Wraparound supports are key to housing and stability, because individuals who have been homeless long term often do not have the skill sets or the relationships in place to navigate having and keeping a home. If you have been out on the streets for five, 10 or 20 years, like some of the folks we work with, you don't know about budgeting or how to pay your rent or how to even go to the grocery store. Our staff literally have to go to the grocery store with someone because they have experienced so much trauma that they don't even feel safe going out into the community alone.
Wraparound supports that build life skills are absolutely crucial, especially when considering the definition of indigenous homelessness. For indigenous people, homelessness is not just being without a home; it's being without a community. The history of colonization has displaced indigenous peoples from the land and from our communities, and wraparound supports thus provide the relationships and the trust to keep people feeling safe in their homes.