👍⃢📰 Great News❕’s Post

In preparing for the webinar on 10-year housing and homelessness plans, one of the biggest gaps I’ve observed in Ontario’s historical plans is how little they engage the full breadth of municipal governance and departments. Historically, these plans have often been framed through the lens of a single municipal department, typically social services or homelessness, fulfilling its legislative responsibilities under the Housing Services Act or, federally, as the community entity under Reaching Home. That made sense when the focus was primarily on managing social housing and homelessness services. But today, municipalities are taking leadership—or at least seriously grappling with how to build deeply affordable housing. This older approach tends to isolate the plan from other key parts of the municipality, such as planning, finance, economic development, and infrastructure. Yet these are precisely the levers needed to deliver housing outcomes. If our collective focus, at all levels of government, is in fact building (say it with me now) deeply affordable housing, then we have a paradox. The U.S. shows the same tension. As Einstein & Willison (2024) found, most city plans focus on services, mental health, or crisis response. Housing supply may be stated as a goal, but the tools to deliver it are often disconnected: - Only 16% of large-city housing plans linked zoning and homelessness - Cities with high unsheltered homelessness were no more likely to do so than those with lower rates - Just 40% of mayors cited housing costs as a main driver We see similar issues here in Ontario, partly because of how provincial and federal responsibilities have been downloaded to municipalities. One clear example is the disconnect in how housing tools are managed. The Housing Accelerator Fund and housing needs assessments are often led by planning or infrastructure departments, while housing and homelessness plans sit elsewhere. That’s fine in theory, if the next round of H+H plans include shared accountability and governance structures across the corporation. Without that, the full spectrum of municipal tools needed to build (deeply affordable) housing won’t be mobilized. Read the article here: https://lnkd.in/gWT3PUBW

Las Cruces will see more than $11 million in new investments for housing and homelessness projects as part of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s statewide announcement of $120 million dedicated to tackling housing and homelessness. As NMDWS Cabinet Secretary Sarita Nair shared, “We know that building more housing makes housing more affordable, that preventing homelessness is MORE cost-effective than shelter, and that transitioning people into stable housing requires wrap-around support and thoughtful interventions. Today’s investments DOUBLE DOWN on exactly these approaches.” These funds are critical for our community as we continue advancing PROVEN strategies: ✅ Expanding affordable housing supply ✅ Preventing homelessness before it starts ✅ Providing supportive housing with the services people need to thrive This investment is a major step forward for Las Cruces—and a reflection of our shared commitment to building a healthier, stronger community for all. https://lnkd.in/gj7uckC6 #AffordableHousing #yimby #lihtc #lascruces #newmexico #housingforall #HousingFirst #supportivehousing

David Wooldridge, the 500th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, wants Australia to become the first country in the world to end homelessness. David’s not-for-profit organisation, the Tiny Homes Foundation, plans to get people off the streets by building tens of thousands of homes on both public and private land. For public projects, councils need to provide public land at nominal rent. For private projects, homeowners need to consent to the erection of a dwelling in their backyard. Under one model, the Tiny Homes Foundation would incentivise homeowners by building the home for them in exchange for 10 years of free rent. The Tiny Homes Foundation – which David had been running as a side project until recently retiring from full-time work – has already built some dwellings. To roll out housing on a large scale, two key things need to fall into place. First, David needs to secure the funding. Second, local and state governments need to become more flexible with their planning and zoning laws, to allow for the construction of tiny homes. Before founding the Tiny Homes Foundation in 2016, David spent time speaking to people who were homeless – partly to provide them with emotional support and partly to learn about the issues they were dealing with. That gave David the idea to raise money to build a community refuge – but after researching overseas initiatives David concluded that an even better solution would be to give people their own homes. David believes in the ‘housing first’ model – instead of expecting homeless people to address personal issues before giving them access to social housing, you give them a home so they have the stability and security they need to address those issues. David says that model is not only more compassionate, it also produces better results at a lower cost over the long term. For David, homelessness isn’t a complex puzzle – it’s a straightforward challenge of building enough homes and the infrastructure to support them. The real obstacle, he argues, is not knowledge or technology but political and public will. And that will is hampered by the fact that so much homelessness is hidden: in spare rooms, on couches and in parked cars, far from public view. Eliminating homelessness might sound utopian, but David is convinced it’s within reach. The resources, knowledge and models already exist – all that’s missing is the collective resolve to act. David has laid out a bold vision and is committed to turning that vision into reality. #networking #relationships #housing *** Follow the #500lunches hashtag to read about all 500 of my lunches ***

A Different Perspective on Housing First I recently read an article criticizing Housing First as a failed approach. While I understand the concerns raised, my experience working directly with individuals and families exiting homelessness tells a more complete story. Housing First is not a cure-all — but it does provide a foundation for stability. The challenge isn’t that Housing First “fails,” but that too often, housing is treated as the final step instead of the first one. Without continued case management, trauma-informed care, and community support, people risk falling back into homelessness. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working in nearly every corner of housing stability services: - As Director of Family Shelters and a Respite Program, I oversaw operations, staff, and direct support for families in crisis. - I worked as a housing case manager, including serving as a mobile case manager with Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) clients. - I was trained as a Community Health Worker (CHW), bridging the gap between housing, healthcare, and recovery. - I served as a Resident Services Coordinator for low-income housing, helping residents stabilize and thrive once housed. - And as Director of Clark County’s Coordinated Outreach Program, I oversaw teams going directly into encampments to connect people with housing and vital services. From all of these roles, I’ve seen the same truth: when people have both housing and long-term, trauma-informed support, they don’t just survive — they succeed. That’s why I founded Next Step Housing. Our mission is to ensure that housing is not just the end of homelessness, but the beginning of long-term recovery, stability, and integration into community life. Rather than abandoning Housing First, let’s strengthen it with the supports people truly need. What are your thoughts on Housing First and the importance of retention services in making it truly effective? #HousingFirst #HousingStability #NextStepHousing #TraumaInformedCare #SocialDeterminantsOfHealth Sean Moore

There isn't a precise figure for the number of people becoming homeless every day in the U.S., but data shows a record-high number of people experienced homelessness in a single night in January 2024 (771,480). To understand the scale of new homelessness, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reported that 70,642 more people were homeless in 2023 than in 2022, marking the largest increase in recorded history. Key Statistics on Homelessness in the U.S. Total Homeless Population: In January 2024, a record 771,480 people experienced homelessness on a single night. Annual Increase: From 2022 to 2023, there were 70,642 more people experiencing homelessness, a 12.1% increase over the previous year. Largest Increase: This 2023 increase was the largest year-over-year increase since data collection began in 2007, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Why an "Every Day" Number is Hard to Pin Down Point-in-Time Counts: HUD conducts a Point-in-Time (PIT) estimate each January, counting people experiencing homelessness on a specific night. This provides a snapshot but doesn't track the constant inflow and outflow. Dynamic Situation: Homelessness is a fluid experience. Many people cycle in and out of homelessness, making a daily count impossible with current data collection methods. Focus on Trends: The focus in data collection is on the overall trend, such as the significant annual increases. Factors Driving the Increase Housing Shortage: A lack of affordable housing is a primary driver of rising homelessness. Inflation and Economic Hardship: Rising inflation and declining incomes for middle and lower-income households contribute to homelessness. Expiration of COVID-19 Protections: The end of COVID-era protection programs, such as rent relief, coincided with the surge in homelessness.

Lately, I’ve noticed the concept of “housing readiness” resurfacing in conversations about addressing homelessness. As someone who has worked in this field for over 15 years and seen substantial efforts to debunk this narrative, I find its resurgence troubling, both philosophically and practically. Philosophically, “housing readiness” contradicts the principle that housing is a basic human right. We don’t ask if someone is “ready” for healthcare when they’re sick, or “ready” for food when they’re hungry. Why do we make housing conditional? Practically, the concept is not only ineffective, it is harmful. It suggests people must behave in certain ways or meet arbitrary criteria before being deemed “deserving” of stable housing. In reality, it is often the lack of housing that creates or intensifies the very challenges used to justify withholding it. Let me give an example from my experience working with youth. When a young person becomes homeless for the first time, it is often after a crisis like a family breakdown, abuse, or rejection. They may be angry, scared, distrustful, or resistant to help. Maybe they are not in school or they are declining certain types of support. Through the lens of “housing readiness,” this young person may be seen as not ready for housing. But here is the problem: delaying housing in the hope that someone becomes "ready" often causes more harm. That young person — now in a shelter, couch-surfing, or unsheltered — is more likely to be exposed to exploitation, violence, or substance use. Not because of who they are, but because of the risks that homelessness creates. Trauma compounds. Survival becomes the priority. Over time, the path to stability becomes harder. Fast forward a year. That same young person may now be facing even more complex challenges, such as trauma, exploitation, or substance use. These struggles are the outcome of a system that was not prepared to support them when they needed it most. The idea of housing readiness places the burden of change on the individual, instead of on a system that should be prepared to provide housing and support immediately and unconditionally. If we truly want to end homelessness, we need to reject the idea that people must prove they are worthy of housing. The solution to homelessness is not readiness. It is housing. So the next time you hear someone mention “housing readiness,” I encourage you to challenge it. Ask whether the real barrier is the individual, or a system that is not yet prepared to meet the housing and support needs of the community. If we shift our perspective, we can begin to see this not as an issue of individual failure, but as a design challenge. One that calls on all of us to build a system that is comprehensive, responsive, and rooted in the belief that housing is a human right. The responsibility lies with us — not to decide when people are ready, but to build systems that are ready for them.

Protect Housing Vouchers — Protect Our Community By Julien Laurent, Founder & Executive Director, Unity Bridge Project When we talk about homelessness in Long Beach, the conversation often turns to numbers: 3,595 people experiencing homelessness in 2025 — a 6.5% increase from the year before. But behind each number is a family, a student, or a neighbor trying to hold on to stability in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country . One of the most effective tools we have had in recent years is the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program. Since 2021, these vouchers have kept 582 families housed in Long Beach . For many, it meant the difference between sleeping in a car and keeping their children in school, or between escaping abuse and falling into homelessness. But this lifeline is under threat. Unless Congress acts, the program will end on December 31, 2025, putting hundreds of families at risk of losing their housing . At Unity Bridge Project, we work with LGBTQ+ youth, survivors of trauma, and those experiencing homelessness for the first time. We see every day how fragile stability can be. Families who lose their vouchers aren’t just losing housing — they’re losing safety, community, and hope. Ending the voucher program doesn’t just fail our neighbors — it hurts our entire city. When people are forced back into homelessness, the costs ripple through emergency services, hospitals, and schools. It is far more cost-effective — and humane — to keep people housed than to try to rehouse them after the fact. We need our leaders at every level — City, County, State, and Federal — to fight to protect Emergency Housing Vouchers. Long Beach has proven that when given the resources, we can use them effectively and get results. Now we need to make sure those resources don’t disappear. Our community deserves more than temporary solutions. We need long-term commitments that keep families safe, youth supported, and every person housed with dignity.

Thousands of Australian children are homeless without a parent or guardian and hundreds have taken their own lives despite being known to specialist homelessness services. New data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has for the first time revealed the scale of children experiencing homelessness alone, with the statistics showing one child known to homelessness services dies, on average, every week. Homelessness Australia CEO Kate Colvin said the report showed 13,300 unaccompanied children aged 12-17 sought out specialist homelessness services in 2023-24. Ms Colvin said of those children, 2443 were aged 12-14 and 96 percent were alone, with 3 in 4 unaccompanied children, who were homeless when support started were still homeless when support ended in 2023-24. “It’s unthinkable that children are homeless and alone, and services don’t have the resources to meet their needs,” she said. Ms Colvin said in a separate AIHW report, new data also revealed alarming statistics about death rates among children who had been in contact with specialist homelessness services over the last decade to 2023. She said 520 children who had been in contact with a specialist homelessness service died in the decade 2012/13 to 2023/24, accounting for 1 in 13 of all child deaths over that period, with suicide the leading cause of death for children aged 12-17, who had been in contact with a homeless service. “Most children who are homeless without a parent or guardian are fleeing homes where they have experienced violence, abandonment or neglect,” she said. “For younger children who come to homelessness services alone, this means helping to resolve family issues so they can return home or identifying an appropriate alternative guardian, and for older children often means ongoing support in safe, age appropriate housing if a return home is not safe.” Melbourne City Mission spokesperson and Home Time founder Shorna Moore said the frontline service was seeing more children turning up traumatised and alone in desperate need of help to escape homelessness. “We see how a child’s trauma is exacerbated when services can’t provide the care, and a pathway to a safe home that they need, and sadly children are dying as a result. It is horrifying that over the past 10 years, a child known to homelessness services has died on average every week,” Ms Moore said. “These statistics are gut-wrenching, and should make decision makers sit up, and invest in dedicated support and housing for children so no child is trapped in homelessness,” she said. Read the full story and suggested actions ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gYDuCpat #homelessness Free access to all Newsreel stories #nopaywall

Tenancy Skills Institute's new report reveals almost 5% of renters at risk of homelessness right now. Entitled 'The Next Wave of Homelessness: Tenancies at Risk in the Private Rental Market', our report highlights that currently there could be as many as 350,000+ Australians vulnerable to homelessness —an alarming possibility, especially when homelessness services are struggling to meet demand. We thank ABC Radio Brisbane's Steve Austin for an on-air chat this morning with our CEO, Paul Tommasini, to announce the report. Paul shared how property managers in the private rental market are often the first people to identify when tenancies are at risk of failing. With the current lack of housing stock and low vacancy rates, when a tenancy fails, the household becomes vulnerable to homelessness. The first-ever report of its kind, we asked property managers in Australia & New Zealand, who manage over 83,000 rental properties, to identify how many tenancies on their rent roll were at-risk of failing. 🔸 The Risk is Clear. The survey data reveals that 4.84% of Australasian tenancies surveyed are at risk of failing. When applying this trend across Australia, the number of people potentially living in at-risk households is almost 3x the current number of people experiencing homelessness (Census Night, ABS 2021). 🔸 The Sentiment is Promising. Research indicates Australasian property managers have a positive sentiment towards participating in early intervention to prevent homelessness and 89% of property managers surveyed would use, with tenant consent, an efficient, online tool to connect tenants/renters to support services. 🔸 Opportunities are Available. The report highlights that with a deliberate shift towards targeted early intervention, supported by effective tools and resources and the development of positive and purposeful relationships between stakeholders in the private rental market and support services, the potential to effect genuine early intervention can be increased exponentially. That is, to turn the tide and prevent the next wave of homelessness. We thank our valued property manager network for sharing their insights, including via Real Estate Institute of Australia, Real Estate Institute of the ACT (REIACT), The REIQ, Real Estate Institute of Tasmania, Cloudstaff, Mitchell PT and MRI Software. Read the report here (or contact us for a copy): https://lnkd.in/gm4n63ez Listen to Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) interview here (timecode: 51:55): https://lnkd.in/gdkyck3t The Tenancy Skills Institute is Australia's leader in homelessness prevention and early intervention, using an education and cross-sector partnership framework. We are a part of inCommunity Inc., a not-for-profit organisation leading solutions to address the issue of homelessness since 1982.

I’m delighted to share the launch of the Downtown Homelessness Task Force, a powerful new collaboration between the City of Austin, the Downtown Austin Alliance, and many other local, state, and community partners. This initiative embodies our shared commitment to tackling homelessness by mitigating inflow (ensuring people remain housed, are not released to the streets, or are not brought to the streets of Austin) and maximizing outflow (ensuring that every unhoused individual can quickly and effectively transition into shelter, housing, or diversion programs with dignity). What makes this task force especially promising is the breadth of partnerships behind it. The partners joining us in this effort include Integral Care, Downtown Austin Community Court, Central Health, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, APD, Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO), Trinity Center, Travis County Attorney’s Office, Austin-Travis County EMS, the District Attorney’s Office, and many more! This truly is a collaborative effort to drive compassionate and effective change. By year’s end, this task force will deliver a clear framework of policies, partnership strategies, and implementation timelines—all anchored in a results-driven approach. Although geographic in focus, this model of collaboration and coordinated action has the potential to become a template for replication across the city. By honing our strategies downtown and producing actionable policy recommendations, the task force can inform and inspire similar efforts in other neighborhoods. This new taskforce is a bold step forward, fueled by optimism, shared responsibility, and the belief that meaningful progress is possible when agencies unite around a common goal. I look forward to co-chairing this collaborative group to create lasting solutions to homelessness. Read our press release here: https://lnkd.in/g3Xxm--4