Reaching Home (Active)

This funding is specific to communities and organizations supporting folks in rural and remote areas, including First Nations and Métis Settlements in Alberta. On-reserve projects are also eligible. Project activities must take place outside of the “Seven Cities” in Alberta (Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, and Fort McMurray). Proposed projects must serve or target individuals and/or families who are experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of homelessness. 

The Government of Canada allocated an additional $4 million in Reaching Home dollars to the Rural Development Network to be invested across the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 fiscal years. This Call for Proposals is now CLOSED. 

Additional funding is anticipated to be available for the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 fiscal years, and a Call for Proposals will be launched in late 2025 or early 2026. 

Eligible Organizations

• not-for-profit organizations; 
• for-profit organizations;  please reach out to RDN to confirm eligibility
• municipalities; 
• public health and educational institutions; 
• provincial and territorial governments and their entities; and 
• Indigenous organizations 

Examples of previous projects funded

• Transition beds for people with addictions waiting to get into inpatient treatment 
• Funding for housing support workers and outreach workers to assist folks experiencing or at risk of homelessness access housing and support services 
• Shelter pods – purchase and retrofitting of trailers to provide emergency shelter  
• Operational costs associated with temporary emergency mat programs/shelters 
• Site preparation for Indigenous-led transitional housing projects  
• Renovations of existing units and purchase of modular units for transitional supportive housing  
• Land purchased for a new second-stage transitional shelter for women fleeing domestic violence  
• Data collection (homelessness estimations) and community action plans  
• Culturally appropriate mental health supports

This list is by no means exhaustive. You can find more information about the Reaching Home program here: Reaching Home Directives  

This project was funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.

Shelter Pulse was created through a partnership between the Rural Development Network (RDN) and Mountain Rose Women’s Shelter Association (MRWSA). Rural women’s shelters had expressed the need for increased capacity for policy development and maintenance with a specific focus on trauma-informed and feminist lenses, and Shelter Pulse was created to address this. The project recognizes that many rural women’s shelters face barriers beyond their control as they are challenged with small budgets and minimal staff, resulting in administrative work often taking a back seat to client care. 

In collaboration with various rural VAW shelters across Canada, the Shelter Pulse project compiled an inventory of policies and practices and assessed strengths, gaps, and areas for improvement. From there, a baseline of policies and procedures was developed. Now housed on the Shelter Pulse Database, the policies and procedures are downloadable and adaptable to suit the unique needs of each shelter and community which they serve.  

If you work in women’s shelters or the gender-based violence sector, you are invited to check out the database and create an account at www.shelterpulse.ca.  

This project aimed to create a standard that will allow for all Canadian women’s shelters to be on the same page with respect to policy development, and have easy access to the best, most up-to-date set of policies by which to operate.

We recognize that many urban and designated Reaching Home (RH) communities across Canada are currently developing and implementing formal Coordinated Access (CA) systems; however, service providers in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities do not always have the same capacity for CA systems as those in urban communities. The National Coordinated Access guide acknowledges the importance of the social determinants of health and understands that many First Nations and Northern communities have limited access to services due to unreliable infrastructure (Rural and Remote Mental Health in Canada).

Coordinated Access is based on a housing-first approach that seeks to create a system that brings together all the actors involved in various capacities to support people experiencing housing insecurity. Statistical information is compiled on both the support resources available and the people experiencing housing insecurity within a specific community. The goal is for clients to be connected with necessary and appropriate support services regardless of location, and to create an environment where they are heard without having to retell their story repeatedly. This toolkit supports rural, remote, Inuit, Métis and First Nations communities and organizations in implementing elements of coordinated access, no matter where their community is in its housing journey.  

This project was funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy through the Community Capacity and Innovation Stream

The National Coordinated Access (CA) team successfully facilitated an extensive stakeholder engagement training session which included a broad range of participants including over 80 individuals with lived experience and 105 service providers, fostering a diverse and inclusive dialogue across Turtle Island. While everyone is at different stages in their CA journey, bringing people together from diverse communities and backgrounds added immense value to the training and discussions.

The project has achieved significant outcomes, including a comprehensive literature review, extensive stakeholder engagement, successful training events, and positive feedback from participants. Key highlights emphasize the importance of culturally appropriate practices, the need for ongoing support and training, and the value of collaboration and networking. Despite challenges, the project has made substantial progress in advancing Coordinated Access in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities, laying a strong foundation for future efforts in reducing and preventing homelessness.

The First Nation Data Collection team co-created a culturally sensitive and trauma-informed data collection toolkit that can be tailored to the unique needs of individual First Nation Communities. It allows First Nations communities across Turtle Island to better understand and address houselessness, while improving the accuracy and relevance of First Nations houselessness data.  

Using storytelling and knowledge gathering, we gained insights into the complex nature of houselessness experienced by First Nations Peoples. This approach ensured that our toolkit was developed based on the lived realities and aspirations of the communities involved, both empowering them and aligning with the broader goals of the National Housing Strategy. 

A significant focus of this project has been highlighting the resilience and strength of First Nations communities in the face of houselessness challenges. This emphasis on resilience represents a shift in perspective, acknowledging not only the adversities these communities face but also their inherent strength, wisdom, and resourcefulness in overcoming such challenges. 

The project promises to influence housing policies and practices, ensuring they are more attuned to the needs of First Nations communities through the provision of accurate and culturally sensitive data. The approach has highlighted the importance of community-centric research and tool development, advocating for solutions that are deeply embedded in the unique cultural contexts of the communities. 

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Government of Canada National Housing Strategy’s Research and Planning Fund (RPF).  

This project was funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy through the Community Capacity and Innovation Stream

The stories and knowledge shared during our community conversations deeply informed the creation of our survey, guiding us to create questions that reflect the community’s experiences with houselessness. By understanding houselessness as a tree with deep roots—symbolizing the various underlying factors and branches representing the multitude of supports needed—we designed our survey to capture both the challenges and solutions identified by community members.

When it comes to homelessness and understanding its causes, the urban experience tends to dominate the conversation, mainly due to the “visibility” of individuals experiencing homelessness in urban centres. The issue of homelessness in rural and remote areas is far less understood and acknowledged because of its “hidden” nature. Further, recent data suggests that rural homelessness is prevalent at rates equivalent to or greater than urban per capita rates (Schiff, et al., 2022). 

Recognizing this, RDN conducted the 2023 Alberta Provincial Housing and Service Needs Estimation with 22 organizations representing 45 rural, remote, and Indigenous communities across Alberta in an attempt to better understand what homelessness looks like in each community and across the rural provincial landscape.  

This is the third iteration of the Alberta Provincial Housing and Service Needs Estimation. It was also conducted in 2018 and 2020 with 20 and 24 communities, respectively. 

This project was funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy. 

Communities have achieved remarkable results through enumerations. For instance, Peace River opened its first-ever emergency shelter based on needs identified in its estimation report. Drayton Valley secured funding for emergency shelter pods, while Whitecourt and the Soaring Eagle Support Society advocated for converting a closed motel into a shelter. These successes underscore the transformative impact of collecting and disseminating accurate data on housing insecurity. 

More broadly, data collected through the Alberta Provincial Housing and Service Needs Estimation projects have influenced municipal, provincial, federal, and funder policies, practices, and decision-making around housing and service needs.