Preventing and solving homelessness requires a systemic response, drawing on the expertise and support of numerous sectors, institutions and agencies. The widespread homelessness experienced in our communities reveals deep structural inequities in our economy and society that ought to be addressed, but also represents a systematic governance failure characterized by a lack of ownership of this issue in and across government.

The growing scholarly and practitioner movement towards systems integration thus refers to strategies and frameworks to improve collaboration and coordination between people, organizations, and sectors that touch upon homelessness, including some of which may not conceive of themselves as directly related to the issue. In February, 2016 the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness released ­­­­­Exploring Effective Systems Responses to Homelessness.

This book offers case-studies of coordinated, collaborative, and integrated approaches to reducing and ending homelessness in communities across Canada, and in two international contexts: Finland and one community in the U.S. The book provides an evidence base that supports policy and government decision makers, community organizers, institutional leaders (e.g. managers and directors) and funders to conceptualize, plan for and implement coordinated efforts to end homelessness in Canada.

On January 21, the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness offered a glimpse of four compelling chapters from the project. In this webinar, you will learn about centralized access to supportive housing, cross-sector case management; measuring homelessness in a complex system; and systems-coordination at the national level.