The Trilateral Alignment Project

In 2024, the Government of Canada, represented by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC), and the Provincial Government of BC, through the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs (HMA), and BC Housing, endorsed a Vision and Goals document (referred to as the Federal Provincial Vision and Goals). The Federal-Provincial Vision and Goals confirmed a shared commitment between HICC, HMA, and BC Housing to achieve “more integrated local governance and broader coordination of services, as well as improved data management and use of Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) data”. With this commitment, the BC and Federal Coordinated Access System and HIFIS Expansion Alignment Project was initiated, referred to more generally as the Alignment Project.

The Alignment Project is a joint effort by the federal and provincial governments, along with community partners in British Columbia, to improve how homelessness is addressed. The goal is to bring together all the different programs, services, and systems that help people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness, so they work better together. This includes aligning roles, responsibilities, systems, and service delivery requirements.

Governance - “Nothing About Us Without Us“

After years of using the Collective Impact methodology, the Cowichan community has shown in many ways that we know how to work together in a good way.

A key approach to developing Coordinated Access over the last several years has been to include the voices of those with lived and living expertise, and the voices of frontline staff. These perspectives ensure that the Coordinated Access practices developed will meet the needs of those accessing and providing services. It is important for these experienced voices to lead homelessness response measures. During times like public health outbreaks, cold weather response, and toxic poisoning alerts, persons with lived and living expertise and frontline staff have brought incredibly valuable recommendations and stories of wisdom that have strengthened the response. Through a peer engagement process we learned from people with lived experience of homelessness about what is needed, and reimagined processes. We need now to create systemic change to ensure the regional plan is directly guided, informed and evaluated by those who access services. In this way community collaboration will be rooted in equity and belonging. The risk of not including these voices when planning is that responses may not be operationally functional or those who need the services the most may not feel comfortable accessing the resource.

Integration of these voices cannot be performative or tokenistic. In the Cowichan region, the work to authentically engage these voices from planning and development through to implementation and evaluation is underway.

How is Community-Based Governance Understood in the Cowichan Context? 

The Cowichan Coalition to End Homelessness is working toward a common vision that all citizens in the region have safe, affordable housing and adequate supports for well-being. The Coalition works to connect, coordinate, collaborate, and communicate around issues of homelessness and affordable housing needs. There is a strong link between the community-based leadership that the Coalition provides and the data-driven approaches of Coordinated Access. The following graphic shows the ways in which operations and living experience informs the work of the Coalition. The resources, direction, and strategy provided by the Coalition and members who comprise it, are then operationalized by those who are working on the ground. This continuous learning cycle is essential in the maintenance of a healthy response and support system.

The nested diagram shown above was one of the first iterations of community- based governance developed through the Cowichan Coordinated Access project. At the heart of the system are the PATH Walkers [living experience], of which the system is intended to wrap around and support. As the rings around the centre ripple out, comes different responsibilities and more separation from the work that happens on the ground. The intention is to show that if you are a PATH Walker [living experience], PATH Walker [frontline worker], or are funding multiple programs, you have a role in community. The four pillars in the corners of the graphic show the condensed snuw’uy’ulh (teachings), gifted to the project by Cowichan Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

The Alignment Project requires certain local governance tables to be established to support Coordinated Access implementation. Through the Local Backbone Team, we have adapted the content for the Cowichan context. In the above graphic, you can see the many elements that are important in the Cowichan context. In purple at the top, there is the Nuts’a’wuqw Lelum Guiding Framework which was developed by and supports the work of the Indigenous Advisory Committee. The Guiding Framework also supports the work of the whole Coordinated Access system.

The Vision for Wellness, which is Cowichan’s regional community plan for housing and homelessness, provides direction and support to the organizations involved in the Homelessness Response Leadership Table (HRLT). The HRLT is a quarterly meeting co-chaired by BC Housing and United Way BC where issues and topics for review are brought forth for discussion and sign off. The membership of this table consists of decision makers from key non-profits, staff of local governments, and other mission-aligned organizations who can collaborate and inform leadership for homelessness response in the community.

The Alignment Project Charter provides direction for how the Tri-lateral Partners will engage with and work alongside community. It defines how the federal strategy for homelessness response (Reaching Home) is in agreement with the provincial strategy (Belonging in BC). This charter also describes the importance of having a transparent, data-driven Coordinated Access system. The Alignment Project activities and the BC Housing adaptation of their Coordinated Access and Assessment program are still in development.

On the right-hand side of the diagram, you can see the separation of Coalition activities, Coordinated Access, and Access & Assessment. This was intended to show the relationship between strategy, operations, and approach. Each have distinct functions in the development and maintenance of the system of care.

Linking the two sides of the governance map is the Local Backbone Team which is comprised of members of each of these structures. This collaboration and commitment to discussion allows for all branches of the system to be working in harmony.

The Homelessness Response Leadership Table is comprised of representatives from various streams of response in community. The above graphic was developed to show the various streams that exist in community.

What tables exist in community to oversee Coordinated Access and Homelessness Response Leadership? 

Chemainus Collective (monthly)
A roundtable for providers and partners in the Chemainus/Crofton community.
Cowichan Coalition to End Homelessness, Committee of the Whole (quarterly)
To connect, collaborate, coordinate and communicate around issues of homelessness and affordable housing needs in the Cowichan region.
Cowichan Coalition to End Homelessness,
Homelessness Response and Prevention Working Group (quarterly).
Cowichan Coalition to End Homelessness,
Reducing Stigma and Discrimination Working Group (quarterly).
Cowichan Community Action Team (monthly)
Develop partnerships to provide focussed action-oriented strategies to help address the toxic drug crisis at the local level.
Encampment Response (bi-weekly)
Encampment coordination and response. Includes leadership from non-profit organizations and local government to reduce harm and support planning.
Homelessness Response Leadership Table (quarterly)
works to integrate and align several mandates and groups under the shared aim of working towards a reality where homelessness is rare, brief, and non-reoccurring.
Integrated Community Development Working Group (every 6 weeks)
homelessness response/collective care.
Integrated Outreach Meetings (as needed)
brings together frontline workers who have a mandate to work in encampments to wrap around living experience and to host local case planning discussions.
Lake Cowichan Service Providers (monthly)
A roundtable for providers and partners in the Cowichan Lake area.
Local Backbone Team (weekly)
Backbone structures help to mobilize, coordinate, and facilitate communication between groups for a collective impact initiative, helping to ensure that activities stay aligned.
Situation Table (monthly)
A wise practice table held at the direction of the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.
Ts’i’ts’uwatul’ Community Advisory Board (quarterly or as needed)
A committee who are accountable for the allocation and oversight of Reaching Home funding in the community.