Using innovative approaches to bring hidden homelessness into the light
The Canadian Centre for Housing Rights (CCHR) partnered with CT Labs and several local partners in Saskatoon on a project funded by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Solutions Lab, to understand and estimate hidden homelessness in Saskatoon.
Hidden homelessness is experienced by many people across the country, but there has been great difficulty in understanding the extent of the problem as it is an invisible form of homelessness. CCHR developed a pilot project in Saskatoon to understand and enumerate hidden homelessness, in order to better serve the housing needs of those who are invisibly unhoused. Using Saskatoon as a case study, the project produced a framework for estimating the scope of hidden homelessness and developing effective solutions, that can be used by policymakers and service providers in similar urban centers across Canada. To do this, we brought together stakeholders from across Saskatoon’s housing system to capture the journeys of those experiencing hidden homelessness and co-develop innovative strategies for collecting data to create evidence-based solutions.
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The Understanding and Estimating Hidden Homelessness in Saskatoon project received funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) under the NHS Solutions Labs, however, the views expressed are the personal views of the author and CMHC accepts no responsibility for them.
CMHC’s Solutions Labs are an innovative approach to tackling complex societal challenges that cannot be solved by one organization or sector. Using bottom-up collaboration, they provide a safe space for diverse perspectives to come together, for assumptions to be questioned, and for community-based solutions to be created. They are one of the tools under the National Housing Strategy being used to inform decision-making at all levels of government.