COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

3. Engage in the ongoing review of current system barriers to accessing health and mental
health supports for youth at risk of homelessness and experiencing homelessness. Remove
or alter identified barriers to accessing care, including cost, discrimination, citizenship,
proof of identity, and other factors. Meaningfully involve youth with lived experience of
homelessness in these reviews and the development of alternative health and mental health
care delivery mechanisms (e.g., mobile health clinics, community health hubs).
4. Collaborate with communities to create rapid care access pathways for homeless youth and
their families with severe health and mental health needs.
5. Develop and invest in capacity building initiatives which support medical professionals to
better meet the needs of youth at risk of homelessness or experiencing homelessness. These
initiatives should span from community service direct care levels through to mainstream
service domains (e.g., emergency rooms, first responders, etc.).
6. Expand the availability of youth-specific mental health and addictions supports and services,
including youth-specific rehabilitation centres. Targeted investments should be made to
increase the availability of mental health and addictions services in communities that often
lack these services, including rural, remote, and Indigenous communities.
Provincial/Territorial Ministries Responsible for Income Supports
1. Increase income supports to reflect the real costs of living in all communities, ensuring that
young people and their families are not forced to live in poverty because they are unable to
work (temporarily or permanently).
2. Increase income supports for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses, ensuring these
amounts are livable and enable these community members to meaningfully participate in
civic life and their communities.
3. Increase the accessibility, simplicity, and speed of obtaining income supports of all kinds.
4. Implement policies and mechanisms to ensure that people who are transitioning between
different forms of income supports are provided with income during the transition.
WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 136