TORONTO, Jan. 7, 2013 – York University’s City Seminar on Homelessness Research on Friday, Jan. 11 will bring together three experts in homelessness to discuss how their work can be used to inform and support decisions that contribute to solutions.
York University Professor Stephen Gaetz, director of the Canadian Homelessness Research Network, will speak about transitions from youth homelessness and what the Foyer model – an innovative transitional housing model that is highly successful in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States – offers Canada and how it can be adapted. “In thinking about effective responses to youth homelessness, there are broad concerns about how to provide appropriate accommodation, supports, income and educational opportunities,” he says.
Professor of Psychiatry Paula Goering of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine and cross-appointed to the Faculty of Nursing, Institute of Medical Science and the Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation will discuss the early outcome findings of At Home/Chez Soi – the Mental Health Commission of Canada’s $110-millon research demonstration project. Funded by Health Canada, it provides housing and supports to people who are homeless and living with serious mental health issues, based on the Housing First approach.
Professor Valerie Tarasuk, of the Department of Nutritional Sciences and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, will focus on food insecurity and community responses to it and problems of hunger. “Problems of hunger and food insecurity are integral to homelessness, but these problems are also common among individuals and families with insufficient income to maintain housing and meet other basic needs,” says Tarasuk. She will look at some of the key barriers and opportunities for a more effective community-based system of food supports.
“These are some of the leading researchers in Canada who are focused on how we respond to homelessness, and how we identify new practices and approaches to adopt and implement,” says Gaetz. “The great thing is that we have a good idea of what that looks like; we have ideas and we’re offering solutions. I hope people come away with the idea that we can do things differently, and we have to do things differently.”
What: The City Seminar: Homelessness Research
Where: 140 Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Building, Keele campus (see map)
When: Friday, Jan. 11, 12:30 to 3pm
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Media Contact: Robin Heron, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22097 /
