January 24 is International Day of Education as proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018 to celebrate the role of education for peace and development.
Education and knowledge sharing is vital in the work to end homelessness. It:
- Leads to better, evidence-based solutions
- Supports prevention, not just crisis response
- Centers lived and living experience and Indigenous perspectives. Education isn’t just academic or professional but includes learning from people who have experienced homelessness to better inform program design and ensure supports are relevant, culturally appropriate and respectful.
Through education and knowledge-sharing, we can better understand root causes, important history, systems, and create a shared understanding and commitment to collaborative solutions while engaging those impacted by the system.
In commemoration of International Day of Education, we’ve compiled a list of online learning, and other resources.
This list is not exhaustive, as there are many great resources available from the organizations listed below, and others that we hope to share in the future.
Courses, Training, and Webinars
All courses, training, and webinars listed below are free.
Homelessness Among Women and Gender-Diverse People
This training course by the Homelessness Learning Hub is meant to explore the unique causes and conditions of homelessness among women and gender-diverse people. Factors such as poverty, violence and discrimination create housing barriers for women and gender-diverse people. Learn how to apply a gender-equity lens to develop and implement housing services and supports for women and gender-diverse people.
Understanding the Root of Indigenous Homelessness
In this Making the Shift webinar, Kim Kakakaway, Indigenous Training & relations Consultant for A Way Home Canada, shares important truth, definitions, and stories around topics such as pre-colonization, residential schools, intergenerational trauma, and Indigenous resilience. This webinar was created as a part of specially curated knowledge suites for early-stage researchers serving the youth homelessness sector.
Seven Principles of Engagement and Inclusion of People with Lived Experience
Presented by the Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network for the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, this presentation provides principles developed by a team of lived experts to define rights when it comes to decision-making and research tables. Learn about how you can utilize these developed tools to meaningfully engage with people with lived experience at diverse decision-making tables including government consultations, policy and program creation, and service delivery.
Edmonton Housing Month 2025
Each November, Homeward Trust in collaboration with sector partners, hosts housing month to raise awareness of the need for; and importance of, safe, quality, affordable housing in Edmonton. Throughout Housing Month, we invite people to join us for a series of lunch and learn webinars, opportunities to visit Supportive Housing sites and many other live events to celebrate National Housing Day and collective efforts to end Edmonton homelessness. We invite you to join us in 2026 and past webinars can be viewed on demand here: https://www.housingmonth.ca/where-and-when
More online learning resources:
Homeless Learning Hub: Provides learning materials for the homeless-serving sector.
A Way Home Canada: Is a national coalition, reimagining solutions to youth homelessness through transformations in policy, planning and practice.
OrgCode: Provides free training videos and short informational YouTube videos.
Definition of Indigenous Homelessness: Resource report by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness.
Books
We’ve compiled a longer list of insightful and meaningful books from diverse authors that can be found here.
All Our Sisters: Stories of Homeless Women In Canada by Susan Scott
With an agreement to tell their stories in the way they would want to have them told, Susan Scott interviewed more than 60 women facing homelessness in Canada. The stories in this book highlight many of the underlying problems women face including personal histories of abuse, addiction, the systemic conditions of gentrification, and lack of social services sensitive to women’s needs.
The Book on Ending Homelessness by Iain De Jong
Iain De Jong strives to provide workable strategies, insights and approaches informed by his experiences working with hundreds of communities. This book offers a range of solutions while stimulating discussion and encouraging action-oriented dialogue on how to effectively respond to the crisis of homelessness.
Late-Life Homelessness: Experiences of Disadvantage and Unequal Aging by Amanda Grenier
Based on a four-year ethnographic study of late-life homelessness in Montreal, Amanda Grenier shares insight on the often-neglected issue of homelessness among older people. Grenier draws attention to disadvantage over time and how the condition of being unhoused disrupts a person’s ability to age in place leading to unequal aging.
A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott
Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott shares her insight into the ongoing legacy of colonialism through the diverse intersecting topics of race, parenthood, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, writing, and representation. Elliot’s writing draws on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma in the creation of this bold and profound book.
