The 10 Essentials -
Building your 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness
March 20, 2012
Tim Richter, President and CEO

10 Year Plans in a nutshell
• First released by the NAEH in 2000
• Local or regional system plans
• Mark a shift from managing homelessness to ending it
• Close the front door; open the back door, build the infrastructure
and get better data
• Over 350 U.S. jurisdictions have or are working on plans
• In 2008, Calgary became the 1st city in Canada
• 10 Year Plans taking hold in Canada: Calgary, Edmonton, Red
Deer, Lethbridge, Victoria, Vancouver, Ottawa
• Alberta first & only province in Canada to have 10 Year Plan

The 10 Essentials
1. Planning
2. Data, research & best practices
3. Coordinated system of care
4. Income
5. Emergency prevention
6. Systems prevention
7. Housing focused outreach
8. Rapid re-housing
9. Housing support services
10. Permanent housing

1. Planning
Plans should:
• be evidence based
• have measurable & ambitious outcomes and milestones
• be learning, living & adaptive documents
• cover the 10 Essentials
• engage key players in the system
• think ahead to implementation

1. Planning
Every community will have their own planning process. Tips:
• Keep it short (6 to 12 months)
• Have dedicated support
• Propose & consult vs write by committee
• Engage the unusual suspects & ensure a balance of
perspectives
• Take the opportunity to engage the public
• Listen to people with lived experience

2. Data, research & best practice
• Everything you need to know to end homelessness exists
• Your plan will necessarily be built on assumptions
• New Brunswick is not so different that assumptions from other
parts of Canada & North America won't hold true here
• Build research capacity into your plan
• In the context of a 10 Year Plan, researcher are detectives
• Homeless Management Information System

3. Co-ordinate the system of care
• Shifting from a patchwork of emergency responses to a system of care
designed to end homelessness
• 10 Year Plans should identify:
• a single point of accountability for implementation
• a process for systems organization, planning & coordination
• a process for monitoring effectiveness of the system; and,
• a plan for adapting to changes, learning, best practices & improved
information
• Great examples: Chicago, Columbus, Washington D.C., State of Utah &
Calgary

4. Income
• How will people gain the income necessary to sustain housing?
• How do you connect to mainstream resources?
• Are those resources sufficient?
• Ending homelessness vs poverty reduction often a friction point
• All homeless people are poor, but not all poor people become
homeless.

5. & 6. Prevention
• Homelessness doesn't happen to just anyone - it is predictable
• University of Calgary - Homelessness Asset & Risk Tool
• People also travel predictable pathways into homelessness
• Emergency prevention is prevention at or near the point of
housing loss
• Early detection, emergency assistance, system co-ordination,
housing & support are key
• Systems prevention refers to preventing discharge from
mainstream systems into homelessness

7. Housing-focused outreach
• Need to make the shift from emergency support & survival outreach
to housing
• "Dude - I live in a f****** box"

8. Rapid re-housing
• Ensure the housing system has capacity to help clients navigate
the housing market and lower barriers to housing
• Housing workers will often: provide damage deposits, guarantee
rent, mediate conflict, evict when necessary, repair damages
• Rapid re-housing can be programs on their own or can be
components of programs offering more support
• Rapid re-housing programs on their own have to be very careful to
take lower acuity clients

9. Housing support services
• Many services already exist in the community - support services are
absolutely essential to ending homelessness
• Housing First is a philosophy that turns the traditional response to
homelessness on it's head
• There are a range of different types of Housing First program

9. Housing support services
• Four core principles of Housing First:
1. consumer choice and self-determination
2. immediate access to permanent housing, with the support necessary
to sustain it
3. housing is not conditional on sobriety or program participation; and,
4. the ultimate goal of social inclusion, self-sufficiency and improved
quality of life and health

10. Permanent housing
• Any plan to end homelessness must incorporate an investment into
affordable housing
• A lot of affordable housing is not affordable for homeless people
• Most homeless people can be housed with support is subsidized
market rental
• Some may require permanent supportive housing
• A range of different forms and support models may be needed
• Remember 'consumer is king'

Parting thoughts
• Legitimate larceny
• Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good
• Progress requires some risk
• Provincial political support is essential
• Consumer is King
March 14, 2012 14

Coming soon!
Mission to create a national movement to prevent and end homelessness in
Canada through the development of 10 Year Plans to End Homelessness in
communities across the country.
www.caeh.ca
www.facebookcom/endinghomelessness

Resources
• National Alliance to End Homelessness: www.endhomelessness.org
• Homeless Hub: www.homelesshub.ca
• US Interagency Council on Homelessness: www.usich.gov
• Collective Impact: http://www.fsg.org
• Invisiblepeople.tv
• Coming soon! Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness: www.caeh.ca
March 14, 2012 12

Tim Richter
ph. 403 718-8526
tim@calgaryhomeless.com
www.calgaryhomeless.com
Twitter: @timrichter