Knowledge and research are essential to understanding the issue of homelessness. But, there is little credible information or reliable methodology to determine the size or scope of the homeless population on a provincial, territorial, or national basis. In addition, little is known about the total number of shelters throughout Canada as well as the nature of these shelters (i.e., emergency, transitional, shelter for victims of domestic violence, etc.) and the diversity of their clientele.

The National Homelessness Initiative (NHI) has been effective in mobilising communities, building partnerships, strengthening the collaboration between local stakeholders, increasing awareness, and leveraging additional resources from provincial/territorial and municipal governments and the voluntary and private sectors to address homelessness.

However, it has been identified that communities require additional resources to improve their knowledge and understanding of homelessness. To better address these knowledge gaps, the NHI will continue to lead the implementation of the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) Initiative. Over the next three years the HIFIS Initiative will enable service providers to organize and share data supported by an electronic data management system.

The HIFIS Initiative will respond to the technological and information needs of service providers by offering a system that serves daily operations while enabling information sharing and partnership development with local, private, municipal, provincial, territorial and federal levels. The HIFIS Initiative assists communities in longer-term planning efforts and capacity building to address their local homelessness challenges. Service providers, receiving Supporting Communities Partnership Initiative (SCPI) funding will benefit from training, a national help desk and support in sharing data. The NHI will benefit from the network of data sharing communities and the development of a national database that will serve to better define homelessness trends and support analysis, and guide policy development, as well as improve management practices within the shelter system.