The House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities met to study homelessness in Canada. Appearing were Frédérick Bonner, Director of Auberge sous mon toit; Earl Thiessen, Executive Director of Oxford House Foundation of Canada; Karen Kobussen, Chief Executive Officer of the Saskatoon West Business Association; and Kaite Burkholder Harris, Executive Director of the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa.
Frédérick Bonner described how his organization in Granby, Quebec, which provides transitional housing for up to 12 months for homeless men, now has a waiting list of about 50 people, with waits of three to six months. He said residents face overlapping challenges of mental health, addiction, poverty and isolation, and that stability and time are key intervention tools. He recommended predictable, multi-year funding instead of project-based funding, noting that when projects end, expertise and trust built with vulnerable people are lost, and he stressed the need for better support during the transition from shelter to permanent housing.
Earl Thiessen, drawing on his own experience of seven years of homelessness and 25 years of addiction, described the pre-treatment housing model he created to support people waiting for addiction treatment, a gap he said is causing deaths. He noted that Oxford House Foundation of Canada now operates North America's only licensed and accredited pre-treatment housing model, with homes funded by the Government of Alberta, and argued this model should be replicated across Canada. His testimony was affected by technical difficulties.
Karen Kobussen argued that the Reaching Home program lacks mandated accountability, inter-agency transparency and measurable outcomes, and that despite over $40 million received by Saskatoon community organizations between 2016 and 2025, homelessness increased by 296%. She said the system is incentivized to serve homelessness rather than end it, and recommended implementing functional zero as an operational target with mandated by-name data, directing federal funding to provincial governments rather than individual organizations, and allowing local leaders to design solutions. She disagreed with the current funding structure, which she said creates a paradoxical feedback loop.
Kaite Burkholder Harris said homelessness is solvable but requires a return to the Housing First model, which provides immediate access to permanent housing with supports, not transitional housing that expects people to become housing-ready. She cited successful examples in Medicine Hat, Calgary, Edmonton and the U.K., and called for emergency shelter transformation focused on rapid rehousing and diversion, as well as coordinated systems planning with real-time data. She recommended establishing a Canada housing benefit for households below a defined income threshold and scaling non-market housing, noting that 40% of Canadians can afford a maximum of about $1,700 per month for housing.
In response to questions, Bonner said housing affordability is the main barrier to sustainable exits from homelessness, and that federal investments in affordable housing have a tangible impact. Kobussen recommended mandating the existing HIFIS data system or allowing communities to build their own, to end siloed work. Burkholder Harris said a Canada housing benefit could immediately stabilize people and prevent homelessness, but acknowledged it could exacerbate supply challenges without better tenant protections and increased non-market supply, and said the federal government should lead by tying provincial funding to outcomes. Thiessen, through technical difficulties, was unable to fully expand on his pre-treatment model but was asked to submit a written brief.
The committee did not conduct any procedural debate, motions or votes during this meeting.
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