Employment

Recommendation 64: Provide youth with personalized support to transition back into the work-place and transition off of government benefits in a stable way. Youth will need support stabilizing mental health and substance use to be successful in future employment opportunities.

Employment

Recommendation 65: Zero Ceiling is a promising practice that has integrated employment and housing to help bridge youth out of homelessness into a sense of purpose. They provide mental health support and a strong recreation component that helps youth thrive in wellness.

Employment

Recommendation 66: Develop fun workshops that connect youth to employers and gets employers feeling a sense of responsibility and achievement from employing youth.

Supporting a resilient sector

Recommendation 67: Increased and sustained funding to manage additional expenditures of housing and supporting youth. Funding for wages should be adequate, so organizations are able to hire qualified and trained staff to offer meaningful support to youth.

Supporting a resilient sector

Recommendation 69: Advocacy with the Federal government to ensure Indigenous organizations are able to access benefits as the current benefit through Indigenous Services Canada is only for people on reserve resulting in a gap. There needs to be advocacy so Indigenous youth are equally able to access relief funds and the same benefits provided to youth on reserve. In Burns Lake, the Friendship Centers are struggling to provide hampers, food, and to continue providing services to those most impacted by the pandemic.

Supporting a resilient sector

Recommendation 73: Some youth recommend training for service providers to understand the unique needs of youth and how the pandemic has changed them.

Common themes

Recommendation 75: Provide unique and youth-centred ways to increase income levels for youth who are risk of homelessness that don’t include complicated eligibility factors.

Common themes

Recommendation 76: Youth aging out of care is the most vulnerable population at risk of homelessness as a result of COVID-19. The sector recommends a staggering approach of youth aging out post-pandemic as service providers will not have the capacity to support this larger cohort. MCFD must continue providing the low-barrier Agreements with Young Adults to help bridge youth into safe and secure housing.

Common themes

Recommendation 77: Develop a BC Youth Housing Action Plan that provides a continuum of housing and access to rental subsidies to ensure no young person is left without a home post pandemic.

Common themes

Recommendation 78: The sector has identified increased substance use and overdoses as a result of the pandemic. The Coalition recommends low-barrier services that are implemented through a harm reduction lens, providing youth with a safe supply, and increasing the number of youth-specific treatment programs. The lack of treatment supports for youth is compounded by the risks associated with Bill 22 without the appropriate services for youth to transition into after being detained.