Across Canada, more and more people are living without shelter. According to national point-in-time count data, unsheltered homelessness has risen a staggering 300% since 2018. Communities are struggling to respond as encampments grow and shelters overflow. Tents line riverbanks and parks. And behind every tent is a person—a neighbour, friend, family member—who deserves safety, dignity, and a place to call home. 

Many people experiencing unsheltered homelessness have complex needs. If you have mental health challenges, struggle with substance use, or lack the necessary ID or income, it makes finding and keeping housing really difficult. But with the right kind of support, people can and do move from the streets into permanent homes. 

That’s where Bridge Housing comes in. This short-term, service-intensive model provides a safe, stable space for people to regroup, connect with supports, and access permanent housing. 

To help communities implement this approach, OrgCode Consulting and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) have released a new resource: Bridge Housing in Canada: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Operating Bridge Housing Effectively. 

This post offers a high-level overview of the concepts in that guide. The full guide goes deeper—offering detailed operational guidance, sample policies, staffing models, and budget templates to help your community design and launch Bridge Housing programs that meet your local needs. 

Read the full guide here 

What Is Bridge Housing? 

Bridge Housing is a short-term, service-intensive housing program designed for people experiencing homelessness who face multiple and often overlapping barriers to securing permanent housing. These barriers might include mental health challenges, substance use, trauma, lack of identification, or limited income. 

It’s called “bridge” housing because it bridges the gap between homelessness and a stable home. Participants receive intensive, individualized support to resolve the practical issues preventing them from securing housing—whether that’s getting a birth certificate, applying for income assistance, or connecting with health services. 

Unlike emergency shelters, which provide immediate crisis relief, or transitional housing, which may involve longer stays and structured programming, Bridge Housing is short-term (typically 6–9 months) and focused on helping people move into permanent housing as quickly as possible, while ensuring access to necessary health and social services until sustainable, community-based service connections are in place. 

Who Is Bridge Housing For? 

Bridge Housing is designed to fill an important gap in our system of care, complementing shelters, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing. Bridge Housing serves people experiencing unsheltered homelessness who: 

• Have expressed a desire for support to exit homelessness;
• Have more complex and co-occurring support needs, which may have led to trying housing with supports multiple times in past, but returning to homelessness; and
• Want help exiting homelessness but cannot or will not use shelters, which may not be resourced to support all people experiencing unsheltered homelessness.

In these cases, Bridge Housing meets people where they are, helps them stabilize, and supports them in securing a permanent home as quickly as possible. 

How Is Bridge Housing Different from Transitional Housing? 

While both Bridge Housing and transitional housing offer temporary shelter and support, they differ in philosophy, structure, and goals: 

Bridge Housing is not designed to replace transitional housing, shelters or permanent housing. Instead, it fills a very specific gap: short-term stability combined with high service intensity and individualized approaches, to accelerate the transition from unsheltered homelessness to permanent housing. 

Benefits of Bridge Housing to our System of Care 

Bridge Housing fits within our system of homeless services and care in important ways: 

• Enhances equity and outcomes

Without Bridge Housing, people with complex needs may miss out on housing opportunities simply because they can’t quickly complete necessary tasks like securing documentation or addressing immediate health needs. Bridge Housing ensures they don’t fall through the cracks.

• Improves system alignment

Bridge Housing allows for a well-functioning system where each component (shelter for immediate crisis, Bridge Housing for short-term stabilization, and permanent housing for long-term stability) works together without unnecessary duplication.

• Reduces bottlenecks

By creating flow from emergency responses to permanent housing, Bridge Housing helps free up shelter beds, reduces the length of stay in emergency accommodations, and ensures system resources are used more effectively. 

• Integrates purposefully with coordinated access

Coordinated Access systems are local frameworks that streamline the process for people experiencing homelessness to access the housing and services they need at the right time. Within this framework, referrals to Bridge Housing are used purposefully: to bridge the final gap between homelessness and a permanent home for people with complex needs and barriers. This intentional connection prevents Bridge Housing from becoming a siloed program and helps it stay focused on outcomes.

• Accelerates housing access

Participants receive intensive, housing-focused support—from help with documentation and income to health care and landlord engagement. This focused approach helps people move into permanent housing faster. 

Building the Bridge to Home 

Bridge Housing is a practical solution to a real problem: how to support people with complex needs to resolve the barriers that prevent them from being successful in housing. 

It does that by meeting people where they are at. By offering stability, dignity, and individualized support, Bridge Housing affirms the belief that everyone deserves a home—and works with each individual to make that a reality. 

For communities, service providers, and policymakers, investing in Bridge Housing means investing in system efficiency, equity, and human dignity. It’s a model that works—not just because it’s effective, but because it’s built on the belief that housing is a human right. 

For a deeper dive—including a detailed program model and operational guidance, sample budgets, and policy templates—download the new Bridge Housing in Canada: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Operating Bridge Housing Effectively, developed by OrgCode Consulting and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. 

As communities across Canada look to turn the tide of surging unsheltered homelessness, Bridge Housing offers a hopeful, compassionate, evidence-based pathway to support people to move from the margins into homes. 

Download the full guide here