The growing problem of homelessness in Canada’s major cities has been underscored recently through the attention garnered by the closing of “squats” in Vancouver and Toronto and the eviction of homeless people. These events were reported in the national media (cf. Maclean’s, 2002). In smaller urban centres, like Sudbury however, homeless people exist in significant numbers but they are largely invisible on the national scene. Our research on homelessness in Sudbury has documented the size of the homeless population locally and the federal government has allocated funds from the National Homelessness Initiative to improve the system of services to homeless people here and to expand the research capacity. The City of Greater Sudbury and the Task Force on Emergency Shelters and Homelessness have worked with the Social Planning Council of Sudbury and faculty from the School of Social Work at Laurentian University to ensure that the findings are applied locally and the recommendations of the research are implemented to address the issue at the local level. The current study is the fifth in a series of seven studies that will be completed by July 2003.