Youth homelessness is a challenging, multi-faceted problem. Addressing it effectively requires collaboration among a range of different partners who share a deep understanding of the local context. The need for a grounded local response is especially strong in a rural community, where strategies developed and evaluated in large urban centres may not translate. This action plan is a comprehensive strategy designed to prevent, reduce and end youth homelessness in rural Wellington County. It draws on the lessons learned in other communities where possible, but it is built around concrete recommendations that emerged out of consultation with local youth and service providers.

This plan builds on past efforts. For example, the 2011 Rural Homelessness Study prepared for the County of Wellington1 flagged the unique needs of youth experiencing homelessness. It recommended the creation of safe shelter alternatives as well as opportunities to play and develop life skills. In response, a group of service providers came together to address the issue and applied to participate as one of six communities in the Mobilizing Local Capacity to End Youth Homelessness Program (MLC).2 Once selected to be an MLC community, the Community Resource Centre of North and Centre Wellington, Wyndham House, and the County of Wellington were tasked with leading the MLC program in Wellington County, resulting in the Action Plan to End Youth Homelessness in Rural Wellington County.

The MLC is a national program that supports small and medium-sized communities with resources to develop community plans to prevent, reduce and end youth homelessness. The MLC program began their national collaboration in 2012 with the following founding partners; Eva’s Initiatives, The National Learning Community on Youth Homelessness, The Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and Raising the Roof with funding from the Catherine Donnelly Foundation. In 2015 the MLC founding partners formed a national coalition to end youth homelessness. The coalition, called A Way Home: Working Together to End Youth Homelessness3, is committed to bringing effective community planning, service integration and alignment of strategies and resources for maximum impact at the national, provincial and community levels.