Indigenous communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast are leading the development of an Indigenous community-grown process for the homelessness sector:

The PATH Process was developed for Coordinated Access Systems within the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home Program to meet the Reaching Home Directive: “A common and unified assessment process must be applied across all population groups in a community to evaluate service needs and assist in prioritizing housing resources.”

The PATH (Personalized Assistance To Housing) Process is a culturally informed alternative to commonly used mainstream tools in the homelessness sector and Coordinated Access systems. The PATH Process uses a relational approach rooted in a trauma-informed and strengths perspective that facilitates community-based wholistic supports and housing matching, as well as prioritizing and decision-making within a landscape of limited resources. Specifically, PATH prioritizes the relationship between the worker and the person experiencing homelessness and values their story, including their housing vision, needs, and barriers/obstacles to accessing housing. Unlike most other prioritization processes, PATH works to develop an understanding and measurement of the barriers and obstacles to accessing housing on a community and national level. The PATH Process has been designed for use with individuals (youth, adults, and seniors), couples, or families.

The PATH Process is being developed in phases, and the project is funded by the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home Program:

Phase 1 – May 2021 to December 2023: Phase 1 focused on initial ‘assessment tool’ development, which involved continually gathering Indigenous community voices and knowledge from coast-to-coast-to-coast, including the initial mock-up of the PATH Process. Notably, in this development phase, the term ‘assessment tool’ was removed from the project’s use of language. The term ‘process’ was determined to articulate the project’s objectives, as the PATH Process is not a ‘clinical assessment tool’ but a ‘wholistic process’. Specifically, PATH interconnects with all levels of a Coordinated Access system [see Figure 1].

Phase 2, Part 1 – January 2024 to March 2025: Phase 2, Part 1 focuses on preparing for a pilot launch, including tailoring and digitalizing the PATH Process and training in its use. This will be followed by the initial implementation and evaluation of the PATH Process in four communities nationally, including: Halifax, Nova Scotia [East Location]; Winnipeg, Manitoba [Central Location]; Vancouver, British Columbia [West Location]; and Whitehorse, Yukon [North Location]. Further, two preparation sites, including Thunder Bay, Ontario and Cowichan, British Columbia, will work towards tailoring the PATH Process content, in order to fast-track with further tailoring, as well as implementation and evaluation upon project expansion of pilot locations [dependent on funding]. For more information on becoming a pilot location, click here.

Phase 2, Part 2 – April 2025, to TBD: Phase 2, Part 2 is dependent on funding, and a Part 2 pilot continuation application to Infrastructure Canada will be submitted in the fall of 2024. Part 2 will continue carrying out the ‘Implementation and Evaluation Plan’ for each pilot location, as well as advocate onboarding additional pilot locations. Further, Part 2 will include developing a project expansion and sustainability plan for future phases of the project.