York Region’s Community Plan to Address Homelessness has been developed in response to a new federal government initiative, the Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative.

The Government of Canada announced on December 17, 1999 that $753 million would be invested over three years in a strategy to reduce and prevent homelessness across Canada. The Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI) recognizes that no single level of government or sector of our society can solve homelessness and it encourages new partnerships to be formed with all levels of government, as well as private and volunteer sectors.

SCPI has been set up to run between April 1, 2000 and March 31, 2003. All initiatives funded through this program will be required to secure any funding needed past March 31, 2003 through other means. York Region has been allocated $1,635,000 for the three year period of the initiative. In addition, $90,741 per year for three years has been allocated to York Region under the federal government’s Youth Employment Strategy.

The Community Plan is intended to provide a focal point for joint community action and to achieve the following objectives:

• To give community service organizations a framework within which to work together to achieve common goals;

• To assist the community to make the best possible use of scarce resources by reducing overlap and duplication;

• To enable the community to evaluate its progress in reaching its shared objectives; and,

• To set a common vision for the identification of matching funding for SCPI funds.

York Region’s Community Plan to Address Homelessness was developed between March and July 2001. It will be updated on an ongoing basis to ensure that the needs of the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless are addressed. The plan has ten major components.