Question Period Note: Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy

What is the Government of Canada doing to address homelessness?

• Homelessness is a complex issue and our government is committed to continuing to work with partners and communities to move towards the goal of eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada by 2030.

• The Government of Canada is investing nearly $4 billion over nine years to address homelessness through Reaching Home. This includes an investment of $562 million for Reaching Home over two years, announced in Budget 2022 and starting in April 2024, to support communities in their vital work to prevent and reduce homelessness.

• Budget 2022 also announced $18 million over three years to conduct action research on the additional measures needed to support communities in eliminating chronic homelessness.

Budget 2022: On April 7, 2022, the Budget announced:
* an investment of $562.2 million over two years through Reaching Home, beginning in 2024-25;
* $18.1 million over three years, beginning in 2022-23, to conduct action research to identify what further measures are required to eliminate chronic homelessness;
* a commitment to eliminating chronic homelessness in Canada by 2030.

Mandate letter priority - Federal Housing Advocate: Effective February 21, 2022, Marie-Josée Houle was appointed the Federal Housing Advocate for a three year term. The Advocate promotes and protects housing rights in Canada through independent research, consultation of individuals with lived experience, working with vulnerable groups and civil society organizations as well as reviewing and assessing submissions on systemic housing issues under federal jurisdiction.

Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy
As part of the National Housing Strategy, the Government launched Reaching Home in 2019. This community-based program funds specific communities through the Designated Communities, Indigenous Homelessness, Rural and Remote Homelessness and Territorial Homelessness streams. Funding is provided to 64 Designated Communities (urban centres), the three territorial capitals, 30 Indigenous communities and rural and remote communities across Canada to support their efforts in preventing and reducing homelessness. It funds Indigenous partners to support distinctions-based approaches to homelessness services. The Community Capacity and Innovation stream supports communities with the implementation of Coordinated Access and supports innovation in the sector.

• Reaching Home in Quebec: the Designated Communities stream and the Rural and Remote Homelessness stream are governed by a Canada-Quebec Agreement that reflects the jurisdictions and priorities of both governments. The Indigenous Homelessness stream is administered by Infrastructure Canada throughout the province, and is not under a Canada-Quebec Agreement.

Reaching Home streamlines access to housing and supports for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, coordinating local services for community-wide outcomes using real-time data.

Between April 1, 2019 and September 7, 2023, Reaching Home’s four regional funding streams* and COVID-19 funding supported more than 6,700 projects to assist people experiencing and at risk of homelessness. These projects focus on program activity areas such as: Basic Needs Services; Housing Placement; Prevention and Shelter Diversion; Economic Integration Services; Capital Investments; Coordination of Resources and Data Collection; and COVID-19 Temporary Accommodations.

*Designated Communities; Indigenous Homelessness; Rural and Remote Homelessness; and, Territorial Homelessness. 
Through these projects, 122,472 people received homelessness prevention support such as rental assistance and landlord/family mediation, and 69,846 people have been placed in more stable housing. As part of the federal response to COVID-19, Reaching Home enabled the creation of 27,291 temporary accommodation spaces to ensure physical distancing in shelters. Funding also enabled income assistance, job training, education programs, and support to find employment.

With the help of emergency funding for the homelessness sector, communities took urgent action to try to reduce the spread of COVID-19 among those experiencing homelessness, including efforts to reduce overcrowding in shelters, establish isolation spaces and place individuals in hotels/motels.

During the pandemic, the federal government invested a total of $1.3 billion in additional funding for Reaching Home to support communities in addressing the needs of people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness. This includes $394.2 million through the COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, $299.4 million in additional investments for 2021-22 announced in the 2020 Fall Economic Statement and $567 million over two years, beginning in 2022-23, announced in Budget 2021. The funding also supports communities implementing Coordinated Access and associated local data systems (e.g. unique identifier lists) and enhancing training and technical assistance.

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