Human Resources Committee on June 15th, 2026

[Frédérick Bonner]

This is a crucial point. We want our reality acknowledged. All the stakeholders involved in the continuum of services are still learning how to cope with the growing demand. Things are always moving quite quickly.

There are also key moments, such as the onset of winter. That time is always a bit more challenging for us. Our main challenges arise during the period before and after the shelter stay. At the Auberge, we consider these two aspects essential. In terms of the period leading up to the shelter stay, we need to be able to support people who run the risk of losing their housing or the place where they live. We often hear about strained ties with friends and family because of a breakdown in the relationship.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Bonner.

Thank you, Ms. Larouche.

Next is Ms. Goodridge for five minutes.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses for being here.

It's been a lot of learning. I'm going to open up and hope that Mr. Thiessen has been able to resolve some of his technical issues.

Earl, thanks for being here and for sharing your success story. It's pretty remarkable to think about the fact that you were homeless yourself, and now you are the executive director of an organization that is providing innovative solutions to help people find recovery from addiction.

I've had the opportunity to get to know you and your organization, and I've toured your facilities. I'm just wondering if you could expand a little on your pre-treatment housing model. I think a lot of places around the world would benefit from this, particularly here in Canada. We aren't doing that very well. Can you give a bit of description there?

[Earl Thiessen]

Yes, I can, a hundred per cent. Thank you for those comments, Ms. Goodridge. I really appreciate it.

I created this model. For me, the major piece of homelessness is the addiction piece. There's a lineup of people waiting for healing. That's what I say. The medical detoxes have lineups outside of them. [Technical difficulty—Editor] and I recognize [Technical difficulty—Editor] experience. I went in, after being homeless, on November 13 [Technical difficulty—Editor] January. I had no idea where I was going, and that's where this concept came from.

The purpose of pre-treatment housing is to, I'd say [Technical difficulty—Editor] some light psychoed, some relapse—

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Earl, we're still having some technical difficulties on our end. Perhaps you could send your remarks about that space in writing to the committee, so that we can consider it as part of our study, because I do believe that this is one of the huge gaps.

Homelessness and addiction aren't necessarily one and the same, but there are many people who are homeless because they struggle with addiction, and if those people who are struggling with addiction are trying to find a path out, there are often very few paths available to them.

I'm going to give a space to explain some of what Earl does, because it truly is remarkable. They allow people who are trying to seek treatment an ability, after they've gone through detox, to have a place to live until they have a space to go to treatment. I truly believe that this is something that we could do better, because it goes after some of the low-hanging fruit. I've had the opportunity to meet many of the success stories and people who have had to go through their houses one, two or three times, because relapse is often a part of the addiction story.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all that you do, and I look forward to having a written brief, so that we can get more information on this.

Kaite, I saw you shaking your head and nodding in agreement. I was wondering if you have anything to add to that.

[Kaite Burkholder Harris]

When I say Housing First, I mean just moving to immediate access to permanency. The pre-treatment piece and the journey towards healing is that ability to access. You can stay as long as you need to. We're going to be the next piece, which is getting permanent housing, but without a date, without a deadline for when that has to be completed.

I work with lots of providers. Our members are all service providers. None of our transitional housing folks really want to be doing transitional housing. They want to be doing permanent housing. There isn't enough affordable housing and there aren't enough real long-term treatment options, so they're functionally doing permanent housing, because they just can't help people move into the kinds of spaces.... I guess I would say that.

Also, how do we build a system that is so flexible and so oriented towards the person in front of us that it fits their need now for 24-7 support with community, while maybe in two months, four months or four years, they want to move into an apartment with a roommate? How do we design that system?

None of it is backtracking or failure. It's moving, but every option along the way is a permanent option. We're not expecting people to fix something before they have access to that permanent option.

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

That's such a key piece that's missing. Governments seem to be so keen on a permanent solution for fixing it, not realizing that, especially in the space of addiction, it's not linear. It doesn't follow a calendar. Realistically, every individual is going to be a bit different. Everyone's going to come at this with a different set of tools in their tool kit. How each one brings that forward is going to look a little different. If everything is so rigid that they are stuck in a rigid system, why can't the system be more flexible to meet people where they are?

[Kaite Burkholder Harris]

How can policy do that? I think that's a big question. How can you design policy so that people can use resources on the ground in a nimble way?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you—

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

If you have an idea on how we could do the policy and you could put it in writing to the committee, that would be spectacular.

[Kaite Burkholder Harris]

I will do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

It was a good question. You got it out, Ms. Goodridge. Good.

Mr. Joseph, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would also like to thank all the witnesses for joining us.

Through you, Mr. Chair, I would like to speak to Mr. Bonner.

Mr. Bonner, you emphasized the need to fund transitional housing. The 2025 budget includes historic investments in housing, particularly transitional housing. The government is investing over $10 billion in affordable housing, as well as $1 billion in supportive and transitional housing through Build Canada Homes.

What do you think of these investments? How could they help your community?

[Frédérick Bonner]

Our main challenge lies in the accessibility and affordability of housing. Of course, if I paint a picture of the people who use our services at the Auberge, it's last‑resort assistance. It's difficult to imagine a typical housing situation for a person who receives $800 or $1,000 a month.

I believe that every journey requires tailored solutions. Every person's journey is unique. I think that community shelters such as ours primarily focus on helping people stay in their homes. I would say that this is a key point.

Housing retention is key. Our job is to limit the loss of housing, because securing housing is a major victory for our former residents.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Through you, Mr. Chair, I would like to speak to Ms. Kobussen.

Ms. Kobussen, in your opening remarks, you said that one major challenge lies in the fact that data sharing among the various stakeholders remains limited.

What recommendations would you make to improve information and data sharing in order to strengthen our collective response to homelessness?

[Karen Kobussen]

Thank you.

Currently, Reaching Home and designated communities that are distributing the Reaching Home and other streams....

We do have HIFIS, which is the homeless individuals and families information system. We also have coordinated access, but the problem is that it is not mandated. It's almost voluntary, if you will.

Whether it's that particular platform that's already in existence or a new platform—it's 2026—that technology has come a very long way. Whatever that looks like, it can be done. There are data visualization tools whereby, once we obtain that quality, by-name data, we understand what the reasons are for people to be unhoused and what the barriers are, whether it's employment, income or substance use. There are many reasons. Once we start to understand that better and have that quality, by-name data, then we see which programs work and which don't, what houses people faster and what takes more time. Do you know what I mean?

There are tools currently in place. I think we need to mandate them or allow the communities themselves, through the provinces, to build those systems, so that nobody's working in silos anymore.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you.

Ms. Harris, you spoke about the Finnish model and the role of housing benefits in your remarks.

Can you explain to the committee how these models work and what concrete results have been observed in terms of reducing homelessness?

[Kaite Burkholder Harris]

Thank you for the question.

Finland has functionally ended homelessness. They've been at that level for a number of years. When they first started this, probably 20 years ago, they saw in a three-year period the end of street homelessness. It was a very short period of time to achieve those kinds of results.

With the income threshold, they knew they wanted to build a lot of non-market housing, but having everybody immediately stabilized with a rent subsidy was saying, “First, we can do this now.” Immediately, they saw people not flowing into homelessness as easily.

In terms of what actually moves anything in the shelter system right now, it's only rent subsidies. If we're not focusing on prevention, and we're just trying to get people housed, the only thing in our shelter system is subsidies. We are desperate for it. You see a direct link when a community has less. In Ottawa we ran out of ours by June of this year.

You see an immediate stop, basically, in terms of shelter flow and people getting out. In terms of a broader income strategy, it's really effective. It can be quite potent in terms of truly lifting people out of poverty. Then, in terms of the overall system, being able to prevent that falling into homelessness is key.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Joseph.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Once again, I would like to thank the witnesses for joining us.

I may come back to them a bit later. For this second turn, I'll continue with Mr. Bonner.

Mr. Bonner, in your opening remarks and in your response to Mr. Villeneuve, you clearly explained that the cases are increasing.

However, I would like to talk about the profiles of people.

Are there any profiles of people that you rarely used to see but are now seeing a bit more often?

[Frédérick Bonner]

Basically, we're now working with people who have both mental health and addiction issues. I would say that this is part of our new reality. A significant proportion of our service users come from treatment centres, for example.

Recently, a resident asked me whether I thought that, after a few months in therapy, it was reasonable for him to find housing and a job. As you can imagine, this shook me up a bit. This is our new reality when it comes to a transition. After therapy, it's often essential to relearn the basic skills needed to live in the community. I would say that this is the main difference observed at this time.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Are you also seeing older people, or workers who are unable to keep their homes?

You spoke about addiction. You spoke about mental health issues. There are people who work but who can no longer make ends meet. There are also older people who can no longer make ends meet.

Have you noticed this as well in the profile trends?

[Frédérick Bonner]

You're absolutely right.

The average age here at Auberge sous mon toit has risen to 45, 46 or 47. One segment of our service users—people aged 50 to 55—end up in quite a grey area. They're a bit too young to qualify for resources and a bit too old to find a job again. This puts them in a really awkward position when it comes to the next stage of their careers.

We do indeed need to find solutions for this particular age group here at the Auberge.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

So we need resources for employability and second stage housing. When we talk about the continuum, that's all part of it as well.

Isn't that right?

[Frédérick Bonner]

Exactly.

There are few services specifically for men. There are even fewer services for somewhat older men. The resources are quite limited.

That's basically what drove us to launch a new project this year. It involves actively guiding our service users to outside resources in order to understand the barriers to access, both real and perceived. This is currently making a big difference in our residents' journeys. It's something quite different. We're maintaining that relationship of trust.