In 2000, the National Alliance to End Homelessness in the U.S. introduced the 10 Year Plan model. This model marked a shift from managing homelessness to ending it by focusing on prevention, building affordable housing, getting better data and applying the Housing First model. Now, more than 330 U.S. jurisdictions are working on 10 Year Plans. From 1994 to 2006, Calgary had Canada’s fastest growing population of people experiencing homelessness, with nearly 3,500 people sleeping in shelters and on the street in May 2006. In the fall of 2006, the head of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, Philip Mangano, spoke to Calgary leaders about the 10 Year Plan model. He demonstrated that ending homeless was possible and that 10 Year Plans worked. He also showed how ending homelessness was less expensive than managing homelessness. In January 2007, the Calgary Committee to End Homelessness was formed and began developing a 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness in Calgary. The Plan was completed and the Calgary Homeless Foundation (CHF) was asked to lead its implementation in January 2008. Calgary was the first city in Canada to begin implementing a 10 Year Plan. The CHF was founded a decade earlier as a registered charity that helped raise funds to acquire housing for people experiencing homelessness. Today, the CHF works in partnership with non-profit agencies, the private sector, the faith community, funders, the general public and all levels of government to fund programs and housing that will end homelessness in Calgary. In March 2009, the Government of Alberta published a “Plan for Alberta – Ending Homelessness in 10 years.” In doing so, Alberta became the first province in the country to commit itself to ending homelessness. In the same year, The City of Calgary endorsed the 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness. As well, the CHF manages the federal government’s Homeless Partnering Initiative/Homeless Partnering Strategy in Calgary.
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