EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Context and Objective:

• The Panel Study on Homelessness was developed in response to the City of Ottawa’s interest in facilitating research between researchers at the Centre for Research on Community Services and the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa, Carleton University, City of Ottawa’s Housing Branch, and the Alliance to End Homelessness in Ottawa.

• The purpose of the Panel Study is to examine the pathways into and out of homelessness by following persons who are homeless over time. The research objective for the first wave of the study was to interview a representative sample of current residents of Ottawa emergency shelters in order to gather descriptive data on demographic characteristics, housing history, health status, and health and social service utilization.

• The purpose of this report is to examine the situations of foreign born respondents to the Panel Study, and to compare their situations overall with those of respondents who were born in Canada.