Project outcomes

Short-term outcomes

Recommendation 8: Conduct research and complete environmental scans of current services and promising practices.

Project outcomes

Short-term outcomes

Recommendation 9: Identify, implement and sustain effective services and promising practices related to the prevention and ending of youth homelessness:

• Prevention and early intervention;
• Housing;
• and Supports and services.

What commitments and strategies would a Provincial Plan include?

A strategy for youth housing

Recommendation 13:

• To meet the needs of youth, communities should be supported to develop an array of housing options. This includes: emergency housing, stabilization housing, mentorship programs, transition housing, scattered site units, private market housing, and access to subsidized market housing.
• Articulate the support needs of youth housing programs in B.C. Housing supports should include: therapy for trauma related to physical and sexualized violence, mental health and substance-use treatment and counseling, life-skills, outreach, health, sexuality, recreation, cultural, education, employment, and peer support.
• Provincial targets and bench-marks such as number of housing units needed.

What commitments and strategies would a Provincial Plan include?

A strategy for preventing youth homelessness

Recommendation 14:

• Assess current access statistics and ensure timely access to specialized therapy and victim services for children and youth who experience physical and sexualized violence, and other childhood experiences associated with later youth homelessness.
• Explore the concept of “duty to assist” as a rights-based approach to ending youth homelessness; investigate prevention legislation such as in Wales where there can be a duty to assist youth, likely to be homeless within 56 days, to secure accommodations.
• Prevent youth homelessness by reducing system discharges into homelessness by coordinating ministries at the provincial level and by bridging transitions from foster-care/provincial care, justice, hospitals, treatment facilities, and mental-health systems.

What commitments and strategies would a Provincial Plan include?

A strategy for supports to end youth homelessness

Recommendation 15:

• Ensures an Indigenous lens and leadership role in developing a culturally responsive plan to support Indigenous programs and governments.
• Ensure adequate mental health, substance-use, life-skills, employment and education supports for youth.
• A strategy to incentivize coordinated supports at local levels.