One hundred per cent, regularly, all the time, we see what we call “stories of hope”. At every meeting we have, we try to start with a story of hope, of somebody's transformation. We know that people can't move on with their lives when they're living under a bridge. Nobody's substance use decreases and nobody's mental health or physical health improves when they're living in a shelter or on the street or are couch surfing.
When we see people move into supportive housing, where they get a stable apartment that they can afford, with wraparound health and housing supports that provide the stability and the support they need, we see people transform significantly.
Within Indwell, we have a continuum of support. We recently opened what we would call a “moderate level” of support. We saw 25% of people from our first high-support program in Kitchener—25% of those tenants—move to the moderate-support program when we opened our first moderate-support program.
That is evidence that when people coming straight out of homelessness, with active addiction challenges and active mental health challenges, find stability, they are able to move on to more independence. What we see in more independent programs is folks doing exactly what you said: reconnecting with their natural supports and with their families, volunteering, finding employment and going back to school—absolutely.