A Way Home

A Way Home A Way Home is a national coalition. We are dedicated to preventing, reducing and ending youth homele

By the time a young person reaches a shelter, we’ve already missed our best opportunities to intervene. Because   doesn'...
05/20/2026

By the time a young person reaches a shelter, we’ve already missed our best opportunities to intervene. Because doesn't start at the shelter door; it begins years earlier: in our classrooms, foster care, detention centres and hospitals. They see the warning signs of instability long before the homelessness sector does. True means intervening earlier and empowering the systems that see the warning signs first to step in before housing instability occurs.


The Homeless Hub

Is your organization, or one you know, doing exceptional work to prevent     in 🇨🇦? Nominate them for the Prevention Awa...
05/19/2026

Is your organization, or one you know, doing exceptional work to prevent in 🇨🇦? Nominate them for the Prevention Awards 🏆!

Presented by Canada Life Co, the Awards are back for their 6th year, recognizing programs & initiatives helping prevent across the country.

This year, two winners will each receive a $10,000 cash prize, presented by Canada Life Co. Honourable mention recipients may also receive cash awards ranging from $2,500 to $5,000.

Winners will also receive:

✔️ Conference presentation opportunities
✔️ A mini case study by the the
✔️ A newsletter feature reaching 20,000+ subscribers
✔️ New this year: free prevention training from our team at A Way Home Canada

➡️ Learn more & nominate your initiative: https://shorturl.at/0pgQB

05/07/2026

Q: What’s a major barrier to preventing ?

A: Fragmented data. When governments, organizations, and researchers can’t easily share information, it’s harder to coordinate services and respond early.

During a recent Prevention Matters! panel, the team from Policy Wise for Children and Families shared how new approaches to collaborative data are helping bridge those gaps—and what this means for prevention efforts.

Watch the full panel here: you can hear them all by watching the full webinar recording:https://ow.ly/1Lo550YKxsw

If an intervention does *not* stabilize a young person’s housing situation, it’s not preventing homelessness.In the home...
05/06/2026

If an intervention does *not* stabilize a young person’s housing situation, it’s not preventing homelessness.

In the homelessness sector, the term “prevention” is used frequently but not always precisely.
isn’t simply about providing support or services. It requires a clear outcome: housing stability. Without that, interventions may be valuable, but they don’t actually prevent homelessness.

This distinction matters as it shapes how programs are designed, funded, evaluated, and, whether they address root causes or just manage crises.

Watch the full webinar here: https://ow.ly/ioBW50YKBs9
The Homeless Hub

This week, a delegation of 30 leaders from 🇨🇦 and the 🇺🇸 gathered in 🇮🇪 Ireland and Northern Ireland for an immersive, h...
05/01/2026

This week, a delegation of 30 leaders from 🇨🇦 and the 🇺🇸 gathered in 🇮🇪 Ireland and Northern Ireland for an immersive, hands-on study tour focused on innovative, real-world approaches to preventing and ending hashtag . The group brings together leaders from the youth sector, philanthropic, and research communities.

Co-led by A Way Home & The Homeless Hub in partnership with , Focus Ireland, and Simon Community Northern Ireland, the group is explored the ins and outs of national strategies across jurisdictions to understand what is working and where gaps still need to be addressed.

Day 1 took us to Dublin and focused on learning directly from young people about what meaningful change should look like, exploring policy in practice, and beginning to identify how effective approaches can be scaled to prevent and end youth homelessness.

On day 2, we explored how long-standing reliance on shelters continues to shape responses to homelessness, and examined the need to shift toward housing-first approaches, wraparound supports, and long-term solutions.

On day 3, we heard from care leavers and leaders about the difference between tokenistic engagement and meaningful involvement, and the need for young people to help shape the policies that impact their lives.

Stay tuned — we'll be sharing more of our learnings!

05/01/2026

Homelessness prevention doesn't start at a shelter; it starts in the classroom. By the time a student loses their housing, the system has already missed multiple opportunities to intervene.

United Way BC Youth Futures Education Fund (YFEF) is shifting the focus upstream. Instead of waiting for a crisis, they use the school environment to identify early warning signs—disengagement, home instability, or sudden challenges—before they escalate into housing loss.

🏆 This proactive model is why YFEF earned an honourable mention for our most recent Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Prevention Award.

04/24/2026

Keeping a young person housed often means keeping them connected to their community. When support systems are local and culturally responsive, intervention happens before a crisis becomes a relocation.

In Brampton, the Youth Resilience and Housing Stability (YRHS) program—developed by South Asian Canadian Health and Social Services (SACHSS)—is proving that prevention is most effective when it’s specialized. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, they focus on early intervention that respects the specific family and cultural dynamics of the youth they serve.

🏆This practical, community-led model is why SACHSS was recognized as 1 of 2 winners for our most recent Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Prevention Award.

FACT: 83% of communities in 🇨🇦with emergency shelters have ZERO youth-specific services. That means only 17% cater to yo...
04/22/2026

FACT: 83% of communities in 🇨🇦with emergency shelters have ZERO youth-specific services. That means only 17% cater to youth.

The issue? Access. In jurisdictions without youth shelters, youth are required to access family or adult shelters, or find alternative arrangements. This reflects a broader issue in how we understand and prioritize .

Learn more: https://homelessnesslearninghub.ca/library/resources/webinar-the-evidence-is-in-youth-homelessness-prevention-works/
The Homeless Hub

04/17/2026

The transition out of child welfare shouldn’t be a pipeline into homelessness. The most effective way to close this gap is programming informed and led by people with lived experience in care.

Carrefour Jeunesse Emploi-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce’s (CJE NDG's) Maison Umune Uniashuk (MYCASA) in Montréal is operationalizing this logic. Their housing model is rooted in cultural identity and peer-led support, ensuring that aging out of the system doesn’t mean falling into a housing crisis.

🏆 MYCASA’s commitment to culturally-specific, proactive care is one reason why it was named a winner of our most recent Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Prevention Award.

04/16/2026

Washington State reduced by 40%—nearly 10,000 fewer young people experiencing homelessness.

This didn’t happen by chance. It was the result of a coordinated, cross-sector strategy focused on prevention. Today, Washington is a national leader, showing what’s possible when systems align.

In this clip, Casey Trupin, director of Raikes Foundation’s housing stability for youth strategy, shares the importance of an “inside-oustide strategy.” This is one of the many insights he shared during this panel.

Watch the full panel here: https://ow.ly/Wwcp50YKxce

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Toronto, ON
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