The federal government announced Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy in April 2019. It replaced the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS).
As part of Canada’s first-ever National Housing Strategy, which is a 10-year, $40-billion plan to lift hundreds and thousands of Canadians out of housing need, Reaching Home works with communities toward reducing chronic homelessness by 50% by 2028. Through this strategy, the federal government will double support to the 61 designated communities, as well as add new communities through an application process. The funding will be delivered directly to municipalities and local service providers.
The Central Okanagan Foundation, in the role of the Community Entity, is responsible for managing the Reaching Home funds and plays a leadership role in the implementation of Housing First in Kelowna.
The Central Okanagan Foundation has proven experience in delivering federal homelessness activities in the community, having successfully served as the Community Entity under the Homelessness Partnering Strategy for seven years.
* For a definition of Housing First, click here.
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POINT IN TIME COUNT 2024
In November 2024, Kelowna will take part in a coordinated effort to measure homelessness across Canada.
Why a Point in Time Count?
The PiT Count helps communities to better understand the population through information collected in a detailed survey. Results from the PiT Count will be made publicly available, and we use the results of the PiT Count to improve our local, Provincial and Federal response to homelessness.
COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD ON HOMELESSNESS
The Community Entity supports the Community Advisory Board on Homelessness (CAB-H).
The CAB-H is comprised of community stakeholders to facilitate the delivery of Reaching Home in Kelowna and to engage stakeholders and funding partners to work together to prevent and reduce homelessness.
REACHING HOME COMMUNITY PLAN
REACHING HOME FUNDED PROJECTS
2023 COMMUNITY SURVEY ON HOMELESSNESS REPORT
Reaching Home Community Homelessness Report
Infrastructure Canada (INFC) defines the Community Homelessness Report (CHR) as “an annual Reaching Home reporting deliverable that supports communities to prevent and reduce homelessness using a more coordinated, systems-based, and data-driven response. The CHR is designed to support local discussions and decision making, with a focus on the full picture of homelessness at the community level and the collective efforts of service providers working across the homeless-serving system to address it.”
Funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home Strategy
For more information about the Central Okanagan Foundation’s Community Entity program, please contact:
Contact:
Niveria Oliveira, Community Entity Manager
Email: niveria@centralokanaganfoundation.org
Phone: (250) 861-6160, ext. 5
Additional learning and resources below:
Understanding Homelessness in Canada – Simple Book Publishing (pressbooks.pub)