Housing and Homelessness Action Plan
2019-2023
A shared plan to guide how Niagara increases access to affordable housing, reduces homelessness and works toward ending chronic homelessness across the region.
Update
Niagara's 10-year Housing and Homelessness Action Plan concluded in 2023. In fall 2025, staff received guidance from the province on requirements for an updated plan. The activities of the 2019-2023 plan continue and the updated plan will be made public early 2027. The updated plan will provide a strategy for addressing the issues of affordable housing and homelessness in Niagara from 2026 to 2036. It coordinates efforts to increase access to housing opportunities, prevent and reduce homelessness, and improve how housing, homelessness and related systems work better together.
The new plan will go to Regional Council for approval in early 2027.
23,813
Households in Niagara are in core housing need
81%
Rise in home ownership prices across Niagara from 2014 to 2019
$910
Median monthly rent for a one-bedroom in St. Catharines, among the 10 highest in Canada
Vision and goals
The plan
Vision: Everyone in Niagara has a home.
Goal 1: Increase housing opportunities
Grow the supply of affordable market and community housing for low- and medium-income households across Niagara.
Goal 2: Help people keep their housing
Prevent housing loss through tenant and landlord education, financial supports and case management before a crisis hits.
Goal 3: House people who don't have a home
Connect people experiencing homelessness to permanent housing through street outreach, housing-focused shelters and housing with supports.
Goal 4: Improve how the system works
Strengthen data, collaboration and coordination across Niagara's homelessness-serving system and its partners.
Community-led working groups
Niagara Region can only achieve these goals by working with non-profits, the private sector, other governments and residents. A task force and nine working groups, each led by a community leader, guide this collaboration:
- Assertive Street Outreach
- Housing-Focused Shelter
- Supported Transitional Housing
- Housing First and Home for Good
- Coordinated Access and By-Name List
- Lived Experience and Peer Support
- Homelessness Prevention and Diversion
- Housing Provider Advisory Committee
- Housing Affordability and Innovation
Coordinated Access: connecting people to housing
A key achievement of the plan
Coordinated Access is one consistent way for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness to get connected to housing and support services in Niagara — no matter where they first ask for help.
It's based on a Housing First approach: people are moved into permanent housing as quickly as possible, with no conditions to meet first, and then given the supports they need to stay housed. Niagara also keeps real-time information on what housing is available and who needs it, so people can be matched to a home faster.
Access points
Trained frontline staff who connect people to the system and add them to the By-Name List.
Common intake
The same consent, intake and assessment tools are used everywhere in the system.
By-Name List
A real-time list of everyone known to be experiencing homelessness in Niagara.
Housing and supports
Vacancies are filled from the list, based on need and locally set priorities.
Tracking progress: 2022-2023 snapshot
Niagara tracks these numbers daily through a real-time By-Name List built on Coordinated Access, reported annually to the federal Reaching Home program.
2,802
People experienced homelessness in Niagara over the year
Target: 2,000
1,217
People experienced chronic homelessness over the year
Target: 396
230
Returns to homelessness after being housed
Target: 200
Learn more about the plan
The complete Housing and Homelessness Action Plan, its five-year review, and supporting documents are available for download.