FEATURE — Losing a home can unsettle every part of a person’s life. Finding a way back takes housing people can afford, support they can rely on and a chance to feel at home again. Cover illustration: AI-supported image by Blue Squares Media. “I felt so alone and lost. I needed help.” The words appeared in a storytelling project by End Homelessness St. John’s, reported by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness in January. People who had experienced homelessness, including residents of transitional supportive housing, used images and their own words to describe their lives. [1] The statement is brief, but it opens a conversation that needs room for the person speaking. Someone looking for a safe place to sleep also has a history, relationships and preferences about how to live. Getting through a difficult day may take considerable effort. Asking for help can mean explaining that day repeatedly to people who have the power to offer a place to stay. Homelessness in Canada includes people sleeping outdoors and in shelters, as well as those staying temporarily with others because they have nowhere else to live. Some of these circumstances are visible on a walk through a neighbourhood. Others remain behind a friend’s door, with no assurance of how long the arrangement can last. [3] A day organized around survival A home gives everyday life a place to happen. There is somewhere to wash, keep possessions and prepare food. Privacy allows a person to rest without being continually available to other people. Losing access to those ordinary things can turn much of the day into a search for somewhere to meet basic needs. Research highlighted by Simon Fraser University on Oct. 22 examined interviews with 49 older adults in transitional housing and shelters in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. The study, published in Housing Studies, found that their experiences of home were shaped by access to bathrooms and kitchens, comfortable surroundings, privacy and control over their environment. These conditions supported dignity and the ability to think about the future. [2] Those findings concern older adults in particular settings, but they give substance to a familiar word. Home involves being able to make decisions about ordinary life. For a housing provider, listening to those priorities can reveal why a place feels manageable to one person and difficult for another. People living outdoors also need help that makes the present day safer while housing is being arranged. The Federal Housing Advocate’s encampments review identified the need for drinking water, sanitation, protection from extreme temperatures and access to health care. The review also heard that relationships within encampments could offer community and support. Responding to immediate danger requires attention to the connections people depend on as well as their physical surroundings. [7] How a home becomes out of reach Financial difficulty, relationship breakdown and escaping violence can all be part of a person’s experience of homelessness. Statistics Canada’s research also shows that the help people use to regain housing varies. Employment income matters for many; others need income assistance, affordable accommodation or support from people they know. Those differences leave little room for a single account of how someone ended up without a home. [3] The National Advisory Council on Poverty’s 2026 report records how hard people were working to hold on to housing. “I have 2 jobs and can't afford to pay my rent,” one participant said. The account challenges the assumption that employment automatically provides enough income for a secure place to live. [4] The council also heard from people facing discriminatory treatment when looking for housing, and from queer and trans participants who linked housing insecurity to family rejection. These experiences describe barriers that extend beyond the amount of money available for rent. The people encountering them need suitable housing and services where they can ask for help safely. [4] For First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, an understanding of home also needs to make room for distinct cultures and relationships. Jesse Thistle’s 2017 definition of Indigenous homelessness, developed through consultation with Indigenous scholars, community members, knowledge keepers and Elders, describes disconnection from family, community, land and cultural identity. It offers a reason to support Indigenous-led approaches that respect those connections when helping people find housing. [5] Taking these circumstances seriously changes the conversation with someone seeking help. There is space to understand what happened, what they want for themselves and what has made previous offers of assistance difficult to use. A person’s need for shelter can be urgent while their preferences and judgement still deserve consideration. The support to start again Statistics Canada’s 2025 analysis of the 2022 Canadian Housing Survey found that people who had regained housing often identified financial and personal support. Respondents were housed when surveyed, recalling earlier homelessness. Their accounts describe pathways that worked for them; people currently without a home may face different conditions. [3] Canadian Housing First research provides another useful example. In a five-city trial involving people with severe mental illness and high support needs, participants received rent supplements, help finding accommodation and intensive community treatment. At the one-year followup, 73 per cent were in stable housing, compared with 31 per cent receiving usual services. The findings were published in Psychiatric Services in 2015. [6] That study tested housing together with substantial ongoing assistance. Its results support an approach that gives people a place to live while help continues around them. Applying the findings today requires homes at rents people can afford and enough staff to provide that support. People’s circumstances and their own priorities need to shape the assistance they receive. Moving in brings practical needs of its own. Another participant in the poverty council’s report described the shortage of basic household items: “I have 1 fork, 1 spoon, 1 plate.” A tenancy can begin before someone has what they need to cook a meal, furnish a room or manage the expenses of everyday life. [4] For a service helping someone move, support might include obtaining household essentials, arranging income assistance or staying in contact while the person settles in. The details should follow the person’s needs. Someone who has spent months concentrating on survival may need time and reliable help to establish routines in a new place. The same attention can begin before housing is lost. A practical response would make assistance available when rent first becomes unmanageable, help someone leaving an unsafe home find a suitable alternative, and arrange accommodation before a person leaves hospital or care. Responsibility for making that help available rests with the governments and organizations that fund and deliver housing, income support and care. It cannot depend on a person in crisis navigating every service alone. There is also room for people with experience of homelessness to shape the response. In St. John’s, a lived experience council reviews public education materials so that the language reflects the people concerned. The storytelling project gave participants a way to explain their circumstances themselves. Participation of that kind brings knowledge that a referral form or a count of available beds cannot capture. [1] A home begins to do its work when someone can rest, prepare a meal and make a plan with a reasonable expectation that they will still be there next month. The help surrounding it needs to last long enough for that ordinary life to become dependable. SDG context Homelessness connects to SDG 1 through income security and poverty reduction, SDG 3 through access to care and conditions that support well-being, and SDG 11 through adequate, affordable housing. Progress should be evident in people’s lives: being able to remain housed, meet everyday needs and get support when difficulties arise. [8] Sources [1] Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. St. John’s is rewriting the story on homelessness—led by people who’ve lived it. Jan. 15, 2026. [2] J. Hoselton and colleagues. Infrastructures of dignity: Home in transitional housing and shelters for older adults experiencing homelessness in Canada. Housing Studies, 2026. Research abstract published by Simon Fraser University, Oct. 22, 2026. DOI 10.1080/02673037.2026.2747626. [3] Francesca Tria Espinoza and Jeff Randle, Statistics Canada. Exiting homelessness: An examination of factors contributing to regaining and maintaining housing. Feb. 12, 2025. Based on the 2022 Canadian Housing Survey. [4] National Advisory Council on Poverty. Too many left behind: the 2026 report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty. 2026. [5] Jesse A. Thistle. Indigenous definition of homelessness in Canada. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press, 2017. [6] Tim Aubry and colleagues. One-year outcomes of a randomized controlled trial of Housing First with ACT in five Canadian cities. Psychiatric Services, May 2015, 66(5), 463–469. DOI 10.1176/appi.ps.201400167. [7] Office of the Federal Housing Advocate. Upholding dignity and human rights: the Federal Housing Advocate’s review of homeless encampments. Feb. 13, 2024. [8] United Nations General Assembly. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sept. 25, 2015. A/RES/70/1, goals 1, 3 and 11.
FEATURE — Losing a home can unsettle every part of a person’s life. Finding a way back takes housing people can afford, support they can rely on and a chance to feel at home again. Cover illustration: AI-supported image by Blue Squares Media. “I felt so alone and lost. I needed help.” The words appeared in a storytelling project by End Homelessness St. John’s, reported by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness in January. People who had experienced homelessness, including residents of transitional supportive housing, used images and their own words to describe their lives. [1] The statement is brief, but it opens a conversation that needs room for the person speaking. Someone looking for a safe place to sleep also has a history, relationships and preferences about how to live. Getting through a difficult day may take considerable effort. Asking for help can mean explaining that day repeatedly to people who have the power to offer a place to stay. Homelessness in Canada includes people sleeping outdoors and in shelters, as well as those staying temporarily with others because they have nowhere else to live. Some of these circumstances are visible on a walk through a neighbourhood. Others remain behind a friend’s door, with no assurance of how long the arrangement can last. [3] A day organized around survival A home gives everyday life a place to happen. There is somewhere to wash, keep possessions and prepare food. Privacy allows a person to rest without being continually available to other people. Losing access to those ordinary things can turn much of the day into a search for somewhere to meet basic needs. Research highlighted by Simon Fraser University on Oct. 22 examined interviews with 49 older adults in transitional housing and shelters in Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. The study, published in Housing Studies, found that their experiences of home were shaped by access to bathrooms and kitchens, comfortable surroundings, privacy and control over their environment. These conditions supported dignity and the ability to think about the future. [2] Those findings concern older adults in particular settings, but they give substance to a familiar word. Home involves being able to make decisions about ordinary life. For a housing provider, listening to those priorities can reveal why a place feels manageable to one person and difficult for another. People living outdoors also need help that makes the present day safer while housing is being arranged. The Federal Housing Advocate’s encampments review identified the need for drinking water, sanitation, protection from extreme temperatures and access to health care. The review also heard that relationships within encampments could offer community and support. Responding to immediate danger requires attention to the connections people depend on as well as their physical surroundings. [7] How a home becomes out of reach Financial difficulty, relationship breakdown and escaping violence can all be part of a person’s experience of homelessness. Statistics Canada’s research also shows that the help people use to regain housing varies. Employment income matters for many; others need income assistance, affordable accommodation or support from people they know. Those differences leave little room for a single account of how someone ended up without a home. [3] The National Advisory Council on Poverty’s 2026 report records how hard people were working to hold on to housing. “I have 2 jobs and can't afford to pay my rent,” one participant said. The account challenges the assumption that employment automatically provides enough income for a secure place to live. [4] The council also heard from people facing discriminatory treatment when looking for housing, and from queer and trans participants who linked housing insecurity to family rejection. These experiences describe barriers that extend beyond the amount of money available for rent. The people encountering them need suitable housing and services where they can ask for help safely. [4] For First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, an understanding of home also needs to make room for distinct cultures and relationships. Jesse Thistle’s 2017 definition of Indigenous homelessness, developed through consultation with Indigenous scholars, community members, knowledge keepers and Elders, describes disconnection from family, community, land and cultural identity. It offers a reason to support Indigenous-led approaches that respect those connections when helping people find housing. [5] Taking these circumstances seriously changes the conversation with someone seeking help. There is space to understand what happened, what they want for themselves and what has made previous offers of assistance difficult to use. A person’s need for shelter can be urgent while their preferences and judgement still deserve consideration. The support to start again Statistics Canada’s 2025 analysis of the 2022 Canadian Housing Survey found that people who had regained housing often identified financial and personal support. Respondents were housed when surveyed, recalling earlier homelessness. Their accounts describe pathways that worked for them; people currently without a home may face different conditions. [3] Canadian Housing First research provides another useful example. In a five-city trial involving people with severe mental illness and high support needs, participants received rent supplements, help finding accommodation and intensive community treatment. At the one-year followup, 73 per cent were in stable housing, compared with 31 per cent receiving usual services. The findings were published in Psychiatric Services in 2015. [6] That study tested housing together with substantial ongoing assistance. Its results support an approach that gives people a place to live while help continues around them. Applying the findings today requires homes at rents people can afford and enough staff to provide that support. People’s circumstances and their own priorities need to shape the assistance they receive. Moving in brings practical needs of its own. Another participant in the poverty council’s report described the shortage of basic household items: “I have 1 fork, 1 spoon, 1 plate.” A tenancy can begin before someone has what they need to cook a meal, furnish a room or manage the expenses of everyday life. [4] For a service helping someone move, support might include obtaining household essentials, arranging income assistance or staying in contact while the person settles in. The details should follow the person’s needs. Someone who has spent months concentrating on survival may need time and reliable help to establish routines in a new place. The same attention can begin before housing is lost. A practical response would make assistance available when rent first becomes unmanageable, help someone leaving an unsafe home find a suitable alternative, and arrange accommodation before a person leaves hospital or care. Responsibility for making that help available rests with the governments and organizations that fund and deliver housing, income support and care. It cannot depend on a person in crisis navigating every service alone. There is also room for people with experience of homelessness to shape the response. In St. John’s, a lived experience council reviews public education materials so that the language reflects the people concerned. The storytelling project gave participants a way to explain their circumstances themselves. Participation of that kind brings knowledge that a referral form or a count of available beds cannot capture. [1] A home begins to do its work when someone can rest, prepare a meal and make a plan with a reasonable expectation that they will still be there next month. The help surrounding it needs to last long enough for that ordinary life to become dependable. SDG context Homelessness connects to SDG 1 through income security and poverty reduction, SDG 3 through access to care and conditions that support well-being, and SDG 11 through adequate, affordable housing. Progress should be evident in people’s lives: being able to remain housed, meet everyday needs and get support when difficulties arise. [8] Sources [1] Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. St. John’s is rewriting the story on homelessness—led by people who’ve lived it. Jan. 15, 2026. [2] J. Hoselton and colleagues. Infrastructures of dignity: Home in transitional housing and shelters for older adults experiencing homelessness in Canada. Housing Studies, 2026. Research abstract published by Simon Fraser University, Oct. 22, 2026. DOI 10.1080/02673037.2026.2747626. [3] Francesca Tria Espinoza and Jeff Randle, Statistics Canada. Exiting homelessness: An examination of factors contributing to regaining and maintaining housing. Feb. 12, 2025. Based on the 2022 Canadian Housing Survey. [4] National Advisory Council on Poverty. Too many left behind: the 2026 report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty. 2026. [5] Jesse A. Thistle. Indigenous definition of homelessness in Canada. Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press, 2017. [6] Tim Aubry and colleagues. One-year outcomes of a randomized controlled trial of Housing First with ACT in five Canadian cities. Psychiatric Services, May 2015, 66(5), 463–469. DOI 10.1176/appi.ps.201400167. [7] Office of the Federal Housing Advocate. Upholding dignity and human rights: the Federal Housing Advocate’s review of homeless encampments. Feb. 13, 2024. [8] United Nations General Assembly. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Sept. 25, 2015. A/RES/70/1, goals 1, 3 and 11.