Homelessness Systems Planning

The Coming Together to End Homelessness: Hamilton’s Systems Planning Framework (PDF, 17 MB) sets a path forward to end chronic homelessness by 2025. It serves as a roadmap to guide municipal decision-makers, staff, social service providers and community organizations in addressing the needs of individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

The framework re-envisions the way services are delivered and policies are implemented across Hamilton’s homeless-serving system.

While the homeless-serving system responds to immediate needs to divert people from homelessness and rapidly houses those in need of enhanced supports, partners across the broader social safety net contribute to a sustainable, seamless response that ensures prevention and appropriate housing are in place to reduce the risk of homelessness, prevent homelessness whenever possible, or otherwise ensure it is a rare, brief and non-reoccurring experience.

 The framework serves two main purposes:

• To detail Hamilton’s s roadmap to ending homelessness within the context of the broader social safety net; and,
• To outline a Systems Planning Framework to guide the design of the City’s investments in homelessness and enhance overall coordination of diverse resources locally to meet systems planning goals.