Read about the conference keynote speakers:

Journalist Gives Voice to Canada’s Homeless Women
Everyone has a story. Susan Scott, a journalist and activist, has listened to the stories of homeless people all over Canada in an effort to make their voices heard.

Renowned Native Author as Keynote Speaker at National Homelessness Conference
At the core of their being, everyone carries a need for belonging. According to Richard Wagamese, author and journalist, when you discover that sense of belonging and essential worth, then you will find yourself at home wherever you go.

Homelessness in Canada – The beginning of the end?
The forces creating homelessness are stronger than those aimed at ending it, says David Hulchanski, a researcher and professor who investigates the factors affecting homelessness in Canada.

Updated: July 2009

Thank you for your involvement in National Homelessness Conference, Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada. The conference was a great success, with over 650 attendees. To read the co-chairs’ overview of the conference findings, click here.

As participants in The National Housing and Homelessness Conference, we call on:

• The Federal Government to amend the requirements on their Affordable Housing investments to allow the funds to flow to locally identified priorities and to make the Provincial matching of funds voluntary.
• The Federal Government to increase its funding for homelessness and housing initiatives to meet the growing national need.

Dissemination is a major part of this conference. We will have 2 special edition journals, and an edited book with a major Canadian scholarly press. All those who are interested in contributing, please email an abstract of an intended manuscript by March 30, 2009, to nhc2009@ucalgary.ca.

Homelessness is a complex issue, with numerous underlying factors that contribute to its existence and proliferation.

In order to address the causes and develop solutions for homelessness, those involved in the delivery of services, planning, policy making and research with homelessness were involved in a national dialogue – Growing Home: Housing and Homelessness in Canada.

Growing Home, the second national conference on homelessness, was held in Calgary, Alberta from February 18 to 20, 2009. This exciting conferencewas sponsored by the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary.

Read a PDF of the print program, or search the complete abstracts and biographies in the online version of the program. Check out the keynote speakers, panel discussions, and workshops.