About the Proposal
The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and A Way Home Canada are calling on the Government of Canada to create a dedicated Youth Homelessness Prevention stream within its Federal Homelessness Strategy investing $170 million over 10 years to build the prevention infrastructure communities need.
Ending youth homelessness is within reach. Canada already has the evidence and the tools. What’s needed now is the investment to bring prevention to scale. – Stephen Gaetz, President and CEO, Canadian Observatory on Homelessness
Why prevention should be prioritized in a Federal Homelessness Strategy
At least 35,000 young people experience homelessness in Canada each year. Nearly half of all homeless adults first became homeless before age 25, and by the time young people reach a shelter, three in four are already chronically homeless.
Youth homelessness in Canada is preventable, and the evidence to prove it is among the strongest in the world. Over the past decade, Housing First for Youth, Family and Natural Supports, Upstream Canada, Reconnect and Indigenous-led approaches have been tested in Canadian communities through the Making the Shift Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab and produced measurable results. The challenge now is implementing prevention at scale.
It is already working where communities have committed to it. In Guelph, Ontario, chronic youth homelessness has dropped by 76% in three years, and the city is on track to become the first mid-sized city in Canada to reach functional zero for youth homelessness. Communities in Kelowna, St. John’s, Hamilton, Toronto and Ottawa have shown similar results. What is missing is the funding, workforce and infrastructure to make this possible everywhere.
What the proposal recommends
This proposal sets out two things. First, a National Youth Homelessness Prevention and Housing Strategy organized around nine pillars, describing the full scope of what is needed across all orders of government. Second, a specific federal investment proposal of $170 million over 10 years, the first phase of implementing that strategy, organized across five funding streams:
- Youth Homelessness Prevention Accelerator ($30.6M)
- Community Prevention Systems Grants ($45M)
- Intervention Scaling Fund ($45M)
- Indigenous-led and equity-focused prevention investments ($34M)
- Data, evaluation and accountability infrastructure ($15.4M)
The investment would provide approximately 12,160 young people with early, targeted supports at a per-youth cost of $13,980, compared to $48,910 per year for an emergency shelter bed. Prevention costs a fraction of crisis response and produces housing stability rather than temporary relief.
Family and Natural Supports
$13,250
per young person, per year. 65% reduction in shelter use.
Housing First for Youth
$24,050
per young person, per year. 97% stably housed at 36 months.
Emergency shelter
$48,910
per bed, per year. No path to lasting housing stability.
Costs adjusted to 2026 dollars. See Table 1 in the proposal for the full comparison, including hospital, youth custody, group home and hotel shelter costs.
Prevention also pays for itself
Family and Natural Supports returns $6.70 and Housing First for Youth $4.00 for every dollar invested over 30 years, and both models repay their full cost within three years.
The federal investment is designed to catalyze provincial and territorial co-investment, not replace it. The proposal also includes a performance framework and a 24-month implementation roadmap.
Much of the evidence base draws on research published in Solving Canada’s Homelessness Crisis Starts Here, a synthesis of AWH and COH’s 24-brief policy series on youth homelessness prevention.
Endorse the proposal
Canada already knows how to prevent youth homelessness. What it hasn’t done is fund it at scale. Federal decision-makers pay attention when a sector speaks with one voice, and every organization and individual on the list makes that voice harder to ignore.
No young person in Canada should be forced to endure homelessness because the right help was not available at the right time. Prevention identifies young people at risk early, strengthens family and natural supports, keeps youth connected to school and community, and ensures that anyone who does experience homelessness is rapidly connected to housing.
If your organization agrees that’s how Canada should respond to youth homelessness, add your name. It takes less than a minute, and you can sign on behalf of your organization or as an individual.
What your endorsement does. Endorsements will be included in the submission to the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure and shared with Members of Parliament ahead of the federal budget.
Who has endorsed
Updated September 16, 2026
