The Region of Waterloo is working towards a world-class community for all residents because they believe communities thrive when everyone has a place to call home. Ending homelessness in all its forms for every single person that lives in Waterloo Region is crucial to realizing this vision. The Region's Community Services Council has developed recommendations to establish interim housing solutions for Regional residents experiencing homelessness including those currently residing in encampments, and strategies to end homelessness in the Region.
During the community engagement process that preceded the recommendations report (see attached presentation), it became very clear that not just homelessness needed to be addressed, but any and all of the challenges that homeless people might face, such as mental health issues, addictions, and yes, also acquired brain injuries. We were very pleased to see that a very clear reference was made to brain injury in the presentation (page 5) as our experience and data show that there is a very high prevalence of brain injury in this population.