Homeward Trust Edmonton Responds to Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy

Homeward Trust Edmonton proudly supports the release of the federal government’s strategy unveiled this morning to reduce chronic homelessness by half over the next ten years.

With Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, the Government of Canada has committed increased resources toward the goal of ending homelessness and in support of the National Housing Strategy. Reaching Home also brings an increased emphasis on leading practices and strategies that have been instrumental in the strong progress made under Edmonton’s Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness – specifically, a “Coordinated Access” approach to matching services with need, along with a focus on real-time data to drive ongoing improvements to how programs and services are implemented.

Homeward Trust’s CEO Susan McGee notes: “Our organization sees the importance of data-driven strategies and systems planning, and we’ve seen the benefits of these policies already within our community.”

Reaching Home underscores the role of community-driven approaches to addressing homelessness but also elevates the need for communities to plan and act together as a single system. In Edmonton, this kind of coordinated planning and implementation is well-established; for example, the use of a shared By Name List (BNL) has made a huge impact in understanding needs. The By Name List is a list of people connected to Coordinated Access and assessed as experiencing homelessness requiring referral to sector programs and resources.

The increased emphasis on Indigenous homelessness reduction is also an important step forward. The Strategy recognizes the colonial legacy of Indigenous homelessness and builds on the wisdom heard across the country about the need for dedicated and community-based responses. Indigenous peoples represent only 6% of Edmonton’s population but makeup about half of those identified as experiencing homelessness.

While further details need to be developed for implementation, Homeward Trust Edmonton strongly endorses Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. McGee adds, “It is important to understand that federal investment alone will not end homelessness. Our focus on outcomes and measurable success can provide a foundation through which we can build broad community support. It is critical that we work with all orders of government to leverage this significant opportunity as we strive to end chronic homelessness in Canada.”