Youth Homelessness Prevention Toolkit

The Youth Homelessness Prevention Toolkit helps Community Entities take practical steps to prevent youth homelessness. It includes resources to guide funding decisions, engage Community Advisory Boards, and shift services upstream as part of a broader community response to homelessness.

What’s Inside:

The Case for Youth Homelessness Prevention
Causes of Youth Homelessness
Why Prevention Works—and What It Looks Like
Community Systems Planning
Evidence-Based Solutions
Program Guides and Training Training and Technical Assistance

The Case for Youth Homelessness Prevention in Canada

Youth (ages 13–24) make up 20% of Canada’s homeless population.
At least 35,000 youth experience homelessness each year.
40% of homeless youth had their first experience of homelessness before the age of 16.
44% of all people experiencing homelessness had their first experience before the age of 25.
Indigenous youth (30.6%), 2SLGBTQ+ youth (29.5%), and racialized youth (28.6%) are overrepresented.

The cost of supporting someone during homelessness is significantly higher than preventing it. Early intervention reduces long-term harm for individuals and eases pressure on public systems.

Access the Factsheet

Causes of Youth Homelessness

Family breakdown, conflict or abuse
Aging out of child welfare
Discharge from public systems like a prison or hospital
Colonialism, racism, sexism, and trans/homophobia
Poverty and precarious housing
School disengagement

Findings from the Without A Home study show youth who leave home at an early age are more likely to experience multiple episodes of homelessness or become chronically homeless, along with a range of other serious consequences.

Addressing these factors requires comprehensive strategies that encompass prevention, intervention, and support services tailored to the unique needs of homeless youth.

“Youth homelessness” refers to the situation and experience of young people between the ages of 13 and 24 who are living independently of parents and/or caregivers, but do not have the means or ability to acquire a stable, safe or consistent residence.

Homelessness prevention means taking action before a young person becomes homeless.

It includes primary prevention to stop homelessness before it starts, secondary prevention to intervene early during first experiences and ensure they don’t transition to chronic homelessness, and tertiary prevention to support stable exits and prevent returns.

Visit the Homeless Hub to learn more

Key Resources

Why Prevention Works—and What It Looks Like

Prevention helps young people stay connected to family, school, and community—before a crisis leads to homelessness. It means acting early, coordinating supports, and building on young people’s strengths to create lasting stability.

Access the latest research evidence

Resource

Without a Home – The National Youth Homelessness Survey

Research and Evaluation
Youth Homelessness

Resource

Prevention 101 With Stephen Gaetz

Prevention

Resource

Preventing Youth Homelessness in Canada – The Way Forward

Systems Planning
Youth Homelessness

Community Systems Planning

Preventing youth homelessness requires strong local systems, sustained funding, and shared responsibility among service providers, governments, schools, and community organizations. Community Entities (CEs) play a central role in this work through Reaching Home. They lead community-level planning, implement Coordinated Access, invest in solutions, and use data to drive outcomes.

This section provides tools and research to support community systems planning, including:

Evidence-based prevention models and evaluation findings
Resources to support funding decisions and data-driven outcomes
Guidance for integrating Indigenous-led approaches

Coordinated Access

A system-level approach to ensure access, assessment, prioritization, and matching across providers using real-time data and community pathways.

Youth Homelessness Prevention Initiative Needs Assessment

Summary of survey findings on service provider readiness to adopt prevention-based interventions.
report cover

Resource

Using Evidence to Drive Community-Level Outcomes

Systems Planning
Youth Homelessness

Collection of resources

Systems Planning Collective Learning Modules

Systems Planning

Collection of resources

Making Zero Count

Systems Planning

Evidence-Based Solutions

With sustained investment and strong local partnerships, communities can implement proven strategies to prevent youth homelessness. These solutions focus on strengthening support networks, stabilizing housing, and creating coordinated systems of care that help young people thrive. Effective approaches include:

Visit the Homeless Hub to learn more

Program Model Guides and Training

The Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab, co-led by A Way Home Canada and the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, have developed evidence-based program models to prevent youth homelessness. These guides and training resources offer practical support to implement key approaches to youth homelessness prevention.

Access the infographic