The Thompson Model for addressing homelessness presentation was well received at the Canadian Alliance of Ending Homelessness Conference in Halifax last November.

On City Beat last week, Mayor Colleen Smook explained what the Thompson model is.

“The Thompson model, it includes everybody that is a decision maker right from the people that have experienced homelessness, or are in the throes of it, so that we are listening to what we need to do to make sure that it’s not just the top down telling people what to do and that they are part the solution.”
           
By consulting with people with lived experience of homelessness, it allows them to be at the heart of decision making in a system that serves them.
                                   
A Lived-Experience Circle,  or L-E-C, has been meeting regularly since last June.  They set policies, procedures and evaluate and make recommendations to the local Community Advisory Board on the allocation of Reaching Home funding.