Housing Outreach Project-Collaborative

About HOP-C

The Housing Outreach Project – Collaborative (HOP-C) came together as a response to the short and long-term psychosocial challenges that young people face in the transition out of homelessness. HOP-C considers youth leadership, sector collaboration, a team approach, and cultural relevance as foundational to its work. The primary objective of HOP-C is to foster efforts that enable young people in transitions to healthier lives.

Studying pathways out of homelessness

The Exiting Street Life Study is a longitudinal study examining the transition away from homelessness for 51 young people over the course of a year in Toronto and Halifax. Information about the study including main findings are available in an Executive Summary, as well as through a comic book produced as part of the project.

The comic is called ‘A Long Way to Go‘ and it was insightfully written by three participants in the project and illustrated by the very talented comic artist Sarafin as a way to illustrate central themes and to bring them to life.

The study was funded by SSHRC and the W. Garfield Weston Foundation and was assisted by Covenant House Toronto, LOFT Community Services, SKETCH, Ark, and Supportive Housing for Young Mothers (SHYM).

By Youth For Youth Initiative

The By Youth for Youth (BYFY) initiative involves participatory action projects driven by youth who have experienced homelessness. Participants build resources for others and become skillful and strong leaders in the process.

BYFY round was founded by HOP-C peer supports and participants – the first project produced the MY Guide – which was shared with organizations internationally.

Our group was then funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to kick of youth initiatives in Thunder Bay and Managua, Nicaragua. These projects have just landed! Check out their amazing work here:

• BYFY Toronto
• BYFY Nicaragua
• BYFY North

We are working to scale BYFY out further globally. Stay tuned!