2014 was a year of change. Advocates and service providers breathed a collective sigh of relief in 2013, when the federal government announced a five-year renewal of the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS). HPS provides funding to four communities in New Brunswick to address homelessness – Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton and Bathurst. Although HPS funding was renewed, it came with a condition attached: the federal government stipulated that communities begin to invest part of their allocation towards a Housing First program. The adoption of a Housing First philosophy reflects the intentional shift in focus (both at the local and national levels) from managing homelessness to ending it.

This is Saint John’s first report card that focuses on ending homelessness.