Sound check. 1 2 3. Sound check. 1 2 3. and welcome to today's meeting of the Expanding Housing and Support Services for Women, Non-binary, and Transgender Community Subcommittee members meeting of June 19th, 2026. It is 10:00 a.m. We are currently awaiting a quorum for today's committee meeting. According to the city's procedural by Oh, no, we're not. We are not awaiting. Thank you everyone. I am very pleased to announce that we have quorum present for today's meeting. I'd like to thank everyone for joining us this morning and call today's meeting to order. Um, a reminder that all electronic devices are to be switched to a nonaudible uh function. Thanks everyone for joining us today. Uh we don't have any ceremonial items. So as we get into our approval of the agenda, this is the information report that we had requested at our last meeting. Uh we're going to get a chance to hear from staff about that and a chance to ask some questions. Uh and that's largely what the meeting is going to be focused around and look like today. Uh there is as always the opportunities for notices of motion and some of those other pieces standard on the agenda later on. Um and with that kind of overview provided, can I get a mover and a seconder to approve today's agenda? Um, and because I'm the only one in the room, uh, it'd be really nice if folks could wave their hands, uh, sometimes to participate in this, otherwise I'll start calling on folks. But thank you to Michelle, uh, sorry, thank you to Tessa and to, uh, Moren, Councelor Wilson for moving and seconding. Um, and then just a show of hands from everyone if they're in favor of approving today's agenda. And that's carried unanimously. Thank you everyone. Uh moving forward, uh this is the part in the meeting where we ask if there's any declarations of conflict of interest with any materials on today's agenda. Are there any declarations of interest from any of the committee members? Not seeing any, we can move forward. Um and that moves us to the approval of minutes from our previous meeting. May I please have a mover and a second to adopt the minutes of our March 12th meeting. Thank you to Tessa. Uh seconded by Julie, is that okay? Yeah. Uh and then if there's any comments or questions on the minutes, we can take those now. Not seeing any. Uh just a quick show of hands to approve those minutes from our last meeting. And that carries unanimously. Thank you everyone. That brings us uh to the main show. Uh thank you. Um, I'd like to now call upon uh Robin Perry, senior project manager of homelessness system integration to provide a brief overview um of the report. Over to you. Thank you. So, this is a a summary of the report. You would have received the information report and respond to an update on Hamilton's 2025 ending chronic homelessness performance update report um that was given to GIC. And here we'll focus on uh gender specific data. Um hi data is uh valuable but incomplete. It reflects people's accessing city- funded programs but may under represent women gender diverse individuals, indigenousled services and those experiencing hidden homelessness or using other systems um like the violence against women sector that offers um homelessness and emergency services to uh people u domestic violence. Um just to summarize the uh gender representation you see in this um this report uh men are primarily represented in the single men demographic and the investments for this demographic are concentrated mainly in emergency shelters. Um women are over represented in a variety of other demographic categories other than single women uh including families and refugees for example. So, and investments in uh in in services for single women are concentrated in uh a variety of places. So, in transitional housing and supportive housing, you'll see on the appendix there um uh that there are primarily beds for single women and gender diverse individuals appear across services with relatively higher representation in supportive housing. So the patterns that you see here are uh reflect both the need but also system design. So differences in usage are influenced by how services are structured. For example, the structures of other capacity, the eligibility, targeted programs. So it's not just simply a reflection of uh demand. Um, for example, when you look at emergency shelters in the single men's sector, it is um often um larger capacity be in higher turnaround. So you're looking at like long large congregate se um large congregate settings. And if you look at transitional housing or supportive housing, you're looking at very low turnaround. So that influences the numbers in the data. You see the structure of the programs where the investments are made. So some implications I wanted to highlight is that the data should be treated as a planning tool. It's not a full picture of homelessness or unmet need in the system. Um also wanted to highlight that demographic differences across programs highlight the need for tailored approach and careful interpretation of service use data and ongoing dap gaps in data representation reinforce the importance of equity focused planning. So for the path forward, we'll continue to um work on systems transformation including reviewing shelter capacity, service models and funding approaches. Um we are planning to improve data quality always. It's a continuous improvement cycle um and demographic importing to better reporting to better align investments with outcomes. And we also use multiple inputs. So it's not just hifi hist data. It's all different streams of data, lived experience, partner feedback to guide future planning and decision making. And thanks for the opportunity to provide this summary and this uh specific gender look at the report presented to GIC. >> Thank you very much, Robin. What we're going to do now is if I could just get a mover in a second to put the report on the floor for receipt for information, then we can get into a bit of a discussion. Thank you to councelor Moren Wilson um and vice chair Tessa Tessa for that. Um and then as we're leading into the discussion, um senior project manager Perry, are you able to just talk a little bit more about you said this both reflects need and system design. So just before we're getting into the questions on this, can you maybe talk about a little bit more about what the data is telling us either about need or about system design? What does it say about both of those things or just differentiate that point or expand upon it a little bit because I think in the questions that's going to come up quite a bit and if you're just able maybe to talk about that a little bit at the front I think that would help uh with thanks. >> Thank you. So the um the major work that we've already began and over the next couple years is about systems transformation. So there's been um especially over the pandemic there's been a variety of um short-term temporary funding infusions from the province and the feds and that we've made local commitments from. And so, um, these next couple of years looking at systems transformation, we're we're taking the time to stabilize that funding, stabilize those investments, standardize um, funding models, standardized programming models. Um I think the best example is um you know looking at the way the different interventions would count people differently in that emergency shelters for men are large congregate settings that um have a high number of people um utilizing these services and high turnover times where uh transitional housing for um single women have um lower turnaround turnaround times. people are staying there longer so they're not counting as many people through those services. So um depending on the program model and the eligibility and where the investments have been made again you can see that the men's sector has primarily chosen to invest in emergency shelter spaces where a single women's sector is more diversified in different interventions along the housing continuum. So that affects um the numbers we see the number of people accessing services and um lengths of stay turnover that sort of thing. >> Thank you very much for that uh overview and clarification. I'm going to throw it to committee members who maybe have any questions. But I think that just as we're looking at a data set clarifying that different groups are counting differently and that's how we're part of the package is a helpful point. Um and I don't as I'm looking on the screen um if anyone signaled electronically or has any questions. Uh yeah, Jasmine, if you're able to start us off, feel free to unmute. >> Yeah. Hi. I was wondering, so you mentioned that you were planning on improving the data. So, how what were some various ways that you were planning on improving the data going forward? Um do you have any like various like steps or formats that you're planning on sending to I guess the different organizations you work with or I'm just sort of curious in that. So, a big part of the strategy to date has been getting all of our various funded programs onto the HIFS database system so that we can um account for um client numbers, demographics, and um program outcomes. And I think we're more into uh the next phase, which is data quality. So, we've got a variety of reports that get reflect reflected back to the service provider to say, can you confirm this is what's actually happening? And then there's a lot a lot of back and forth uh uh done by the um data team at the city to uh improve on those numbers. So, people report, oh, that actually doesn't reflect who we're seeing. And there's there's that um continuous quality improvement cycle in terms of okay, now we've got everybody on the database system, but how clean is the data? How good is the data? And um that takes up an awful lot of time of the the data team is doing that piece back and forth. Um but we're continually expanding and getting more and more programs so we can get a more complete picture of what's happening on a systems level. Um just about five years ago it was only the emergency shelter systems on the database and um even then they were on separate databases so the information wasn't even in one place. Um and and now we've got most of the programs that are funded through the homeless policy and programs team um on this database. >> Any followup on that, Jasmine? >> Um no, no followup for me. That clarifies a lot. Thank you. >> No, thank you so much. Uh I see Tessa, you had a question as well. >> Thank you. And thank you Robin for for your report and providing some of the context. Um certainly as somebody who works uh supporting uh women and gender diverse individuals um to hear the the nuance and the challenges that with the data and how um populations are under represented in the data is really important and and something that I think needs to frame the discussions. Um, you did talk a little bit about some of the work on system transformation and I know that there is some upcoming reports over the summer around system transformation and what that looks like and I think you know we know historically and currently there continues to be a need in the women's system in terms of various um various options along the housing continuum. Um and and I think traditionally the challenge has been relying on the hyphus data um in terms of sort of guiding decisions on where things are funded and I so I suppose my question is is there any consideration or any thought how there's going to if and how to understand the data as it relates to trans identified transgender for non-binary gender diverse individuals in terms of looking at additional dedicated funded supports along the housing continuum. Um, is that a conversation that's happening? Is there consultation opportunities or will that be included in future reports when we're looking at system transformation and system need? Sorry, Tessa. Are you asking about how we're improving the data or are you asking about funding future funding opportunities? >> Both. Um uh well, no, actually I'm I'm more specifically asking about future opportunities. So, if we're talking about system transformation, we see the data here. It talks about 2% um for uh non binary gender diverse trans individuals. Um with future plans around system transformation, is there concerted effort to look at uh gaps in homelessness and housing services for the 2SLGBTQIA plus community? >> Thanks for the question, Tessa. Michelle Bear, director of housing services. Um so for the upcoming system transformation report that's coming to committee it comes to general issues committee in fact at the end of July. That particular report is really looking at a couple of key pieces in the system. I would say it's not specifically going to have investments targeting um the populations that you're speaking of. However, we need to keep understanding what those gaps are and look at ways that we can address the gaps. I would say that this particular um phase in the planning really is about addressing a couple of critical pieces. uh the the where families um find shelter, where we are with respect to Tiffany Barton on a long-term strategy, what the shelter system looks like, moving from a place where in many ways it was put together to address uh emergency acute situations as opposed to a planned approach to expansion, not looking um at those specific gaps. However, as a whole, I would say within housing services, we're making a concerted effort to really uh try to move more to the prevention side of things that we know that emergency shelter provision, transitional beds, what have you, are a key part of the system, but we need to focus our efforts a bit more, I would say, upstream, if you will, to try to prevent people from falling into homelessness. And then what are those prevention strategies that we can wrap around the different populations? >> Any followup, Tessa? >> Yes. So I think that that makes absolute sense. Um the one thing I'll say and perhaps it's not a question but a concern is that um the challenge we have seen particularly since opening Dorothy Day is we have fielded several calls from the TOSLGBTQIA plus community who's not connected into the shelter system due to feeling unsafe in accessing the shelter system. And so I think there is a large population's needs being unmet in Hamilton. And I guess I'm just wondering how we strategize about outreach to this community and really identifying the needs. Um because we heard from several people who were precariously housed. You know, that's a story we know all too well in the women's community as well. Um and so I think prevention is really important, but to also have options along the housing comm community uh continuum where individuals feel safe to access or can access um is really important. So, I just I flag that as maybe some future consideration of something we need to to look further into. >> Thank you for that, Tessa. I don't know if there's a I seeing lots of shaking heads, just not everyone's in the room. I if there's a comment, but I can definitely say lots of shaking heads there. I don't know um if anyone else online has a question. I happy to jump on myself if not, but if there's someone online, happy to look there. Um just okay I'll um pass the chair I guess to councelor Moren Wilson. I'll have to behave um for a sec or sorry my co-chair I'll pass the chair to my co-chair my vice chair uh Tessa uh there for a second. I promise to be on my best behavior because it's hard to be the chair online. >> Um looking through you uh looking at the appendix I'm just maybe wondering if we could just start understanding what this data tells us like in a really basic way. Okay, so like looking at the emergency shelters for example, this is a quarterly set of data. Um there's a number I think in the thousands for the total. I just my computer's gone dark for a second, but I think it was 1400 or something for the first quarterish uh was the total emergency shelter visits. Is that the total number of beds that were available over a 90-day period? And that's the number of folks who you the breakdown of gender who used them is that the number of visits um over that period in which case are turnaways included. Could you just help me understand like how does that data picking that one's column because I know it's going to be different for every row as we talked about, but looking at emergency shelters because they're one of the bigger categories. Could you help me understand what specific data points are captured there? So, who are the folks getting identified as men? Who are the folks that getting identified as women? And are there any folks just not being captured by that data in that row? >> Yes. So, the number that you referred to uh the 1492 for that quarter is unique individuals. Um, so it wouldn't be beds available, it'd be unique individuals. And um, we also have the data um that we could layer on to say when were the when was the occupancy at 100% and so likely turnaways happened during that time. We've got turnaway data. Um, it's in the main report to GIC, but not represented here. But yeah, the that number just represents the unique individuals accessing not the beds available. >> Thank you. And so the number of unique individuals, so if there was also a different Oh, apologies. Maybe I'll I'll ask my question, pass it to I think you'll answer both maybe, but if there's a difference in if we found, for example, that certain populations maybe were having extended periods of uh homelessness or needing to access shelter, whereas other folks maybe as part of stable housing or relationships, other types of things. This is a maybe a frequent but less common need. Um so maybe multiple visits like they're both going to show up as one individual, but there may be a different use of that service or very different experience with that service. Um but regardless of how they're identifying as gender, regardless of maybe the time interacting with that service, um one is going to be the kind of the data point or how they get counted um as well. Is that an accurate? And then I know there was a clarification further. >> Um so you're correct. We'd have to also layer the information about say length of stay. I think what you're asking about is whether this is the first person's first time or did they just stay one night and leave? Were they there for the whole quarter? or have they been there for years? We have that information, but it wouldn't be represented. The context is not here just in those numbers. And there's um being a data nerd myself, there's so all kinds of interesting layers that we can get into. Every number also has some other contextual numbers, but yeah, that's the end. And counselor to your first question I think the other piece to that is the majority if not at all times all shelter beds in Hamilton are at capacity particularly within the women's system even if we're seeing perhaps in the hyphest data might not quite be at capacity the beds are actually filled. So, it's not that uh it's actually both that we're counting individual encounters, but we're we're also at capacity. >> And so, and just to be clear, once you hit that capacity mark, the counting would stop in this data set. Like it may be captured in other places, but it's not going to appear in this gender-based data set. So when we talk about under reppresentation that's just one of the like very specific tangible ways that under reppresentation might occur um is if you hit capacity and that could happen in men nor women's I hear that we're hearing actually we do know that it's anecdotally or it is happening with um the actual data in the women's sector and we're hitting that capacity mark. Um so that'd be one of the tangible data like ways that we might not be counting women who are experiencing homelessness or accessing shelter but would not be appearing in this data set potentially. >> That's correct. And the other piece is where individuals choose not to be part of hyphus. They do not have their information captured. There would be a gap there with respect to uh the populations that make up that number and that could certainly be a group um that is both underrepresented and we're not capturing that demographic picture. >> Thank you. Um just a a very quick comment before the question. I think the real value in this data is it tells us as we've talked about a couple different things. It talks about what's the current reality on the ground, who is experiencing um instability in housing, who's experiencing uh the various uh the various systems and structures uh that are putting people into homelessness. And that's a really useful data point in our Hamilton context. What are the types of support people are accessing um as well, but it also I think the need piece is what we keep coming to as committee members in our questions. So, I'm just kind of reflecting on that and seeing that there's not a corresponding um need piece or corresponding availability piece. And in fact, it's kind of being noted in the report that some of the lack of that kind of comparative piece is actually sometimes frustrating our ability to use this data in a in a kind of system transformationation way. And so, I guess I'm wondering would it be possible to understand across these eight rows which represent different types of programs. One of the difficulties is is the city's not actually the provider of many of these programs. Many of these programs are provided by external agencies, many of them nonprofits um and we're maybe a funer or we have contracts with them. Um but we're not actually they're not city staff generally speaking. And so I guess that my question is how many different partners are we working with um in a ballpark across these eight different program areas? and what would it take to maybe start thinking about given that that's probably a large number. How do we start including capacity data in this? So we're understanding where those underounts might be happening. We're understanding um in terms of capacity transformation if there's a need that's not being met. Um our gender-based data starts identifying that need in a little bit more of a direct way. um understanding some of the barriers that we're talked about right now and that we understand there are real limitations to using to using this data to say when we go to the federal government and we go to the provincial government to ask for an envelope of money saying hey we know this is the situation on the ground versus we think or versus we we're unsure. Um, I've just heard questions from folks kind of asking how we're operationalizing this. And it seems like mitigating that risk would help us operationalize it. And so, how do we close that gap on capacity is really my my question. And I understand that works maybe hundreds of partners is the is the answer is working with hundreds of partners to change that. Um, but I don't know to who on the bench through through our acting chair, but that's kind of my question is how can we close those gaps to better operationalize this data? uh Greg Tedesco, manager of the homelessness policy and programs team. Um in terms of the number of partners, uh it's not in the hundreds, but I think I I could come back with a specific number on that, but it is a significant amount of community providers that are there. And even if we're not um funding them directly in terms of our coordinated access system, we do have partners that are either referral pathways in or out of the system um connecting to healthcare supports, housing um and whatnot there. So I think you know what we're what we're looking at here is um a significant amount of work and I think what we're trying to do is kind of unpack uh the last number of years and look at where we are moving forward. I think we've spoken about um some of the pressures we've seen as a system. Uh Michelle mentioned kind of earlier um especially you know the onset of COVID but the last few years in particular just the rise in unsheltered homelessness in in our community and others um and how we're responding to that that need. And I think our our focus uh thematically is again focusing on prevention and and permanent housing. Uh but also kind of in between all of that looking at how do we strengthen services and supports um and not just say we're we're moving numbers here or there uh from total beds or total amount of of services, but what does the service actually look like um on the ground? And I think that's part of our conversation uh our conversation moving forward in terms of how we're refining that service and how do we how do we do that from a from a funer perspective and a service manager perspective to work with organizations and to make sure that you know um often times uh you know here at the at the municipal level um we we try to move as quickly as possible compared to you know when we're looking at multiple levels of government. It still is a slow pace of change at times even though we have managed to to move quickly on on certain interventions and certain shifts in the system and a lot of that is I think based on the relationship that we have with a number of those partners with a number of those agencies in the community to be able to pivot to be able to operationalize things um to meet to meet need and so I think moving forward we are we are looking at you know how do we do that in a way that makes sense not just in the short term but in the long term and part of the conversation around um the experience of of women, gender diverse individuals um is a is a core part of that conversation in terms of what what we're seeing in terms of a level of need and what we're seeing in terms of a level of service moving forward, right? And and making sure that again that conversation expands just beyond and this is what we're doing through our work is not just with funded partners but unfunded partners that definitely interact with the system in a in a significant way um at all times. So, >> thank you. I really appreciate the high level answer. If I could just have one kind of final followup on my time is I guess just to be really tangible. I was specifically asking like what does it take to get us to say under emergency shelter for example in this data set um to say over the 3-month period there's this many beds available in the women's and there's this many beds available in the men's. So whenever this data is presented, we're seeing that over the over the first quarter of this year uh in the emergency shelter system, 447 people identifying as women and girls access shelter, there was x number of beds available on any given night for those 447 folks. So on any given night in that 3-month period, that's how many people were accessing or that's how many people could have been trying to get to the service versus the service availability. And I understand that for most of these numbers that number is going to be a high 90 number like regardless of that piece. But I think that helps us when we're talking about where our priorities are in terms of investment understanding that the emergency shelter system not being as upstream as other places may not be a priority. I think for folks who are maybe in the sector are now hearing well there's limited dollars and so they want to make sure the limited dollars are going to the most data driven the most effective places and almost increasing the importance of data driven in the emergency shelter or the places that are maybe not as upstream or maybe as being prioritized in a system transformation um given that there's not there's not as much resourcing in that area but there's still extreme need across the whole sector and so h I've taken a lot of time but happy to maybe hear a response and then I'll see where we're having in the agenda. >> Yeah, through the chair. I think it um so we do have a lot of this information available on our housing and homelessness data dashboard um at the city of Hamilton actually does get into some of that nuance in terms of bed availability and some of the turnaway numbers as well there. So, I would I would point to that and maybe we can send it to the group as well. Um because I know there's a couple different versions out there, but the the more detailed version has um an accurate picture in terms of that what we're seeing from a data perspective um in terms of the available uh beds in the system and some of that as well. So, I really appreciate that seeing there's a comment from Director Barrett. Happy to hear it. And I just want to say yeah, I really appreciate I think just the spirit of this is making sure that when we get the gender based data, we're considering all those nuances with it. And if if the we're hearing in the report that the turnaways or some of those pieces are influencing the data just having those presented together makes the data we're not hearing then oh here's why you maybe have to take asterisks to the data but we're able to say oh no the data still is indicating without some of those asterrices there. We're trying to find ways to uh increase the I guess reliability and apologies for interrupting the director. >> Uh no that's fine. So yes we do have the information with respect to the turnaways and I think that's important council. I think the other piece that's important and that we consider is um and we've certainly been talking about this. There is a cohort of individuals who are not uh turnaways but are not accessing the system and understanding what those barriers are for individuals that are not trying to access the system but do need supports and how do we build supports into the system that are meaningful for everybody. you. I'm happy to take back the chair and see if there's anyone else with any questions on this information item that uh report in front of us. Not uh seeing any at this time. So, I'm just going to pause for a moment. Um Director B, was that a hand? Oh, okay. Sorry. Um so, just as we've heard, this data has kind of been reported to GIC uh previously. Uh there's a future report coming back uh to GIC as well. Um on this I think as well for our committee just taking a pause here before we receive this item. We don't currently have another meeting scheduled. Um and so what I'll be doing is sending out an email to some folks just seeing if there is some business that folks would like to take on. This kind of was a a moment to kind of see the existing data regime and kind of take that reflection. Um we have time in this term of council. We don't have to do everything live right now. Like I can call meetings as as the chair. we can work as a team to call meetings as needed. And so if we want to maybe take some time and reflect, if we want to come together to make final recommendations, if we want to do some exit interviews or some thinking about this, if we want to have a questions list um to consider like whatever that transitionary piece looks like um and we could also ask for future reports as well, but I just given that that's not happened to date, we don't currently have that. But I just want to let people know that at this moment in time, kind of receiving this report and then thinking about maybe what some transition items look like or where we'd like this work to continue um in the future as some of those next steps as as a committee. Um and so just flagging that you'll be getting an email from me next week um asking you about some of those questions about next steps, what your feedback might be, um thoughts on future meetings and agenda um there. And so if with that kind of said if there is any gif and we might be looking back at this data that just wanted to pause see if that folks can also I'm sure staff are happy to answer questions about the report um online if that influences maybe you want to ask a question about getting some more data but it's based on something in this report we are able to stay in touch over email. So, I'm going to just kind of pause for one last time and if there's no one raising their hand with a question, what we might do is we're going to we had a mover in a secondary, I believe earlier in I believe it was uh Julie and Tessa uh that put the Oh, sorry, Councelor Moren Wilson and Tessa put the report on the floor. Um and so what we're going to do is we can do a show of hands vote if there's no other questions at this time. Uh and so this is just to receive the report for information. All in favor? And that's carried unanimously. So there were no uh motions added to the agenda. Does any committee member have any notices of motion? >> Oh my apologies. I've completely skipped a page. Uh yes. Uh we had one other piece of our agenda which is signifying that this report that we received is no longer on our outstanding business list uh for this committee. We have in fact received this report today. Uh, may I have a mover in a second or two to uh approve the changes to the upstanding business list? Thank you to Tessa, seconded by Jasmine. Everyone in favor, quick show of hands, and that's carried. Okay, now I can do a quick scan. I'm not seeing any notices of motion on the screen. Uh, there being no further business, uh, that brings us to adjournment. Thank you so much everyone for being here this morning. Uh, please look out for an email from me next week and have a great rest of your Friday and enjoy your weekend.