Homelessness^{Footnote 1}

Homelessness is the situation of an individual or family who does not have a permanent address or residence; the living situation of an individual or family who does not have stable, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring it.

It is often the result of what are known as systemic or societal barriers, including a lack of affordable and appropriate housing, the individual/household’s financial, mental, cognitive, behavioural or physical challenges, and/or racism and discrimination.

Chronic homelessness^{Footnote 2}

Refers to individuals who are currently experiencing homelessness AND who meet at least 1 of the following criteria:

• they have a total of at least 6 months (180 days) of homelessness over the past year
• they have recurrent experiences of homelessness over the past 3 years, with a cumulative duration of at least 18 months (546 days)

Chronic homelessness includes time spent in the following contexts:

1. Staying in unsheltered locations, that is public or private spaces without consent or contract, or places not intended for permanent human habitation (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) Typology: 1.1 and 1.2).
2. Staying in emergency shelters, including overnight shelters for people experiencing homelessness (including those for specific populations, such as youth, families, and newcomers), shelters for people impacted by family violence, and emergency shelters for people fleeing a natural disaster or destruction of accommodation (COH Typology: 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3).
3. Staying temporarily with others without guarantee of continued residency or the immediate prospects for accessing permanent housing, or short-term rental accommodations (for example, motels) without security of tenure (COH typology: 3.2 and 3.3).

It does not include situations where individuals have access to secure, permanent housing, whether subsidized or not. The definition also does not include time spent in transitional housing or in public institutions (for example, health and corrections), although individuals who are discharged into homelessness from transitional housing or public institutions can be considered chronically homeless if they were experiencing chronic homelessness upon entry to transitional housing or the public institution.

Indigenous homelessness^{Footnote 3}

Recognizing the diversity of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and that Indigenous Peoples may choose to refer to themselves in their own languages, the following definition of Indigenous homelessness is inclusive of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, status and non-status persons, regardless of residency or membership status.

For the purposes of Reaching Home, and subject to revision based on ongoing engagement and consultation with Indigenous Peoples^{Footnote 4}, Indigenous homelessness refers to “Indigenous Peoples who are in the state of having no home due to colonization, trauma and/or whose social, cultural, economic, and political conditions place them in poverty. Having no home includes: those who alternate between shelter and unsheltered, living on the street, couch surfing, using emergency shelters, living in unaffordable, inadequate, substandard and unsafe accommodations or living without the security of tenure; anyone regardless of age, released from facilities (such as hospitals, mental health and addiction treatment centers, prisons, transition houses), fleeing unsafe homes as a result of abuse in all its definitions, and any youth transitioning from all forms of care”.

1. Eligible activities and expenses^{Footnote 5}

The eligible activities and expenses under Reaching Home are broadly defined in the program terms and conditions. The information below is intended to help clarify and expand upon the information provided in the terms and conditions.

Reaching Home will fund activities that contribute to the objectives of the program while reflecting local realities and community needs and opportunities. The eligible activities and expenses are grouped into 5 categories of activities directed at achieving the program objective of preventing and reducing homelessness. These eligible activities and expenditures apply to all funding streams, with a small number of clearly identified exceptions. Note that the eligible activities and expenses identified below can include culturally appropriate activities for Indigenous individuals and families that have similar objectives.

Examples of eligible activities and expenses are provided below. Each of the activities may be supported through case management – a comprehensive and strategic form of service provision, either short- or long-term, whereby a case worker assesses the needs of individuals and families and, where appropriate, arranges, coordinates and advocates for delivery and access to a range of programs and services designed to meet the individual’s needs.

Examples of Indigenous-specific activities are intended to help illustrate and inform, especially with regard to a broader audience of administrators, auditors, and other users who may not be familiar with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis cultural practices and ways of supporting well-being. For the most part, the activities themselves would be determined through community-based decision making by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis.

2. Administration expenditures

Eligible administrative expenditures are those supporting but not directly related to the delivery of Reaching Home programming. The maximum amount of administrative costs covered under Reaching Home is 15% of the annual allocation. No more than 15% of the Reaching Home contribution can be used for administrative costs, and these costs must be reflected in the proposed project budget.

Eligible costs include:

• Staff expenses
  • Mandatory Employment Related Costs (MERCs) which refer to payments an employer is required by law to make in respect of its employees such as: Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan/Québec Pension Plan premiums, workers’ compensation premiums, vacation pay and Employer Health Tax; and benefits which refer to payments an employer is required to make in respect of its employees by virtue of company policy or a collective agreement.
  • Professional development and staff training.
• Administrative costs
  • General administration-type costs, normally incurred by any organization, that enable effective delivery of Reaching Home. These include costs such as: administrative staff for activities such as accounting, reporting and human resource management, and general administrative costs such as rent, phone/fax, postage/courier, office supplies, internet/website, bank charges, office moving expenses, office cleaning, security system, garbage removal/recycling, publication purchases, equipment maintenance and membership.
• Professional fees
  • Contracting for goods or services such as bookkeeping, janitorial services, information technology, equipment maintenance services, security, audit costs and legal fees.
  • For services provided in support of Indigenous individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness (for example, services provided by Indigenous Elders).
• Travel
  • Travel costs set out in the National Joint Council of Canada’s Travel Directive that are incurred by project staff, volunteers and contracted professionals. Examples include flight, hotel, car rental.
  • Staff and volunteer (includes Community Advisory Board members) transportation (for example, parking, bus fare, airfare, taxi, mileage, food, accommodation)
• Capital assets
  • Eligible costs related to other capital costs (for example, vehicles, tools, equipment, machinery, computers and furniture for service delivery).
  • Cost of purchasing or leasing capital assets over $1,000, excluding taxes, with the exception of facilities. Under Reaching Home, this includes: furniture, appliances and fixtures for the facilities used to carry out administrative activities.
• Other activity-related costs
  • Direct costs explicitly related to administrative activities that are not included in any other expenditure category, such as: cultural competency training, rented space to hold meetings, hospitality for meetings (including Community Advisory Board meetings), furniture costing $1,000 or less, before taxes, printing costs, meter charge for photocopies, translation.
  • Activities to ensure the participation of people with lived experience in the Community Advisory Board or Regional Advisory Board, which may include, for example, reimbursing participation costs of a person with lived experience at a Community advisory board or Regional Advisory Board meeting.
• Activities to ensure that programs and services meet the needs of Indigenous Language Communities (for example, providing services and supports in Indigenous languages to address local Indigenous homelessness needs).

Ineligible activities include:

• International travel costs.
• Purchase of alcoholic beverages.
• Payment to Community Advisory Board members for their time to attend Community Advisory Board meetings; and
• Costs associated to traffic fines and penalties.

3. Planning and public reporting

Requirement: communities receiving funding from the Designated Communities stream^{Footnote 17} must adopt an outcomes-based approach where they work to achieve pre-determined community-level outcomes.

The adoption of an outcomes-based approach is not a requirement for Indigenous Homelessness stream, and the Rural and Remote Homelessness stream. However, in communities that receive funding from both the Designated Communities and Indigenous Homelessness streams, cross-stream collaboration to develop and work towards community-level outcomes is expected.

The steps to be taken to transition to an outcomes-based approach (includes work to be undertaken to implement coordinated access) must be set out in the community plan.

Communities in receipt of funding from the Territorial Homelessness stream that are supported in implementing coordinated access will be required to adopt the elements of the outcomes based approach as described below.

• Designated Communities are required to work towards the following mandatory community-level outcomes:
  • Chronic homelessness in the community is reduced.
  • Homelessness in the community is reduced overall and for specific populations
    • Communities choose as many as needed, but must include Indigenous homelessness.
  • New inflows into homelessness are reduced; and
  • Returns to homelessness are reduced.
• Beyond these core outcomes, communities also have the option of reporting on other community-wide outcomes that they feel would complement the core outcomes if they had the capacity to do so.
• A common set of indicators for the community-wide outcomes will be established across Designated Communities.
• With the exception of a reduction of 50% in chronic homelessness by 2027 and 2028, communities will set their own targets for each outcome.

Requirement: communities receiving funding from the Designated Communities stream must develop a community plan that includes the following components:

• An investment plan indicating the intended allocation of Reaching Home’s funding towards the following activity areas:
  • Housing placement
  • Prevention and shelter diversion
  • Client support services
  • Capital investment; and
  • Coordination of resources and data collection.
• The voluntary outcomes that will be reported on through the Community Homelessness Reports.
• Work that will be undertaken to design and implement coordinated access.
• Details on how the Indigenous Community Entity (where the Indigenous Homelessness and Designated Community streams co-exist) and stakeholders in the community were consulted during the development of the community plan.
• Measures to be undertaken to meet the needs of Official Language Minority Communities.
• Identification of other funding sources in the community available to address homelessness.

Requirement: communities receiving funding from the Designated Communities funding stream^{Footnote 18} will be required to complete and publish annual public reports known as the Community Homelessness Reports to track their progress towards targets and outcomes. In Designated Communities where there is also an Indigenous Homelessness Community Entity, the Designated Communities Community Entity is expected to work in partnership with the Indigenous Homelessness Community Entity on the Community Homelessness Report.

• The new Community Homelessness Report will incorporate annual performance outputs, and track progress toward achieving community-wide outcomes.
• While the core components of the Community Homelessness Report will be common across communities, communities will be able to customize them to their unique needs through locally-set targets, voluntary outcomes and qualitative narrative questions.
• A Community Homelessness Report includes 4 sections that become available to provide input as communities make progress in its implementation, and a unique identifier list is in place long enough to measure year-over-year progress against outcomes:
  • Section 1 : communities share information about their local homelessness context
  • Section 2 : communities report on progress with implementing Coordinated Access through a self-assessment checklist
  • Section 3 : communities report on progress with transitioning to an outcomes-based approach through a self-assessment checklist
  • Section 4: communities report on community-level outcomes.

4. Coordinated access

Requirement: all Designated Communities are required to have a coordinated access system in place by March 31, 2022.

What is a coordinated access system?

A coordinated access system is the process by which individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or at-risk of homelessness are directed to community-level access points where trained workers use a common assessment tool to evaluate the individual or family’s depth of need, prioritize them for housing support services and then help to match them to available housing focused interventions.

Quality coordinated access systems share several features, including a centralized database that collects and displays real-time data on clients and available housing and supports; clear access points of entry; common assessment; standardized protocols; and resources (for example, staff) focused on ensuring that people can connect with appropriate housing and housing supports in an efficient manner.

Definitions:

• Access: the engagement point for the individual or family experiencing a housing crisis. This may include emergency shelters, mobile outreach teams, day centres, other community-based organizations and hotlines.
• Assessment: the process of gathering information about an individual or family accessing the crisis system.
• Prioritization: the process of determining the individual’s or family’s priority for housing based on information gathered through the assessment.
• Matching and referral: the process whereby the individual or family is matched to and offered housing based on project-specific eligibility, needs and preferences.

Text description of Figure 1 – What is Coordinated Access?

First:

• Coordinated Access is a process though which individuals and families experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, are provided access to housing and support services, based on standardized set of procedures for client intake, assessment of need, and matching and referral to housing.

Second:

• Coordinated Access Key Objectives:
• 1. Help communities ensure fairness and prioritize people most in need of assistance
• 2. Help more people move through the system faster
• 3. Reduce the number of new entries into homelessness
• 4. Improve data collection and quality

Third:

• Data collection and management
• A key function of Coordinated Access is ongoing data collection and management

Fourth:

• Coordinated Access Process

Fifth:

• 1. Access Points
• Client (e.g., individuals, families, youth) who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness accesses a single entry point where they are registered

Sixth:

• 2. Assessment
• The client is screened using an assessment tool to determine their needs

Seventh:

• 3. Prioritization
• Based on the priorities set by communities and the assessment, the client is ranked on a priority list.

Eighth:

• 4. Matching and referral
• Clients are matched to and offered housing appropriate for their needs.

5. Community Advisory Boards

The Community Advisory Board (Designated Communities or Indigenous Homelessness Funding stream) or Regional Advisory Board is the local organizing committee responsible for setting direction for addressing homelessness in the community or region. The Community Advisory Board is expected to coordinate efforts to address homelessness in a community, and is therefore expected to have an in-depth knowledge of the key sectors and systems that affect their homelessness priorities. The Community Advisory Board is thus expected and encouraged to have an engagement strategy that would detail how it intends to achieve broad and inclusive representation, and coordinate partnerships with community organizations and individuals.

6. Requirements related to capital projects

Requirement: If a community is going to invest in a capital project, the community and project sponsor must demonstrate they have done the following:

• Linking with the province or territory: efforts should be made to link with provincial, territorial or municipal funding. It is important to provide evidence of the need to purchase, construct, or renovate facilities and to ensure that the community is best placed to undertake the capital project.^{Footnote 21} This should be demonstrated through the Reaching Home Sustainability Checklist for Applicants of Capital Investment Projects^{Footnote 22}. Reaching Home funds can be used to complement other capital investments made by a province, territory or municipality. However, Reaching Home funding must not duplicate or displace funding from other programs (should be used to fill a gap in these instances).
• Encouraging leveraging: where possible, communities are encouraged to ensure that Reaching Home is not the sole funder in capital projects. For capital projects consisting of new construction or purchase of facilities, the community is required to record the in-kind and financial contributions of each capital investment sub-project funded under Reaching Home.
• Ensuring sustainability: capital projects require a sustainability plan in which organizations must demonstrate their capacity to operate the facility for its intended purpose for a minimum period of up to 5 years after project completion. Applicants must identify all relevant funding sources for the operation of the facility and/or new services through their application documents. Capital projects funded under Reaching Home should lead to new or improved services after their completion. Therefore, an exit strategy is unacceptable for capital projects.
• In their sustainability plan, organizations must:
  • describe their partnerships;
  • confirm their funding sources for ongoing operations;
  • report if the project will increase the level of services or if they will remain stable; and
  • include a timeline for the completion of their activities.

Requirement: as part of the application process for a sub-project, capital project applicants must follow the Sustainability Checklist in order to demonstrate that the minimum project sustainability standards have been addressed.

• Applicants seeking capital funding under the regionally delivered funding streams (Designated Communities; Rural and Remote Homelessness; Territorial Stream and Indigenous Homelessness Stream) are required to complete the checklist as part of any proposal to create or expand a facility which could result in increased annual operational costs. The sustainability checklist can also be used to assess sustainability in capital projects that do not incur increased annual operational costs (for example, equipment purchase or renovations in a facility where no space, beds or units are added or no service is created or expanded).
• Communities are responsible to review the checklist completed by applicants through the solicitation or proposals, as part of the assessment process.

Requirement: as Reaching Home allocations are annual, multi-year projects must be managed (expensed) on a fiscal year basis.

Requirement: applicable to organizations which own a property or have a long-term lease, capital renovation projects may be subject to monitoring for up to 5 years after the project end-date to ensure recipients are compliant with the terms of their funding agreement with Infrastructure Canada.

• Infrastructure Canada monitors capital investments for emerging issues and may ask for course correction as needed.

7. Official Language Minority Communities

The Government of Canada has a responsibility under the Official Languages Act to ensure that programs and services meet the needs of Official Language Minority Communities.^{Footnote 23}

Requirement: Community Advisory Boards and Community Entities are expected to identify Official Language Minority Communities within their community and ensure that appropriate services and supports are available in both official languages where there is significant demand^{Footnote 24}.

• The Official Language Minority Communities should be considered in the development and implementation of the community plan to ensure the needs of these populations are assessed and that appropriate measures are put in place to address those needs.

Requirement: The role of the Community Advisory Board and Community Entity includes the following steps:

• Identify the Official Language Minority Community in the community within the homeless population targeted by Reaching Home (supported by data, where available);
• Engage the Official Language Minority Community to ensure they are involved in the planning and implementation of the community's overall approach to homelessness;
• Assess the specific needs of the Official Language Minority Community to determine the nature of homelessness services required to address those needs.

Requirement: when an Official Language Minority Community is identified and the assessment indicates additional and specific needs for that group, the community (Community Advisory Board and Community Entity) must have a plan in place to ensure these needs are appropriately addressed. The following principles will guide the development of a plan to address the Official Language Minority Community needs and ensure a minimum of substantive equality:

• Formal equality: is achieved when members of the Official Language Minority Community and those of the majority community are treated the same way by providing identical services in English and French;
• Substantive equality: is achieved by taking into consideration the specific needs of the minority community by providing activities or services with different content or using a different delivery method to ensure that the minority receives services of the same quality as the majority

Requirement: in accordance with the Community Entity funding agreement, the Community Entity is responsible for the following activities related to support for official languages (Schedule C, section 6, 6.1):

• 6.1 The Recipient shall:
  1. make Project-related documentation and announcements available (for the public and prospective Project participants, if any) in both official languages;
  2. actively offer Project-related services in both official languages;
  3. encourage members of both official language communities to participate in the Project; and
  4. provide its services, where appropriate, in such a manner as to address the needs of both official language communities

Note: the Community Entity (in other words, the Recipient) must ensure these criteria are considered in the planning and selection of sub-projects where Official Language Minority Communities have been identified.

Communities must have a plan in place to ensure that the mix of sub-projects they fund enables the community to provide service to the Official Language Minority Community that is of substantively equal quality to the service provided to the majority Official Language population.

The Community Entities should be able to demonstrate how the needs of both Official Language communities were considered in the development of the community plan (or annual community plan update) and the assessment and selection of projects funded under Reaching Home.

In the event where the Community Entities initial plan to meet the Official Language Minority Community requirements is not achieved, the Community Entity must have an alternate plan to demonstrate how the needs of the Official Language Minority Community will be met.

This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, for example:

• in advance of a solicitation of proposals process, the Community advisory board/Community Entity can decide how the Official Language Minority Community needs will be incorporated into the project selection and/or assessment of proposals process;
• through a partnership agreement between/amongst organizations;
• through coordination of existing project-related services in the community that are already well-established and readily accessible.

The Community Advisory Board and Community Entity are encouraged to work with local Infrastructure Canada representatives in the application of this directive.