Hearing the Voices: Learnings from Kitchener-Waterloo Out of the Cold

This report was developed through a partnership between the Kitchener-Waterloo Out of the Cold (K-W OOTC) Steering Committee, the Kitchener Downtown Community Health Centre (KDCHC) Peer Health Worker program and the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Social Services, Social Planning, Policy and Program Administration. The purpose of the report was to understand who is staying at K-W OOTC and to collect feedback, from guest perspectives, regarding the strengths and gaps related to local shelter, health, community, and housing services. The report outlines the historical development of K-W OOTC and other housing stability services in Waterloo Region between 1999 and 2010; provides a description of services offered through the seven primary K-W OOTC sites; highlights the results of interviews with 23 guests staying overnight at K-W OOTC as well as interviews with Site Coordinators and volunteers at each of the seven primary sites; and compares K-W OOTC data with other local emergency shelter data. The discussion section includes observations and learnings and identifies considerations related to delivery of housing stability, health and community services. A peer research model was used with regards to the information gathered and discussed from the guest interviews.

Publication Date: 
2011