Housing First
Housing First (HF) is an evidence-based approach designed to end homelessness among individuals with mental illness and addiction. Developed by Dr. Sam Tsemberis, a Canadian clinical community psychologist, the program has two primary components: housing and support. Participants are given immediate access to permanent housing of their choice, facilitated by a portable rent supplement that ensures they pay no more than 30% of their income towards housing. The support component of the program involves Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) or Intensive Case Management (ICM), which provides participants with intensive support aimed at promoting housing stability, recovery, community integration, and achievement of life goals (Padgett, Henwood, & Tsemberis, 2016; Tsemberis, 2015).
Read What Is Housing First? to learn more.
At Home / Chez Soi
Between 2009 and 2013, the Canadian federal government granted funding through Health Canada to the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) for a demonstration research project called At Home / Chez Soi. The study was a randomized controlled trial in five Canadian cities (Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Moncton) that followed up participants for up to two years after their enrollment. The results indicated that participants who were assigned to HF demonstrated significantly greater improvements in housing stability, quality of life, and community functioning compared to those assigned to Treatment as Usual (Aubry, Nelson, & Tsemberis, 2015; Goering et al., 2014). Internationally, the positive housing outcomes for HF participants in At Home / Chez Soi were replicated in a four-city trial in France (Tinland et al., 2020). Moreover, HF is the central piece of Finland’s policy to eliminate homelessness (Shinn & Khadduri, 2020). In Finland, homelessness has decreased from around 18,500 in 1987 to just 4,133 in 2021, a decrease of nearly 78%.
The Canadian Housing First Network
Following the At Home / Chez Soi research, Drs. Geoff Nelson and Tim Aubry applied to the Evidence Exchange Network (EEnet), Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to develop a Community of Interest (CoI) focused on HF, which was successful, and the CoI was launched in 2016. In 2022, Drs. Aubry and Nelson made the decision to take the network to a national level. CAMH continued to sponsor the network, and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) became an additional sponsor. The Housing First Network is now one of several Allied Networks under the CAEH, which can be found at https://caeh.ca/caeh-initiatives/allied-networks/.
Values of the network
The Canadian Housing First Network (CHFN) is guided by the values of social justice and equity, inclusion of lived experience and peer support, reconciliation, and consumer empowerment and choice.
Goals
The goals of this CHFN are to:
- Build local capacity for HF programs;
- Promote high-quality implementation of the HF model that includes both fidelity to and adaptation of the model;
- Promote continuous program improvement through the provision of training, the development of HF program standards, the exploration of accreditation standards; and
- Advocate and influence public policy related to HF.
Network steering committee
The CHFN Steering Committee holds one-hour meetings five times per year by video teleconference. Steering Committee members also have the option of participating in other network activities. The steering committee consists of members from across Canada.
Co-chairs
Name | Organization | |
Geoff Nelson | Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario | Geoffrey.nelson@ret.wlu.ca |
Tim Aubry | University of Ottawa, Ontario | TAubry@uottawa.ca |
Knowledge Broker
Name | Organization | |
Rossana Coriandoli | Centre for Mental Health and Addiction (CAMH), Toronto, Ontario |
Members
Name | Organization/title |
Don Robinson | Indigenous consultant, Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Eric Latimer | Douglas Research Centre and McGill University, Quebec |
Eric Macnaughton | University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver |
Greg Bishop | Human Development Council, Saint John, New Brunswick |
Heidi Walter | A Way Home: Working Together to End Youth Homelessness in Canada |
Jenissa Grant | A person with lived experience in Ontario |
Kathryn Gibb | Home for Good, Peel, Ontario |
Kelly Goz | City of Windsor, Ontario |
Kendra Giles | Phoenix Residential Society, Saskatchewan |
Lisa Medd | CMHA, Ottawa, Ontario |
Mark Dwyer | CMHA, Toronto, Ontario |
Nick Kerman | CAMH, Toronto, Ontario |
Simone Lilly | End Homelessness St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador |
Stephen Hwang | Unity Health, Toronto |
Tim Richter | CAEH, Alberta |
Ty Silver | North End Community Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia |
Wally Czech | CAEH, Alberta |
Related resources, news, and events
Webinar recording: Approaches to Managing Hoarding with Housing First Clients
Resource | May 8, 2024Creator of Housing First Model – Sam Tsemberis – on the Time list of Most Influential People of 2024
News | Apr 17, 2024The Evolution of Housing First: Perspectives of Experts from the United States, Canada, and Europe
Resource | Feb 26, 2024Podcast: Chronic homelessness and Housing First with Tim Aubry
Resource | Feb 26, 2024Will topping up the Canada Housing Benefit actually reduce homelessness?
News | Feb 26, 2024Webinar: Engaging other sectors in Housing First
News | Dec 21, 2023Webinar recording: Comparing models of permanent housing: Scattered site Housing First versus single site supportive housing
Resource | Nov 22, 2023Evidence at a glance: Pathways Scattered Site Housing First vs. Single Site Supportive Housing
Resource | Nov 17, 2023Research snapshot: Managing high-risk behaviours and challenges to prevent housing loss in permanent supportive housing
Resource | Nov 3, 2023Webinar recording: Evaluating system-level changes associated with Housing First
Resource | Sept 29, 2023What is Housing First?
Resource | Aug 28, 2023Webinar: Implementing Housing First Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)
Event | Jun 2, 2023Webinar recording: International webinar series on Housing First: Housing First for youth
Resource | Apr 4, 2023Webinar recording: Creating system change through the adoption of Housing First principles and programs
Resource | Mar 30, 2023Policy and practice guide: Achieving a new systems perspective to ending homelessness through Housing First
Resource | Mar 20, 2023Letter to Prime Minister Trudeau in support of Homelessness Prevention and Housing Benefit
News | Feb 23, 2023International webinar series on Housing First: HF and the criminal justice system
Resource | Nov 14, 2022Watch Dr. Julian Somers' public hearing session on Kitsilano's supportive housing project
News | Aug 23, 2022Dr. Tim Aubry's opening statement at the Consultation Meeting of the National Housing Council
News | May 4, 2022Housing First video from the Ministry of Social Development and Family, Government of Chile
News | Jan 10, 2022Video on Homelessness and Housing First in the Waterloo region
News | Jan 4, 2022Fourth International Housing First Conference: Day one
Resource | Oct 22, 2021Fourth International Housing First Conference: Day three
Resource | Oct 22, 2021Fourth International Housing First Conference: Day two
Resource | Oct 22, 2021Fact sheet on homelessness and Housing First
News | Oct 8, 2021Fourth International Housing First Conference: Knowledge mobilization of evidence-based Housing First practices
Event | Aug 6, 2021Webinar recording: Housing First and women
Resource | May 6, 2021Webinar recording: Housing First, the 10-20%
Resource | May 3, 2021Evidence at a glance: Housing First and costs
Resource | Jan 21, 2021Pathways Housing First resource list
Resource | Dec 21, 2020International webinar series on Housing First
Resource | Dec 17, 2020Webinar recording: Racism and anti-racism in Housing First
Resource | Nov 9, 2020Housing First for youth: Free online training
News | Sept 14, 2020Evidence at a glance: Housing First and choice
Resource | Aug 4, 2020Evidence at a glance: Housing First and community integration
Resource | Jul 31, 2020Outcomes for youth living in Canada’s first LGBTQ2S transitional housing program
Resource | May 25, 2020Webinar recording: COVID-19, homelessness, and Housing First
Resource | Apr 27, 2020Webinar recording: Innovative ways to create affordable housing
Resource | Nov 26, 2019Webinar recording: Collective Care - Supporting one another and preventing burnout in Housing First programs
Resource | Oct 4, 2019Presentations from the Ontario Housing First 2019 Forum on Evidence-based Practices now available!
Resource | Mar 11, 2019Housing First is an effective intervention for homeless individuals with mental illness & low intellectual functioning
Resource | Mar 6, 2019Manual for pilot of collaborative fidelity assessment of Housing First programs
Resource | Jan 14, 2019Letter to Ministers Elliott and Clark on Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Housing First in Canada
Resource | Jan 8, 2019Policy brief: Assertive community treatment (ACT) and Housing First in Canada
Resource | Dec 18, 2018Webinar recording: Persons with Lived Experience (PWLE) in paid staff roles when implementing Housing First
Resource | Dec 4, 2018Webinar: The human rights approach to housing
Resource | Sept 13, 2018Portable housing benefit as an indispensable component of ending homelessness in Canada
Resource | Nov 9, 2017Housing First Self Assessment Tools
Resource | Oct 3, 2017Webinar recording: Fidelity assessment in Housing First
Resource | Oct 2, 2017Resources on the continuum of housing and homelessness
Resource | May 24, 2017Rent assistance: Ontario Housing First Regional Network Community of Interest
Resource | May 4, 2017From this point forward: Ending custodial housing for people with mental illness in Canada
Resource | Jan 4, 2013