Supportive housing programs, particularly Housing First (HF) initiatives, have been strongly recommended for eliminating homelessness and have been found to be effective even with hard-to-house homeless populations such as individuals with concurrent disorders (ICMDs). However, a review of the literature and research documents indicate that little is known about the implementation of HF for ICMDs and whether these programs would be feasible to implement in smaller cities such as Saskatoon.
The overall objectives of the project are to:
- Identify what it takes to implement HF programs for ICMDs, including a critical analysis of how these programs bring together experts and link with institutions (e.g., hospitals).
- Identify how to adapt HF Programs in smaller centres that do not specifically serve ICMDs to better meet the needs of this population.
- Examine ongoing challenges and barriers to implementing HF for ICMDs in cities without it.