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Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

Home Blog Housing What can Toronto learn from Calgary when it comes to ending homelessness? Lots, actually!

Michael Shapcott

What can Toronto learn from Calgary when it comes to ending homelessness? Lots, actually!

What can Toronto learn from Calgary when it comes to ending homelessness? Quite a lot, actually, and Tim Richter, the dynamic CEO of the Calgary Homeless Foundation, will be in town early next week to meet with a variety of groups and share their success in housing more than 2,300 previously homeless people over the past three years. The Calgary Homeless Foundation is almost one-third of the way through their 10-year plan to end homelessness in that city, and the latest progress report shows remarkable achievements. A new video also documents the personal accomplishments. In addition to pointing to the lessons and challenges that Calgary has learned, Tim is working to build support for a new national alliance to end homelessness in Canada – an initiative that the Wellesley Institute is also supporting.

Three Years In: Calgary’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness from Kaelen Ohm on Vimeo.

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Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott

Michael Shapcott is Director, Affordable Housing and Social Innovation at Wellesley Institute. Michael has worked extensively in Toronto, in many parts of Canada, nationally and internationally on social innovation, the non-profit sector, civic engagement, housing and housing rights, poverty, social exclusion, urban health and health equity. He is recognized as one of Canada’s leading community-based housing and homelessness experts. He is currently on secondment to the Princes' Charities Canada.

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.