Shelter Diversion & Eviction Prevention

Shelter diversion and eviction prevention are two of the most efficient and cost-effective interventions for ending homelessness, and they are ready to be implemented in any community in Canada. They are both forms of homelessness prevention in that they do not involve waiting until a person is homeless to intervene, and both are offered within a Housing First approach, meaning housing is provided immediately, without preconditions, alongside other services.

Shelter diversion is aimed at people who show up at emergency shelters having lost their housing or who are at risk of imminently losing their housing. The SD worker provides them with options for temporary housing in their community that are available immediately, while also offering services and financial assistance as required.

According to the City of Toronto, shelter diversion programs should be responsive and person-centred to meet each person’s unique needs. Services should be delivered within a trauma-informed, anti-oppressive, and non-judgemental framework. Services to help navigate the housing system are provided along a continuum, from one-off interactions to longer term case management that can include meeting people at their home or traveling with them to explore housing options. Shelter diversion programs should try to build and maintain relationships with housing providers and landlords across the city in order to offer a range of local housing options. They should also try to work with a person’s family and natural supports to obtain housing, especially when working with youth. Respite accommodation is one example of a shelter diversion program.

Eviction prevention involves early intervention to stabilize the housing of people at risk of homelessness. It refers to a range of practices that seek to keep individuals and families at imminent risk of eviction in their homes, with security of tenure, which prevents them from becoming homeless.

There are a variety of eviction prevention interventions that can stabilize an individual’s housing, including:

• Rent banks, which provide short-term loans (or payments) to cover missed rent.
• Energy assistance payments, to help with the cost of utilities.
• Community legal clinics that help tenants navigate the landlord-tenant tribunal system and offer advice about tenants’ rights and responsibilities in their community or province.
• Credit counseling agencies.
• Relationship building and mediation with landlords to prevent escalation of issues.

There are also systemic and structural strategies to prevent eviction, including working at the policy level and providing anti-racism training to landlords and housing providers. Healing from trauma, home-making skills, and mental health and addictions supports can also be eviction prevention strategies.

In some cities, the municipal government offers housing providers resources to help them prevent evictions, including tips on communication strategies, possible repayment plans, and information about available services.

In England and Germany, eviction prevention interventions have been associated with a decrease in homelessness despite increasing poverty rates (Germany) and worsening housing affordability (England). In England, 26% of families experiencing homelessness lost their housing due to eviction, mostly due to the end of a fixed-term lease, while in Germany, 86% of those at risk of homelessness are in that situation due to eviction proceedings for rent arrears. Detailed knowledge of the drivers of eviction allowed those countries to create policies and procedures to address the problem.

Closer to home, there have been some successful shelter diversion programs focused on youth. Argus House, based in Cambridge, Ontario, developed a centralized shelter diversion program that successfully diverted 17% of those who sought access to shelter. In April 2019, RAFT, a youth-focused organization in Niagara, Ontario, launched a program based on the program offered by Argus House. In the first six months of the program, RAFT diverted 40% of youth seeking access to its shelter. By August 2020, the organization expanded across the Niagara region by partnering with other agencies. By April 2021, RAFT reported shelter diversion rates similar to Argus House’s, showing that shelter diversion programs can work in different contexts.

Shelter diversion and eviction prevention programs can be adapted to meet the specific needs of different populations. Notably, informed practices for Indigenous eviction prevention have emerged in recent years. This is particularly important because Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately impacted by homelessness, meaning the need for such services is that much greater.

Indigenous shelter diversion and eviction prevention programs recognize that eviction is a colonial process and that Indigenous and settler definitions of homelessness are not the same. Canada has a responsibility, in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, to ensure that services are provided equitably to Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities within a distinctions-based approach. Similarly, the impacts of eviction are not the same for Indigenous communities. As the Indigenous Outreach Workers Network writes,

“As the IOW, we have witnessed many evictions faced by our relatives from supportive housing sites. These evictions only work to further isolate, oppress and break down any form of connection and community that Indigenous folks have created. A decolonial approach to providing housing services is to provide ways to support folks in maintaining relationships to one another and their identity.”

Developing shelter diversion and eviction prevention programs is part of making the shift to preventing homelessness, taking the emphasis off of the emergency response. They allow communities to save money while getting better outcomes, since they allow people to avoid the harms associated with homelessness.

For more information, check out the free training available on the Homelessness Learning Hub. You can also find more content from the COH’s shelter diversion and eviction prevention team on the Research Matters blog.