This resource was selected by SMI Adviser content partners and approved by the SMI Adviser clinical expert team for inclusion in the knowledge base.
The toolkit was developed to assist other Canadian communities that are interested in adopting the Housing First approach. Primarily based on the experiences of the At Home/Chez Soi project, the toolkit assembles tools and resources that are practical and user-friendly for groups and communities interested in the Housing First approach. The primary users of the toolkit are expected to be practitioners, planners, government policy-makers, researchers, and people with lived experience of homelessness and/or mental health working in the housing/homelessness sector, health/mental health sector, and stakeholders in related sectors. The toolkit provides useful “how to” information based on years of experience that can help community groups and individuals to develop and implement Housing First programs. The toolkit complements similar manuals developed in the U.S. (SAMHSA, 2010; Tsemberis, 2010) and a recent book of case studies of Housing First in Canada (Gaetz, Scott, & Gulliver, 2013).