Homelessness & Housing Development

Service Providers

Our Plan to End Homelessness cannot be done without the many service providers in our community working to end homelessness. We are continuously working to increase capacity by investing in opportunities that improves the community’s ability to respond to homelessness. In particular, investments are being made to support front-line staff in working to improve their practice, as well as providing opportunities to develop the skills of those individuals that fill a leadership role in community.

Emergency Shelter Visioning

Strategies 8 & 13 in the Province’s 10 year Plan to End Homelessness addresses the need to reduce the amount of time between when individuals first enter the shelter setting to the time when they transition into permanent housing. The maximum length of stay in any shelter across Alberta will be reduced to 21 days; with appropriate community planning and improved coordination of services. The Salvation Army, the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society, and representative from Alberta Human Services have met to discuss the Shelter Visioning process that will address the future of the emergency shelter in our community. MHCHS will continue to work closely with the Salvation Army over into the 2013-14 fiscal year to sketch out a framework that will quickly transition people out of the shelter. Once this framework is mapped out, our community partners and community at large will be invited to provide input into the process.

Housing First

Housing First assist people who are homeless into housing and accessing the necessary supports required to maintain long-term housing stability.

In addition to supporting individuals and family’s access appropriate housing, case managers in the Housing First program help individuals and families access other community supports and services that will help them sustain future housing stability.

The Housing First Program is time-limited and participants can expect to receive services for a minimum of 12 months.

Housing Supports

Housing Stability Program

The Housing Stability program follows an approach that centers on providing people with the necessary supports required to maintain long-term housing stability. Eligible individuals are current tenants of social housing or recipients of rental subsidies.

In addition to supporting individuals and families with maintaining appropriate housing, case managers in the Housing Stability program help individuals and families access other community supports and services that will enable them sustain housing stability.

The support services include:

• Personal goal setting
• Advocating with landlords and other community resources
• Occasional attendance at meetings and appointments as a support
• Connection with appropriate community resources like the Food Bank
• Advocating for community referrals (i.e. Mental Health, Addictions, Family Support, and health care)
• Assistance in accessing various income sources
• Providing educational and employment options
• Life skills and household management coaching
• Education regarding budgeting, organization and time management
• Education regarding decision making processes
• Assistance with the exploration of financial options through research

The Housing Stability Program is a time-limited program. Participants in the Housing Stability program can expect to receive services for approximately 3 months. This program is operated through the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society Outreach Department. For more information on this program please contact the Medicine Hat Community Housing Society Central office 403.527.4507

The Rapid Re-Housing Program

Following a housing first philosophy, the Rapid Re-Housing Program assists people who are homeless get into permanent housing, and provides access to the necessary supports required for these individuals to maintain long- term housing stability. Case managers, who are assigned to individuals and families, provide the necessary support to help them reach their long-term goals. Rapid Re-Housing participants will receive this support for approximately 4-6 months.

Centralized Housing Assessment & Triage (a.k.a Housing Assessment & Triage or HAT)
The Housing Assessment & Triage (HAT) role has been a cornerstone program in our community’s efforts to end homelessness. HAT serves as the centralized access point into the Housing First Programs in community. This is accomplished by assessing the housing and social support needs of homeless and near homeless citizens, through the use of Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (SPDAT), and by providing the appropriate client-centered referral to the most appropriate housing first, or housing stability program required to increase their client’s health, stability and independence.