Housing First as a Successful Means to End Chronic Homelessness*

Our featured speaker, Michelle Bilek*, is with the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (caeh.ca), formed to build a national movement to end homelessness from the community up. What’s missing is a practical, community-based approach that shifts the focus from managing homelessness to a system focused on ending it. We need to move from crisis responses (like shelters and soup kitchens) to solutions – permanent, appropriate, safe and affordable housing with the support necessary to sustain it. Michelle will share how Canadian communities can end homelessness by outlining the critical ingredients of a community-based plan such as Housing First, supporting affordable housing options, housing sharing, renting secondary units for Housing First clients, innovative building solutions and developments.

Our featured musician, Olio&I, aka Pippa Andrew, is a Melbourne based fiddle-singer and loop artist, whose music interweaves an eclectic collection of influences, spanning Singer-Songwriter, Folk, Soul and Jazz. This performance will be part of Olio&I's first trip to perform in Canada!

*Michelle Bilek was originally scheduled to speak at Toronto Oasis on March 18, 2018 but was unable to attend due to unforeseeable circumstances. (In her place, we were very fortunate to have Dianne Woodruff (CMA, PhD) speak to us about 3D Workout: 3DWorkout.com).