The House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) studied homelessness and the federal Reaching Home program, hearing from Pierre Rousseau and Frédérique Favreau of La Halte du coin, Michael Lethby of RAFT, Ryan Donais of Tiny Tiny Homes, Maxime Rainville of the Corporation de développement communautaire de Brome-Missisquoi, Cédric Champagne of Entrée chez soi Brome-Missisquoi, and Sheldon Pollett of Raising the Roof.
Pierre Rousseau and Frédérique Favreau described La Halte du coin as a high-accessibility shelter in Longueuil that has seen demand surge, with 964 unique visitors and 5,000 refusals in 2025-2026 despite adding 15 beds. Rousseau, a former Reaching Home administrator, urged that the program become recurring with multi-year projects, earlier funding announcements, and the ability to carry over money between fiscal years to improve predictability and staff retention. Favreau recommended investing in prevention and supportive housing rather than just shelter beds, noting that delayed encampment program renewals force organizations to pause services.
Michael Lethby argued that expanding shelters entrenches homelessness, citing RAFT’s experience where a new 24-bed youth shelter in St. Catharines initially increased the number of youth served from 120 to nearly 500 per year. He explained that RAFT’s Youth Reconnect program, which works with schools to identify at-risk students and keep them housed in their communities, reduced youth shelter use by 70% and that prevention programs take five to ten years to show results. Lethby recommended that the federal government recognize family as Canada’s largest provider of affordable housing, fund proven prevention programs, and increase shelter productivity by reducing lengths of stay.
Ryan Donais, who has lived experience of homelessness, described Tiny Tiny Homes’ transitional housing model, which provides private units with supportive services, and noted that all projects are funded by grants and donations with no government money. He called for faster funding processes, more support for smaller community-led housing models, and a focus on transitional and supportive housing for vulnerable populations like youth aging out of foster care. Donais emphasized that housing creates stability for recovery from addiction and that it is often cheaper to house people than to keep them in emergency systems.
Maxime Rainville and Cédric Champagne highlighted that homelessness is growing in rural Brome-Missisquoi, where the number of warming centre users increased twelvefold in one year, and argued that the Reaching Home program’s division between “designated communities” and “rural and remote homelessness” leaves rural areas underfunded despite pressing needs. Champagne recommended abolishing the rigid “designated communities” term, increasing funding for physical infrastructure, systematically funding housing stability support services, creating flexible envelopes for mental health and addiction crises, and exempting funds for vulnerable populations from delays caused by Quebec’s Bill M-30. Rainville added that prevention is critical and that supervised apartments can help youth leaving care develop independence.
Sheldon Pollett described homelessness as a “fusion” policy issue at the intersection of housing, health, mental health, addictions, and other systems, and argued that frontline organizations are forced to bridge gaps between fragmented systems. He recommended shifting from a crisis response model to an integrated prevention and stabilization model, noting that preventing homelessness is less costly than responding after repeated crisis care. Pollett also called for better alignment between affordable housing development, supportive housing, and workforce development through social enterprises, and for preserving existing affordable housing to reduce pressure on homelessness systems.
The committee heard questions from members on topics including the causes of homelessness, the role of addiction and mental health, the challenges of youth in care, and the need for better coordination between levels of government. Witnesses generally agreed that prevention, supportive housing, and flexible, predictable funding are essential, though Lethby and Pollett emphasized that shelter expansion alone is not a solution, while Rousseau and Favreau stressed that shelters remain necessary for chronic populations. No procedural debate, motions, or votes occurred during the meeting.
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