pathways to housing
Bringing people home
Up and running since October 2007, Pathways to Housing has seen positive growth. We now operate two Assertive Community Treatment teams, each with the capacity to accept 60 clients who have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness.
The first team works to relieve the hospital system in serving individuals who would otherwise have no access to housing and health care. The second team works to relieve the justice system by providing housing, health care and social services to clients involved in corrections, probation services and the justice system.
The alex Pathways to Housing program is based on the Housing First model and operates on the principles of harm reduction, which means that clients are not required to be sober, abstain from drugs, or cease all risky behaviors before they are accepted into the program. Instead, we meet clients where they are and support them in their recovery.
The Housing First model is simple: provide housing first and then combine that housing with supportive treatment services in the areas of mental and physical health, substance abuse, education, and employment. This model fosters a sense of home and self-determination, and it helps speed the reintegration of Pathways’ clients into the community. Pathways to Housing has clients housed throughout Calgary.
Highlights:
- 67% overall decrease in CPS contacts
- 37% overall decrease in EMS contacts
- 94% of clients have retained their housing
- 47% of clients involved in some vocational and/or educational activity
- Presently, five clients have graduated from the program
