The Nanaimo community has long been concerned about the lack of affordable housing locally and over the last decade a number of reports and studies documented housing and service needs in the city. With the announcement of the National Homelessness Initiative and available funding, the Nanaimo Working Group on Homelessness Issues (NWGHI) and the Nanaimo Planning Group on Urban Aboriginal Homelessness were formed to develop coordinated strategies for addressing homelessness. The NWGHI completed Reducing Homelessness: A Community Plan for Nanaimo, B.C. in July 2001 and the Planning Group completed A 10 Year Strategy for Reducing Urban Aboriginal Homelessness in Nanaimo, British Columbia in October 2001. In October 2002, the Working and Planning Groups were merged.