Thank you, Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to appear here today.
As mentioned, my name is Sandra Clarkson. I'm the CEO of the Calgary Drop-In Centre, which is one of the largest homeless shelters in the country. It's able to shelter over 1,000 individuals each night. I'm also a co-chair of the Canadian Shelter Transformation Network, which is a growing national collaboration of shelter leaders, frontline organizations, researchers and system partners working together to modernize homeless response systems.
This shift is critical to the homelessness response in Canada. As we're witnessing from coast to coast, homelessness has become more complex. Shelters are increasingly responding to severe addiction, mental illness, chronic health needs, aging, cognitive impairment and long-term homelessness, while communities also face deep housing affordability pressures and too little supportive housing.
Shelters are being asked to serve as emergency response, health stabilization, mental health support and housing providers of last resort. This is not sustainable or humane. We need a homelessness response that remains housing-focused, is better integrated with health and recovery systems and is designed for the level of complexity that communities are now facing.
Housing must remain the central goal. Homelessness is fundamentally a housing issue. Emergency shelters matter, but they cannot become long-term destinations or carry the full burden of the housing crisis.
We need greater investment in support of housing, including deeply affordable housing, transitional housing, medical respite, and housing models with integrated supports matched to differing levels of acuity. Buildings alone do not create housing stability. Supportive housing succeeds when there is sustainable funding. Federal investments are strongest when capital development and long-term operational supports are aligned.
Homelessness and addiction cannot be discussed separately. The toxic drug supply has sharply increased the medical and behavioural complexity seen in shelters and on our streets. One of the clearest themes emerging is the profound impact of addiction and the toxic drug supply. This is not simply about public disorder. It is about human vulnerability, trauma, health and survival. Communities need treatment, detox, mental health supports, harm reduction and long-term recovery pathways that are integrated with housing responses.
Reaching Home should support system transformation. Reaching Home has strengthened coordination and housing-focused practice, but its next phase should also help communities modernize outdated systems. A dedicated homelessness system transformation fund could support integrated health care partnerships, stabilization and recovery environments, prevention and diversion, coordinated access modernization and stronger pathways into housing so that communities can move beyond managing demand and toward better outcomes. This dedicated transformation fund would allow communities to innovate while remaining grounded in measurable outcomes.
Policy must reflect high-acuity need, sustainable operations and prevention. Federal policy should recognize high-acuity homelessness as a distinct challenge requiring integrated housing, health care, mental health and recovery supports. It should also align capital investment with sustainable operating funding, support workforce stability and place greater emphasis on prevention and diversion, including discharge planning, eviction prevention and indigenous-led approaches. Communities need integrated federal-provincial responses built around shared outcomes, not isolated funding silos.
In closing, homelessness in Canada is more complex and more acute than our current systems were designed to address. The response must stay grounded in housing, but it must also be better integrated with health, addiction and recovery supports. If we want better outcomes, we must invest not only in an emergency response, but in system transformation, sustainable operations, and prevention.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today. I look forward to your questions.