Because any incident of homelessness for young people should be rare, brief and non-recurring, DYS offers programs and wrap-around supports in homelessness prevention, rapid rehousing and housing stabilization with the goal of breaking the cycle of homelessness permanently.

Learn more about our programs below.

Our Programs

The best way to end youth homelessness is to keep it from happening.  Our integrated, early intervention homelessness prevention programs work together to find safe alternatives to shelter, strengthen family and natural supports and build community attachments to keep youth from experiencing homelessness.

Family Reconnect

Youth Reconnect

Shelter Diversion

Community Outreach Housing Support

Sometimes, preventing homelessness isn’t possible. When youth find themselves unhoused, they need help, and fast!  At DYS, our rapid rehousing programs are designed to keep a young person’s experience of homelessness brief  by helping them find safe and stable housing as quickly as possible. Wraparound services and case management encourage youth to develop the skills and tools to secure and maintain stable housing on their own afterwards.

Emergency Shelter (Joanne’s House)

Transitional Housing (Jacky’s Place and Harris House)

Housing First for Youth (HF4Y)

To achieve and maintain truly lasting solutions to a housing crisis, youth who transition from homelessness to housing often need support getting established in their new space, building healthy community attachments in their new neighbourhood, and processing the trauma that led to their homelessness.

DYS’ housing stabilization programs are designed to deliver wrap-around supports that make their new-found housing a home.

Our stabilization programs rely heavily on support from our community to operate.  Please consider donating to help us keep these important programs running.

Fresh Start Kits

Mental Health Supports