End Homelessness St. John’s (EHSJ) 

Mandate:

End Homelessness St. John’s (EHSJ) exists to prevent and end homelessness in St. John’s. Working collaboratively with community and public systems stakeholders, EHSJ leads the coordination and integration of system-wide planning to ensure St. John’s can become the next community in Canada to end homelessness. 

EHSJ is the champion to end homelessness in St. John’s. Our transformative work is embedded in our role as the Community Entity for St. John’s and the leader of the Community Plan to End Homelessness. Our work will be guided by four key Strategic Directives: 

• Leadership 
• Systems Planning Integration 
• Continuous Improvement 
• Accountability and Sustainability 

As the system planning organization, EHSJ serves community and public systems stakeholders by coordinating and integrating the supports available to individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness to ensure that the supply of resources meets the need and demand for our most vulnerable neighbours. 

Our Five Guiding Principles are focused on:

• Housing First Model
• Collaboration
• Confidently
• Solution Focused
• Integrity

Target Population:

Those who are experiencing homelessness, or at imminent risk of homelessness in St. John’s. 

Highlights of Programs/Services Offered:

Coordinated Access to Homes:

Coordinated Access to Homes is the system for our community to bring consistency to the process by which people experiencing or at risk of homelessness access housing and related services. EHSJ adopts a Housing First approach that uses real-time data about the supply of and demand for housing resources; and a streamlined service delivery approach with access points to service, a standardized workflow for triage and assessment; prioritization; and vacancy matching and referral. 

Coordinated Access to Homes Outreach:

The Coordinated Access to Homes (CAH) Outreach team provides direct supports to those experiencing homelessness by ensuring those individuals’ social needs are assessed and that everyone is connected to the appropriate public system. Once individuals are identified, they are introduced into the Coordinated Access to Homes system to be connected to the appropriate housing and case management supports. The CAH Outreach team also works regularly with the Eastern Health Harm Reduction team to meet and assess individuals need in shelter. 

HomeConnect:

HomeConnect facilitates tenancies between landlords and tenants, who are supported by our housing and homeless-serving community partners. HomeConnect creates successful tenancies by identifying and reducing barriers to housing stability and ensuring supports are in place for landlords and tenants.