COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

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COMMUNITIES 1. Develop and implement a community-level strategy or plan to Prevent and End Youth Homelessness with ambitious targets, supported by a targeted investment. This Strategy should: a) Align with or reinforce the need for provincial/territorial strategies that explicitly reference the human rights of youth experiencing homelessness. b) Focus on clear and measurable outcomes, milestones, and criteria. c) Adopt the core principles of Housing First for Youth (Gaetz, 2017) as the guiding philosophy of a community-led strategy. These principles should guide communities of all sizes. d) Implement an independent review process to assess progress towards ending youth homelessness. e) Implement policies and practices that proactively address the unique needs of particular populations deemed to be at greater risk of homelessness, including Indigenous youth, racialized youth, newcomer youth, and youth who identify as LGBTQ2S+. f) Implement a focused prevention strategy to support young people who are under 16 and at risk of homelessness, supported by targeted investments. g) Work with Indigenous communities to develop and implement a focused homelessness prevention strategy for Indigenous youth and their families, supported by targeted investments. Meaningfully involve young people with lived experience in the creation and monitoring of this strategy or plan, compensating them for their work. h) Act as a “living, breathing document” that is re-visited and revised as community learning emerges from efforts to implement strategies therein. 2. Prioritize and support systems integration (where appropriate) in all efforts to proactively address the needs of youth at risk of homelessness or experiencing homelessness. As a component of these integrated efforts, communities should: a) Engage provincial/territorial government systems (Child Welfare, Health, Education, Justice, and Income Supports) to ensure they understand and commit to their roles and responsibilities in addressing youth homelessness. These systems should adopt a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to supporting youth at risk of homelessness or experiencing homelessness. b) Develop and employ a standardized assessment tool that can be used across systems to assist in determining homelessness risk for youth. c) Promote strategic partnerships between youth-serving organizations and agencies, schools, health care providers, child protection services, law enforcement, and other institutions that interact with young people. d) Prioritize rapid youth homelessness diversion and re-housing efforts. WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 140
3. Foster meaningful youth engagement in the development of community policies and responses that affect youth at risk of homelessness and experiencing homelessness. Ensure the provision of necessary supports (reimbursement, compensation, accessibility, etc.) at all events, forums, and discussion groups. 4. In reflecting on practice and programmatic responses to youth homelessness as articulated in the community-level strategy, community organizations should ensure preventionbased activities exist within the continuum of supports provided to youth. To this end, all communities should: a) Provide prevention and place-based services and supports for young people between the ages of 13-24. b) Follow the definition of prevention articulated in A New Direction – A Framework for Homelessness Prevention, which stresses that programs and interventions that purport to prevent youth homelessness must be housing led. c) Retool emergency and crisis services to support shelter diversion and other place-based supports at the first point of contact. d) Ensure that all young people who come in to contact with homelessness services, in either the adult or youth systems, are provided with interventions to bolster family and natural supports. e) Support youth to achieve outcomes beyond housing stability, including health and wellbeing, engagement with education and/or employment, attainment of life skills, meaningful social inclusion, connection to culture, and the building of natural and family supports. WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 141
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WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? Youth Across Ca
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This research was made possible thr
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Are we making sig
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YOUTH’S PERSPECTIVES ON PREVENTIO
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Youth’s Proposed Solutions • In
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• Lack of education for youth on
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“My trauma led me down a wrong pa
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5. Align ministerial, departmental,
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INTEGRATED GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS 1. W
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INTRODUCTION Youth homelessness in
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Systems change is difficult work. T
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Finally, youth homelessness prevent
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CONSULTATION PROCESS National consu
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Prior to beginning the study, resea
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62 % Self-identified as currently e
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WHAT IS YOUTH HOMELESSNESS PREVENTI
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YOUTH’S PERSPECTIVES ON PREVENTIO
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WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 1. STRUCTURAL P
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“I think that affordable housing
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LOW SOCIAL ASSISTANCE RATES Many yo
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LOW WAGES & TIGHT JOB MARKETS In th
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MOVING FORWARD To ensure better out
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1.2 LACK OF HOUSING While youth vie
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Public Housing Challenges The lack
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MOVING FORWARD The solutions propos
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“Well, for me, like, because of r
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MOVING FORWARD Indigenous youth vie
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“I have friends that are in foste
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MOVING FORWARD While youth describe
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1.5 HARMFUL SOCIETAL BELIEFS & VALU
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“A lot of systems are still set u
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ADDRESSING ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERI
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WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 2. SYSTEMS PREV
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2.1 EDUCATION For young people who
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2. Professional Training For the mo
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Investments • Provide significant
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“Educating teachers, principals,
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Experiences in Foster Care Many you
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Difficult Transitions from Care Tra
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“My parents were good enough at l
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2.3 HEALTHCARE & ADDICTIONS For you
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An additional issue raised by many
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MOVING FORWARD Without a Home: The
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2.4 YOUTH HOMELESSNESS SECTOR In fo
Page 89 and 90: “Requirements to access help some
Page 91 and 92: “Yeah, when I first moved in [to
Page 93 and 94: PREVENTING YOUTH HOMELESSNESS IN TH
Page 95 and 96: While the recommendations below can
Page 97 and 98: 2.5 CRIMINAL JUSTICE A common conce
Page 99 and 100: PREVENTING YOUTH HOMELESSNESS IN TH
Page 101 and 102: MOVING FORWARD Canadian research sh
Page 103 and 104: WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 3. PREVENTING I
Page 105 and 106: ADDRESSING FAMILY CONFLICT, ABUSE,
Page 107 and 108: “This is real. We did not choose
Page 109 and 110: Lack of services and supports also
Page 111 and 112: MOVING FORWARD Youth across the cou
Page 113 and 114: ADDRESSING SOCIAL EXCLUSION & ISOLA
Page 115 and 116: “I’m just trying to say that, i
Page 117 and 118: ADDRESSING VIOLENCE IN THE COMMUNIT
Page 119 and 120: YOUTH’S MESSAGES TO ALL LEVELS OF
Page 121 and 122: We need to dramatically shift our a
Page 123 and 124: RECOMMENDATIONS 1 GOVERNMENT OF CAN
Page 125 and 126: 5. Align ministerial, departmental,
Page 127 and 128: 2. Embed youth homelessness prevent
Page 129 and 130: INTEGRATED GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS 1. W
Page 131 and 132: 3. Require that all school boards a
Page 133 and 134: 5. Offer comprehensive, youth-focus
Page 135 and 136: 8. Systematically investigate and e
Page 137 and 138: Provincial/Territorial Ministries R
Page 139: 6. Seek to provide highly integrate
Page 143 and 144: Gaetz, S., O’Grady, B., Kidd, S.,
Page 145: Statistics Canada. (2011). National
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