Homelessness Prevention Program

Yes. However, because our rent subsidies are provided short term, we stay away from subsidizing someone’s housing that will be unaffordable to them once the subsidy ends.

Sometimes people need a subsidy for the first few months of moving into a new place, which can help them get settled in before they are ready to pay their full rent by themselves.

Often while we are providing someone a rental subsidy, we can also work with them to apply for disability assistance if they qualify, find full-time or part-time employment to increase their income, or support with budgeting and strategies to reduce costs in other areas of their lives, like accessing the food bank more often.  

In the immediate term, we can support someone in finding shelter beds, or safety planning if someone is living outside. Short-term, we can support someone to access temporary housing, like a recovery or transition house, or even housing that isn’t ideal but can be used as a steppingstone towards more stable housing down the road.

Longer term, we can support individuals to reach their housing goals, which might include getting into subsidized housing or living without roommates.

In practice, this might look like securing a shelter bed for that evening, then finding a room at a single room occupancy building until we can find a basement suite within someone’s price range that includes their own bathroom. 

• Reduce homelessness by addressing the barriers that people encounter to help enhance their overall independence and quality of life
• To increase knowledge of, and access to, housing, resources, and appropriate wraparound supports that will assist in providing stability in people’s lives
• Continue to identify more affordable housing placements for people facing barriers to housing in our communities