems like education and healthcare, as well as
re-defining who “owns” the issue of youth homelessness. Many systems do not see themselves
as responsible for ensuring young people are housed, and do not have the mandate, resources,
or tools to do this work. However, it is clear that assigning sole responsibility of this issue to the
youth homelessness sector makes it very difficult to prevent homelessness before it happens.
Homelessness prevention thus must go hand-in-hand with the
tough work of redefining how systems and institutions operate
and see themselves.
Youth showed us the crucial role that public
systems workers play in their trajectory into, and
out of, homelessness.
As we move towards an integrated systems approach, it is essential that we scale up, scale out,
and scale deep. This means that we must simultaneously make changes at broad policy levels,
foster change across all systems and communities, and ensure frontline workers have the tools,
training, supports, and workload to engage in this shift.
To do so, we need to tackle how workers’ roles and positions in
some systems may change during the shift to prevention.
Often a shift in organizational culture is required, and this can be very difficult work.
Paramount to this shift is mobilizing the knowledge and experience of the sector to ensure
that workers are equipped to implement preventative services and supports that produce
better outcomes for young people.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 121