PLANNING

Communities, regions, provinces and territories know that no one organization or initiative can prevent and end youth homelessness. It is the strategic coordination of actors across systems that can truly get the job done.

COMMUNITY-BASED SYSTEMS PLANNING

Through a bold partnership with Turner Strategies and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, we are developing a number of additional capacity building supports to enhance what is currently available in the Canadian landscape. The Systems Planning Collective works to ensure that youth homelessness and prevention are core components of our nation’s response to homelessness.

A Way Home’s vision is that every province, territory and community and/or region will develop and implement a comprehensive strategy to prevent and ultimately end youth homelessness, leading to significant measurable reductions in youth homelessness.

These strategies will:

  • Align policy and funding with federal priorities and investment
  • Cut across relevant ministries and departments
  • Identify who is responsible from across government for implementing and funding the various pieces of the strategy
  • Focus on prevention and sustained exits from homelessness
  • Engage “unusual suspects” outside of government, such as police, philanthropic foundations, developers & landlords, and school boards (Collective Impact)
  • Include broad engagement with stakeholders including people with lived experience of youth homelessness, service providers, CABs and CEs, etc.
  • Be evidence led
  • Enable community-based strategies to take root and thrive through provincial shifts in policy and investment
  • Enable Indigenous leadership and participation in the development and implementation of strategies
  • Align with broader homelessness and poverty reduction strategies

SYSTEMS PLANNING COLLECTIVE

Systems planning is the analysis, planning and design of an integrated system and defined service-delivery components that work together towards a common end; in this case to prevent, reduce and end homelessness. It requires identifying the basic components of a system and understanding how these relate to one another. Alignment across the system is integral to ensure the components of the system work together for maximum impact.