Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy – COVID-19

From: Employment and Social Development Canada

To help communities address the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak among people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and to provide additional support to the homeless-serving sector during this period, the Government of Canada has announced an additional investment of $157.5 million for Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy.

The existing Reaching Home have been updated to provide guidance to funding recipients regarding the eligibility and use of Reaching Home funds, highlighting where adjustments have been made to existing program parameters, as well as to illustrate how existing eligible activities can be employed to reduce and mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.

In particular, to enable timely and effective community responses to COVID-19 outbreak, the following flexibilities are being introduced:

• removal of the restriction on using Reaching Home funds to provide general health and medical services, mental health and addiction support services
• waiving the requirement for Designated Communities to identify matching community contributions, and
• allowing for sub-projects to be funded that are outside of traditional service boundaries, in order to help prevent transmission between nearby communities

The updated applies to funding already allocated to recipients under Reaching Home and to the incremental investments provided through the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. The updated will remain in place until such time as the Government of Canada deems it no longer necessary.

Read the updated Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy Directives