Built for Zero Canada

A Sustained Partnership that Ends Homelessness

Built for Zero Canada brings together leading, innovative communities across the country that are deeply committed to achieving and sustaining measurable reductions in homelessness. Partnership connects your local effort with ongoing, structured CAEH support; relevant peer learning; and a national movement working toward the same goal. 

Use your data to set a reduction goal, work on the barriers holding your system back, and track whether changes are helping more people reach stable housing. 

The Value of Partnership

You bring knowledge of your community and the commitment to act. We bring experienced advisors, lessons from communities across North America, and scoped, ongoing, support to help your team put the model for ending homelessness into practice. We invest heavily in you, so you can invest in your communities.

  • Dedicated Support to Reduce Homelessness

    Work with CAEH advisors on a clear local goal. Identify where people are getting stuck, agree on changes to test, and keep progress moving through regular work together. 

  • Data to Guide Decisions

    Make sense of changes in homelessness and housing outcomes and determine the best way forward. Use your data to choose priorities, assess progress, and explain what is working to local partners, funders, and decisionmakers.

  • Peer Learning to Help You Act

    Bring concrete issues to peers and subject-matter experts. Share what you are learning, draw on experience to tackle challenges, and adapt useful approaches to your community.

  • National Expertise to Fuel Local Change

    Leverage CAEH’s communications and government relations expertise to build local support for solutions and make the case to other levels of government for the changes your community needs. Access advocacy tools and resources exclusive to Built for Zero Canada communities. Support the development of federal housing and homelessness policies, drawing on your evidence and experience, and help others see what is possible.

Who Should Join Built for Zero Canada?

Built for Zero Canada is designed for communities with: 

  • Quality By-Name Data that can guide decisions and track change. 
  • Leadership committed to reducing homelessness and supporting implementation. 
  • A team able to engage regularly with CAEH and local partners. 
  • A commitment to share data monthly, test improvements, and learn from results. 

Becoming a Built for Zero community provides an ongoing partnership with defined support. We will discuss the scope, fees, and participation commitments with you before you join. Additional projects or support are available through our focused engagement or fractional services. 

Contact us and we’ll explore your goals and readiness together to determine whether Built for Zero Canada is the right fit. 

If you are still building these foundations or need help with a specific priority, our free resources and other services are here to support.

Our progress 

Communities across the network have demonstrated that measurable reductions are possible. Their work brings together local leadership, housing resources, shared data, and sustained improvement.  

Built for Zero Canada grew out of CAEH’s 20,000 Homes Campaign, launched in 2015 with a goal to house 20,000 of Canada’s most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. The campaign surpassed that goal in 2019 and transitioned to become Built for Zero Canada: an ambitious national change effort focused on helping leading communities reach a measurable end to homelessness. In 2025, our movement crossed a milestone of supporting communities to move people from homelessness into housing more than 100,000 times.  

Today, we are building on that foundation with partnership shaped around unique local priorities, implementation, and results. Our shared goal remains a future where homelessness is rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Built for Zero Canada Communities

Meet the communities working together to reduce homelessness, share learning, and strengthen the national movement. Each brings local experience that can help others make progress.