Natural Supports and Youth Homelessness Prevention
These resources were developed by A Way Home Canada, a national coalition reimaging solutions to youth homelessness through transformations in policy, planning and practice. For more information, please check out: https://awayhome.ca/about-a-way-home-canada/
FNS (Family & Natural Supports) is crucial to ending youth homelessness because 77.5% of youth leave home due to family breakdown and that’s something we can directly help prevent or repair. By treating the youth and their family, natural supports, or chosen family as the “whole client,” FNS helps us step in earlier, reduce conflict and disconnection, and strengthen safe, supportive relationships that support housing stability long after a program and support end. Youth have shared it would have made a world of difference if someone stepped in sooner. In partnership with the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness at York University, we’ve been researching, listening and learning from youth, families, and caregivers for the past seven years to ensure this practice is youth-led, safe, and grounded in lived experience.
