Homelessness & Solutions

On this page you'll find information and resources about the people experiencing homelessness in Canada and around the world. You'll also find organizations and initiatives to get involved with, and more.

Homelessness is a crisis in Canada. More than 235,000 people in our nation experience some form of homelessness in a year - with anywhere from 25,000 to 35,000 people sleeping without a home on any given night.

Homelessness is not a crime - it is a symptom of larger societal issues. Those from marginalized groups (ex: BIPOC, LGBTQ2S+, people living with disabilities, people who were formerly incarcerated), those living with mental illness, addiction, job insecurity, financial stress, or coming from an unsafe or unwelcoming home are at high risk of experiencing homelessness. To reduce this risk we need to work collectively to help normalize these experiences, make help openly available for illness and hardship, restructure affordable living, and structure our communities to help the disadvantaged.

How we are helping here at HOME?

- We donate 5% of all profits back to initiatives that are helping to end homelessness here in Canada - over $165,000 to date!

- Our Hats for the Homeless campaign donates a warm toque to someone in need every time an MHA winter toque is purchased. To date we have donated over 2,900 hats to people in need.

- We are committed to actively using our platform to increase awareness on these issues and help to inform our customers and followers how they can personally get involved.

Everyone deserves a safe place to call HOME.

Books, eBooks and Audiobooks

Search for the following titles and more on your province's Public Libraries Catalogue.

Alternatively you can search the Worldwide Library Catalogue WorldCat.org. Click the “buy” link after each title to purchase a copy for your HOME Library.

Tell Them Who I Am by Elliot Liebow [1993] | Buy

Nowhere to Call Home: Volume I: Photographs and Stories of the Homeless by Leah Denbok [2017] | Buy

The Book on Ending Homelessness by Iain De Jong [2019] | Buy

A Complex Exile: Homelessness and Social Exclusion in Canada by Erin Dej [2021] | Buy

Understanding Homelessness: From the Street to the Classroom by Kristy Buccieri; James Davy; Cyndi Gilmer; and Nicole Whitmore [2022] | Free to Read

Films, Videos and Documentaries

No Address by Alanis Obomsawin [1988] | Watch

Dark Days by Marc Singer [2000] | Watch

Carts of Darkness by Murray Siple [2008] | Watch

Here at Home [2012] | Watch

The Simple Way Everyone Can Help the Homeless by Ed Kirwan [2019] | Watch

Homeless by Invisible People [2021] | Watch

Web Resources, Articles & Reports

Churches hit goal to open 20 emergency shelters by Andrew Rankin [January 12, 2022]

'A better life': Two years homeless, Halifax man grateful for church shelter by Andrew Rankin [January 11, 2022]

Halifax police arrest, pepper spray protesters as city evicts homeless people from parks by Zane Woodford [August 19, 2021]

Yes, that did just happen in our own backyard by Ethan Lycan-Lang [August 19, 2021]

Group says Medicine Hat has ended chronic homelessness, as cities eye same nationwide by Jordan Press [June 2, 2021]

"A Good Day is Waking up Inside": Conversations about homelessness, housing vulnerability, and health care across the City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County. A report from the Trent University Homelessness Research Collective [March 2019]

My HOME Apparel's Impact

Aboriginal Housing Management Association

A Way Home Canada

HomelessHub

Shelter Nova Scotia