Glossary
  • Affordable housing
    Household spends less than 30% of their gross household income on the cost of shelter.
  • At risk of homelessness
     An individual or family experiencing difficulty maintaining their housing (i.e. spending more than 30% of income, overcrowded, facing eviction, unsafe conditions) and with no other options for obtaining alternate housing.
  • Collaborative capital campaign
     Multiple organizations working together toward a common capital goal, where funds raised are held and distributed in a mutually agreed upon way and toward the shared vision of the campaign. These campaigns eliminate competition, drive down fundraising costs and reduce duplication.
  • Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)
     An electronic database that collects and securely stores information about the homeless population in Calgary. The HMIS collects system-wide, standardized data for accurate, real time reporting on the number of people who are homeless, the length and causes of their homelessness as well as their demographic characteristics and needs.
  • Homeless-serving agencies
     Social service agencies that provide support for those who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or those who were formerly homeless and are now in supported housing.
  • Housing First
     Housing First is a recovery-oriented approach to homelessness that focuses on quickly moving people from homelessness into housing and then providing supports and services as needed (Gaetz, 2013). The idea is to provide housing first, and with no strings attached; only with the safety and stability of housing can people begin to access appropriate supports and work on the factors which contributed to their homelessness.
  • Managing homelessness
     Status quo provision of care for homeless people, typically through emergency shelters and emergency services like EMS, emergency rooms, and police response. Ending homelessness refers to policies that aim at the root causes of homelessness – often through Housing First programs – and preventing homelessness from occurring in the first place.
  • Permanent supportive housing
     Long-term housing for people who are vulnerable and homeless, with no length of stay limit and with intensive supports available to the client.
  • Supportive housing
     Housing and supports for people who are vulnerable and homeless, with the goal of providing case management and supports so the client can achieve housing stability and independence in the community.
  • Calgary's Plan to End Homelessness
     Calgary’s Plan to End Homelessness was created in 2008 by the Calgary Committee to End Homelessness, a community-based, multi-stakeholder, leadership group that issued the Plan and selected the Calgary Homeless Foundation to implement the Plan. Its goal is for service providers, government departments, organizations, institutions, communities and citizens of Calgary to work together to ensure that, by 2018, an individual or family will stay in an emergency shelter or sleep outside for no longer than one week before moving into a safe, decent, affordable home with the support needed to sustain it.
  • Homelessness
     Those who do not have safe, stable, affordable, appropriate permanent housing to which they can return whenever they choose, or the immediate prospect, means and ability of acquiring it. Homelessness encompasses many different living situations (i.e. unsheltered, emergency shelter, couch surfing, institutions, living in hospital, etc.), lengths of stay (i.e. chronic, transitional), and acuities (i.e. multiple challenges/high acuity).
  • Wrap-around supports
     Services that help address an individual’s underlying causes of homelessness, with varying levels of intensity and often in conjunction with housing. The goal of wrap-around supports is to ensure successful tenancy, promote the economic and social well-being of clients, and increase a client’s well-being as defined by the client. Supports may include medical and psychiatric supports, life skills training, addictions counselling, employment and education services, etc.