The impact of the Salt Spring Island Housing First Program is quite profound.  This program is the only service in our community that many marginalized people have access to that meets them where they are at, pays attention to the countless challenges to meet basic needs experienced by someone in chronic poverty, and treats them with dignity and respect by not having endless conditions and a “power dynamic” attached to the helping relationship.

A lesson learned this quarter is the value of peer support for many of the people we serve.  With excessive caseloads, serving approximately 200 people, our Salt Spring Island Housing First workers are commonly connecting individuals with peers who are working on or have resolved similar issues their clients are currently working through.  Peer support and assistance is a powerful, evidence-based approach where individuals with lived experience of homelessness guide others currently navigating through homelessness.  By demonstrating that recovery and stable housing are possible, our peers often turn out to be more valuable and successful modelling a tangible path forward than what our outreach workers provide due to their ability to rapidly build rapport and trust.