Our work is to pull people out of homelessness and make sure their experience is brief and doesn’t ever happen again.
We do this by ensuring that we have the best system of care that offers a continuum of services customized to each unique situation and that ensures we have the supports available when people decide they want to be housed.
This includes distributing and managing government funding to support these unique, tailored housing programs that lift people like Frank and hundreds of other Calgarians out of homelessness, and into their own home, every single day of the year.
Let’s ensure that people never get to this place. Let’s ensure that they never become homeless again. And when we do that, let’s make sure that no one takes their place.
Right now, in Calgary, there are thousands of people who are at risk of, or already experiencing homelessness – and to compound that, our world has been battered by a flood, multiple economic downturns, and a pandemic.
Our world can’t wait.
Frank can’t wait.
Wouldn’t it be Great if Homelessness Never Happened at all?
A world without homelessness is a world that provides an opportunity for all people to live safe, healthy lives in communities that support them – where they can live with hope for the future.
A world where all systems have critical, illuminating data, research and appropriate channels to collaborate so they can better protect those who might become homeless. A world where the homeless-serving agencies within these systems are strong, effective, and able to help those who may become homeless because of unfortunate circumstances beyond their control.
A world where people who do experience homelessness may be heard without discrimination or bias.
CHF’s leadership role in the homeless-serving system, and our solid relationships with the primary public systems provide us with the unique vantage point that allows us see what needs to be done.
This transformational change will be difficult. Daunting. Humbling. And necessary.
And you can make it happen.
Imagine a world where homelessness never happens.We can create that world together.
A World With Data Informed Decision-Making
How do we optimize technology and data to drive Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care towards the end of homelessness?
When you support data-informed decision-making, you help make Frank’s experience more humane, because we can move him smoothly and quickly into the housing program that best meets his needs.
If we continually improve the tools at our disposal, then those who find themselves in shelters will be housed more quickly.
A World With Impactful Research and Innovation
What has the greatest and longest-lasting impact on ensuring that no one becomes homeless in Calgary?
When you support applied research, you help us find the best ways to keep people like Frank in their homes. The research findings let us run pilot programs, which in turn let us expand our services by scaling up what works well.
A World With A Culturally Appropriate Approach to Indigenous Homelessness
How does CHF advance Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care to best meet the needs of Indigenous people within a framework of self-determination and self-governance?
There are many reasons Indigenous people are over-represented in homelessness, and many come from the history that changed Indigenous communities forever.
Your support helps CHF to build our internal understanding and grow external relationships in the community. This in turn will make us better at supporting the success of Indigenous people experiencing homelessness.
A World With An Integrated Public Ecosystem
To create a home for all, how do we move from simply coordinating programs within Calgary’s Homeless-Serving System of Care, to integrating the whole system with other primary public systems, such as health and justice?
When you support an integrated ecosystem, you’ll help us discover, bridge and eliminate the gaps between our public systems—like the one Frank fell into. In the near term, this means that people who are living in the supportive housing funded by CHF will see improved outcomes in their health, their housing, and their stability.Let’s Create A World Where Homelessness Never Happens.
Will You Join Us?
If you would like to learn more about homelessness, please visit calgaryhomeless.com and ihearthomeyyc.com for more information.
For more information, please reach out to us at: [email protected]. We would love to hear from you.