Reaching Home program
Reaching Home supports communities across Canada to prevent and reduce homelessness. It provides funding to local groups, including Indigenous, rural, and remote communities.
Peel Region is the Community Entity, or fund administrator. We manage funding and support local planning through a Community Advisory Board to help set funding priorities and recommend projects for grants.
Target population
Proposed projects must support people or families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
Definitions
Homelessness means a person or family who does not have a safe, stable, appropriate, or permanent place to live or the ability to get it. This includes:
- Sleeping outside or in places without shelter.
- Staying in places not safe or meant for living.
- Using emergency shelters.
- Staying short-term with others.
Being at imminent risk of homelessness means a person or family will lose their housing within 2 months and has nowhere else to go.
Chronic homelessness means a person or family has been homeless for at least 6 months or 180 days over the past year or many times over 3 years, adding up to at least 18 months or 546 days.
Coordinated access
Under Reaching Home, Coordinated Access is a way for communities bring consistency, equity, and efficiency to the process by which people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness access services, housing and related resources within a geographic area.
With a Coordinated Access system in place, people across a community are directed to access points, where trained workers help them to access a range of services through a process of initial triage. When vacancies in housing units, subsidies or supports become available through Coordinated Access, these housing and related resources are offered to people that have been prioritized for them, based on a matching process that considers individual strengths, needs, and preferences, as well as local priorities. Throughout the process, people are helped to navigate next steps, sometimes through targeted case conferencing.
Requirement
All projects funded through Reaching Home in Peel must:
- Take part in coordinated access
- Use the Unique Identifier List (also known as the By-Name List)
Housing placement programs and case management supports must:
- Accept referrals through coordinated access
- Fill open units through this process
If a project has other funders, it may follow additional rules. These projects are encouraged to use coordinated access for all vacancies.
Community Advisory Board and community plan
The Community Advisory Board is a local group that guides Reaching Home in Peel Region.
Members are selected through an open call and reflect the diversity of our community. They are committed to helping end homelessness in Peel.
The board:
- Sets direction for the program.
- Develops the community plan.
- Reviews funding applications.
- Recommends projects for funding.
Peel Region and federal staff support the board in this work.
The community plan outlines local needs and funding priorities. It was approved by the federal government in September 2020 and is updated each year.
Join the Community Advisory Board
Peel Region is accepting applications from residents to join the Community Advisory Board.
Board members help guide how we address homelessness in our community.
We are committed to building a Community Advisory Board that reflects the diversity of our community. Applications from individuals in the below list are strongly encouraged:
- Individuals with lived experience of homelessness.
- Indigenous Peoples, nations and organizations, Friendship Centres and Indigenous housing organizations.
- Youth and child serving organizations, including Child Welfare agencies.
- Organizations serving survivors of domestic violence and their families.
- Seniors and senior serving organizations.
- Newcomers and newcomer serving organizations.
- The private sector.
- Police and correctional services.
- Landlord associations and/or the housing sector.
- Health organizations, including hospitals and other public health institutions, and organizations focused on mental health and addictions.
- Veterans Affairs Canada and Veterans-serving organizations.
- First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.
- Francophone speakers.
- Educators.
Reaching Home funding is managed by Housing Client Services in the Human Services Department at Peel Region.
Email us if you have any questions or need help with your applications. We will respond in 2 business days.
You can also call Grace Gyles, Supervisor, Housing Client Services at 905-872-5298.
As the Service Manager for the affordable housing system Peel Region is required by the Canadian and Ontario governments to conduct a Point-in-Time Count. This includes:
- Enumeration: an annual estimate of the number of people experiencing homelessness on a single night, and identifying where they stayed (such as shelters, transitional housing, and unsheltered locations).
- Housing needs survey: that is completed in-person with individuals experiencing homelessness every 3 years to gather key information on demographics and experiences.
The count is used to understand the nature and extent of homelessness at a single point in time. This data helps us improve services and informs Peel’s 10-year Housing and Homelessness Plan. The Point-in-Time Count is only one data sourced used by Peel to track homelessness.
Canadian government requirements for Point-in-Time Counts changed beginning in 2025. Previously conducted every 3 years with a full Housing Needs Survey, counts are now required annually. Under the new approach, a full enumeration and Housing needs survey will occur every 3 years, while interim years (including 2025) only require enumeration.
The 2025 enumeration took place on November 27, 2025.
Learn about the 2025 Homelessness Point-in-Time Count results.
As fund administrator, Peel Region is required to complete and publish a Community Homelessness Report to track our progress.