COH-AWH-What_Would_it_Take

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Professional Conduct & Training • Establish “no bias” policies and training on intersectionality in all social services supporting youth • Ensure all staff are trained in anti-discrimination, anti-oppression, LGBTQ2S+ allyship, empathy, trauma-informed care, and cultural competency • Ensure all staff training and practice is trauma-informed, culturally competent, and tailored to each youth’s unique needs Interventions • Establish a 24hr helpline with information about services, referrals, and availability, ensuring that helpline staff are trained in empathy and anti-oppression • Educate community members about services and how to refer youth • Increase outreach to youth that are at risk or experiencing hidden homelessness • Ensure the availability of services targeted to particular groups of youth (e.g., Indigenous youth) • Establish a youth-friendly online database of services in each community • Provide more supports and services to help young people leave sex work, if they want to • Ensure harm reduction programming makes the connections between trauma and substance use, and supports young people in their recovery from trauma IMPROVING EMERGENCY SERVICE PROVISION – YOUTH’S THOUGHTS For decades, the youth youth homelessness sector has been tasked with solving a problem it didn’t create, with minimal funds and an ever-increasing demand. The crucial supports provided by the youth homelessness sector continue to be life-saving for youth across the country, and agencies have tirelessly stretched dollars, staff, and resources to do so. In focus groups across Canada, youth identified key improvements to these services they wanted to see. WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 94
While the recommendations below cannot be considered prevention unless they are provided in the context of immediate access to housing, they are important to many youth and need to be highlighted here. Proposed improvements included: • Provide increased and consistent funding to all agencies and organizations offering emergency supports to youth, including particularly in communities in which there are few services • Expand the availability of emergency shelters and services for youth experiencing homelessness, including the availability of emergency shelters for youth fleeing abuse • Provide life skills training within all youth shelters • Provide youth with storage lockers in shelters • Increase the availability of animal-friendly youth shelters MOVING FORWARD Youth’s comments on the youth homelessness sector demonstrate two key things: (1) the youth homelessness sector has not been designed to prevent youth homelessness, and (2) the youth homelessness sector needs increased investment and coordination to better prevent young people from becoming homeless, and to help youth transition out of homelessness quickly. Importantly, in many communities the youth homelessness sector is reorienting itself to prevention. This means investing in system coordination, early intervention programs, and housing stabilization efforts to rapidly re-house youth. For some organizations, this requires a re-thinking of approach at every level, including the frontline. As these shifts occur, improved access and availability of services must be a cornerstone of this work. As we shift towards prevention, these young people remind us of the urgent action needed across systems to make youth homelessness prevention possible. “A lot of agencies work independently from one another, and they can do external referrals, but a lot of them don’t in larger communities. And there should be provincially set standards, where agencies and social services work together to be able to fill in those gaps that they’re missing.” KAMLOOPS YOUTH WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 95
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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
Page 43 and 44: MOVING FORWARD To ensure better out
Page 45 and 46: 1.2 LACK OF HOUSING While youth vie
Page 47 and 48: Public Housing Challenges The lack
Page 49 and 50: MOVING FORWARD The solutions propos
Page 51 and 52: “Well, for me, like, because of r
Page 53 and 54: MOVING FORWARD Indigenous youth vie
Page 55 and 56: “I have friends that are in foste
Page 57 and 58: MOVING FORWARD While youth describe
Page 59 and 60: 1.5 HARMFUL SOCIETAL BELIEFS & VALU
Page 61 and 62: “A lot of systems are still set u
Page 63 and 64: ADDRESSING ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERI
Page 65 and 66: WHAT WOULD IT TAKE? 2. SYSTEMS PREV
Page 67 and 68: 2.1 EDUCATION For young people who
Page 69 and 70: 2. Professional Training For the mo
Page 71 and 72: Investments • Provide significant
Page 73 and 74: “Educating teachers, principals,
Page 75 and 76: Experiences in Foster Care Many you
Page 77 and 78: Difficult Transitions from Care Tra
Page 79 and 80: “My parents were good enough at l
Page 81 and 82: 2.3 HEALTHCARE & ADDICTIONS For you
Page 83 and 84: An additional issue raised by many
Page 85 and 86: MOVING FORWARD Without a Home: The
Page 87 and 88: 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: PREVENTING YOUTH HOMELESSNESS IN TH
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 and 140: 6. Seek to provide highly integrate
Page 141 and 142: 3. Foster meaningful youth engageme
Page 143 and 144: Gaetz, S., O’Grady, B., Kidd, S.,
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Statistics Canada. (2011). National
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