Status of Women committee  In terms of homelessness, most of the data we have, as I explained, comes from shelters. In 2016, we provided funding to communities across the country to participate in the first national census of homeless individuals. It was called a point-in-time count. About 32 communities

Status of Women committee  We can provide those to you. I don't have numbers with me today, but it definitely shows higher numbers.

Status of Women committee  We don't have specific information on numbers. I think we've certainly heard that in some of the larger centres, that is putting pressure on them and increasing the number of individuals who are staying in the shelter system. As I mentioned at the outset, our program funding is b

Status of Women committee  In terms of the program I manage, the homelessness partnering strategy, it really is a community-based approach. Our funding goes directly to 61 communities across the country. Those communities determine their priorities and where their funding will be directed. Under the curre

Status of Women committee  I'm not sure I can speak to that specifically, except to say that through the HPS program, a number of initiatives funded at the local level have targeted new immigrants, and particularly immigrant women. A lot of it is around helping individuals get into appropriate housing and

Status of Women committee  Maybe I can explain this a bit more clearly. There are about 1,200 shelters across the country. Currently, about 60% of those beds, or 60% of the capacity of those shelters, are providing data to us. They use a data system called HIFIS, which is a federally developed information

Status of Women committee  I'm sorry. I'm not sure that I understand.

Status of Women committee  The data we collect and the analysis we are able to do is on a portion of those.

Status of Women committee  I think that the trends we are able to observe, based on the data that we receive, are fairly reliable, in terms of what's happening across the country.

Status of Women committee  We currently have an information management system that is used in shelters across the country, so we are able to collect information for about 60% of shelters. With the renewal of the program, we will be able to focus more on data. Moreover, a bit more support will be provided t

Status of Women committee  The program to fight homelessness provides funding specifically for homelessness among indigenous persons. They can go to any shelter, anywhere in Canada. We also fund programs and initiatives tailored to the needs of indigenous persons, in 37 municipalities across the country.

Status of Women committee  I can speak a little more broadly in terms of what the homelessness partnering strategy program supports. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, I think you're absolutely right in that there's a lot more hidden homelessness among women than what we see at the shelters. We fund tho

Status of Women committee  I've almost finished. Reaching Home will introduce greater flexibility for communities on how funding may be used, making investments to achieve community-level outcomes and publicly reporting on results. For instance, while housing first is a proven approach, endorsed by the Go

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee today. I'd like to start by providing you with some statistical information about women's homelessness. Results from ESDC's 2016 national shelter study showed that 137,000 Canadians used an emergency shelter in 2014, wh

Human Resources committee  Certainly the governance structure that we have under the homelessness partnering strategy, the community advisory boards, have shown that in some communities they've made real strides in terms of a collaborative and systems-based approach whereby they try to direct organizations