The City of Abbotsford became a designated Community Entity under the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home program in 2020. Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy is a community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness across Canada. As a designated Community Entity under the Reaching Home program, the City of Abbotsford has entered into an agreement with Housing, Infrastructure and Communities of Canada (HICC) to receive funding between 2020-2026.
As a Community Entity, the City of Abbotsford is responsible for the overall management of the Reaching Home Program, which includes all contractual obligations to Housing, Infrastructure and Communities of Canada (HICC), such as the management of finances and subproject contracts; reporting to HICC on CE and subproject deliverables; developing, creating and managing the Community Advisory Board (CAB); and working with the CAB to deliver the following programs and services:
- Work with the Community Advisory Board to:
- Develop and update the Community Plan, which identifies proposed priority directives and coordination opportunities as per contract with Canada.
- Develop and manage ongoing Call for Proposals and review process to allocate funding into the community.
- Establish a Coordinated Access and Assessment System for the Community.